excuse the smirk, I said that and bought a v8 auto ;-)

Si

don't buy the first one you see, unless it happens to be a good'un, of
course.

There a lot around in that age range, and the key points are mileage and
service history.  A full history, with dealer stamped book ideally, is good.
Low mileage is good.  On that age you're looking at earlier 300 TDi engines
which have known timing belt issues, so records of it having been modified
are good too.

Also on earlier ones there's still a known transmission problem that dates
back to the previous model - this is fairly expensive to fix.  The problem
is of wear in the output shaft of the main gearbox and the input gear of the
transfer box - the splines wear due to poor lubrication design.  The fix for
this is called a "cross-drilled gear" and was factory fitted after about
1996 I think, though someone may have an accurate date.

This is only usually a problem on high mileage motors or ones that have done
a lot of heavy towing - especially if they're not maintained as well.  Not
too easy to diagnose if you're not an LR expert (or nutter) and so well
worth finding someone who is if in doubt.  basically, if you change gear and
hear clanks or clunks from the drive line, it's iffy.  Try pulling off
forwards, stopping, then pulling off backwards.  any noticeable clank or
clunk is not supposed to be there.  Also try driving at about 2000 rpm in
3rd, say, and come off and back on the power rather heavily.  Again, should
be no noticeable clanks or clunks - if there are, walk away.

And remember it's a buyer's market for this age discos - there are plenty
around, and it's got to be exceptionally good to make more than about 4000
quid.

Watch out for off road damage by looking underneath too. The clutch on the
Disco I can be a little shuddery, especially at low engine revs, that's not
a fault.  1st to 2nd gear can be stiff when cold, again not a fault.
Watch out for stupid little electrical problems - bulbs blown in dash
lights, central locking iffy etc.
If it's a 300Tdi ensure it has had the cam belt modification done.
Check with the seller if it has had grease put in the swivel joints, if it
has it's maintenance free, if not the oil needs changing regularly, or
grease put in instead.
It should start on the button with a good puff of smoke out the back. The
smoke should clear immediately after starting.
They tend to leak via the sunroof and around the rear side windows. The
sunroof is easily fixed usually, dunno about the windows , mine have always
leaked and I've just put up with it.
Have a good look for radiator damage. At that age it may be about to fail
anyway but they are expensive as they are so huge.
I think mine was £250, other parts are often very reasonable, especially
from Beamends Ltd, you will often find Richard on this ng for parts advice.

TonyB

For what it is worth, I just sold a 1993 200Tdi with 200k on the clock.

I had the gearbox problem (it was replaced at 154k with the clutch).

I can reccomned putting grease in the swivel joints (there is a LR
"kit" for doing that, including a sticker that should stop the local
garage putting oil back in) - it didn't with mine though and I had to
re-grease them again!

Look for corrosion underneath, particularly near to body mounts.  My
local MOT tester is getting very "funny" about rot neat body mounts.
They must have this vision of the chassis stopping and the body
carrying on!  I had to weld up the floor pan in the load area to get
mine through the last MOT.

I also had corrosion on the rear corner near the bottom hinge - a real
sod to weld up again.

The note about instrument lamps (and in fact the illumination of the
heater controls) is good.  They tend to go and on mine replacing the
bulbs in the heater panel is a real sod of a job (to the extent I never
bothered!)

Neither my sunroof, nor windows leaked (I must have been lucky).

I had also recently replaced one of the central door locking units and
the door mechanism, unusually both had gone!

I had a three door DON'T - make sure it's a 5 door!

I also had bubbling in all the usual places, but nothing that really
worried me.

I hope that helps.  Enjoy the Disco (whatever you buy).

If you're interested, I didn' change it because I didn't like the car,
there just wasn't enough space in the back load area for my 5 spaniels!

Cheers

Peter

Gary,
You may like to know the difference between the 200 and 300 in general
terms. The 300 has bigger headlamps than the 200 ( although it is possible
to do a conversion from 200 to 300 only a few people have done it.) I
suspect your N reg is a 300 though.
TonyB

There was quite a bit of overlap with 300tdi fitted with LT77 etc. Also
there were stocks of these vehicles at central points and at dealers which
explains a late N reg '96 that I know of that had the LT77 which failed and
was replaced under warranty with an R380.

Huw.