Always check the simple things, while I was a service manager for a national auto repair chain I had a regular customer call panicking about how his car would accelerate when he pressed the brakes. He had almost crashed several times and was spooked to drive his car. I told him bring it on in, my senior master tech would be waiting. Mind you this gentleman had been coming to us for well over a decade, super awesome and kind gentleman who we all knew by name. So, yeah I made sure to have my best guy on it. Anyway, guy shows up in a tow truck and while I'm getting the repair order set my tech brings the vehicle in. Five minutes later just as I'm about to print the work ticket my technician comes in with a huge smirk. He looks at me and the regular pulls a floor matt from behind his back and says "Well here's your problem" then chuckles. Apparently he had just put some generic floor matts in and the drivers matt got pushed up over the throttle pedal and behind the brake pedal. So, as he pressed the brakes, the matt pushed the throttle down. Our regular turned bright red with embarrassment, we all laughed. My tech trimmed the matt to make sure it never happened again and we sent him on his way no charge. An hour later he came back with six pizza's, breadsticks, wings, pop, the works, and apologized for wasting our time. Me and the master tech assured him it was no problem and that anyone could have missed that. We asked how his floor matt was every time he came in afterwards. Awesome guy, glad we didn't find anything horribly wrong.
This aftermarket floor mats, I had a buddy who thought something was wrong under his car and it ended up being the floor mat he put in. He moved it and the problem went away, he was all worried. Need to have those things clipped in or something.
My brothers first car in the early 80s (1962 F85 olds) he put a cover on the gas pedal that looked like a foot. Every once in a while it would "stick" and you would have to quickly put your toe behind it and pull it forward so the car didn't keep accelerating.
My teen daughter wanted one for her first car. I found a beauty but I knew it was going to be a headache. But she was 16 and only drove it to and from school. And I liked the idea of its size from a safety aspect. It had the usual disintegrating plastic hoses. This caused it to overheat. I don't think it blew the head gasket. But the coolant would disappear. No visible leaks. No visible smoke. No coolant in the oil. But it would just vanish. Eventually sold it for what I paid. Disclosed the issue to the buyer. They are amazing off road
That was a great decision to make. You should buy your teenage daughter a four-cylinder mid-size sedan for her first vehicle. For example, a 2010 Hyundai Sonata or a 2018 Mazda 6. I would definitely go for the Sonata because it is normal, but the Mazda 6 is fast with their Skyactiv engine.
had an issue with my Aussie Ford Falcon loosing coolant, all hoses was fine and no visible leaks, I happen to rip the engine out to swap over a gearbox and stumbled across a leaking rear Welsh plug.
Our kids drove our lr3 aka battle box, they put in a few pickles, but always walked away with dents, and minor things, no major damage, just basic maintenance which out teenage son got into, with help of you tube, altanic British , 245,000 miles, on its last teenage much to there demise
Great trucks mine isa 97 V8 3.9. Currently sitging in Garage as did the Head gasket thing at 200.000 give or take am slowly pulling engine out have sourced another low milage motor. Will be getting water pump, thermostat, frost plugs bronze ones before goes back in oh and power steefing pump mines leaking. Other than that all good 😊
I've been watching the Wizard since the beginning but only today realised why I like this channel so much, the amount of knowledge you gain from such a variety of different cars is amazing! One of the best car channels on TH-cam for building your knowledge up about cars.
@Martin if you know them inside and out they aren't that bad...every vehicle has problems, some worse than others. There's no one perfect make or model...
@Martin I honestly feel sorry for anyone buying any range rover. New or not, you're taking a huge gamble. Why not get a Landcruiser, and never have to worry again?
I had a 98 disco 1,was an awesome vehicle and never gave me trouble,and really made sense around town as well because here in south africa we have some really bad roads and plenty landy spares available and this side we refer to the disco1 as the comfy defender😂.
Nope Defender and series drivers usually wave, but it's, just an aknowledgment, "No shit, you've got one, and it started too!!👍" That's why we wave!😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣 Long time Defender owner
You might be confusing us with jeep owners. We Land Rover Discovery and Defender owners usually do the maintenance and repairs ourselves. There is so much room available that it's actually a pleasure to work on them. Also if you maintain your truck, it's reliable. Its the ones that have been neglected that have trouble.🙋♂️👌👍I love my Discovery! It's amazing!
Discovery 1 200/ 300 DTI were the best trust me, as I owned one as my daily driver for 10 years - miss it badly but I`m now disabled so as it had a clutch it had to go to a collectector here in the UK.
@@dakusaab - That's why Aston Martins from the 80's and 90's are fetching six figure prices. Want to know how much a McLaren F1 would cost you today or a Jaguar XJ220?
@@dakusaab Can you name a good reliable American car maker ? I had one of these early Discovery D1's broke down within seven miles of me collecting it brand new from the dealer. Now on my third Discovery, I love em when they are being good that is ..
@@mb1326 Clearly NOT true. CFM (GE and Safran) owns 39%, Pratt Whitney owns 35%, GE owns 14%, with Rolls Royce owning 13% of the turbo fan commercial engine market. In the wide body market GE owns 51% of that market with Rolls Royce owning 30%.
The nice bit for me is that they're both sending each other's *customers*: Many garages wouldn't do that, and would instead contract the work to each other and pocket the difference between retail and trade rates.
Car Wizard was saying half the problems dealing with BMW's is 40 year old owners with $6,000 BMW's with $1800-3000 dollars worth of repairs calling their parents to pay the bill.
@@MP-vd1ck He made that up, clearly. Probably happened once. Reality is, only the V motor and diesels cause major pain. Land Rover is the most unreliable brand on the planet, Wizard hates on BMW cause his backside doesn’t fit in them.
Our currency in South Africa is called the 'Rand" We call these vehicles Rand Lovers, as they're always broken, and the repair bill is always astronomical.
I lived in Joberg in the 70s, had friends that drove from UK to Joberg in a Land Rover, they carried a spare motor in the boot, completely different animal than the modern pieces of junk money pits of today.
@@LM-rk3nm You'll always get stupid people that buy stupid cars. I've learned to trust Toyota, although their vehicles can sometimes seem boring. It's because they never break that they're boring.
@@BubblesTheCat1 Toyota's rust really bad. Fine in SA, terrible in the Northern hem. My Hilux rusted out in 8 years from new. Landrover use much better quality steel.
@@agt155 I get it. The salt on the roads. Land Rover is obviously better protected against this. Rust seem to be less of a problem with modern cars body panels, but the underside takes a beating in the salt or seawater.
I have a 2003 discovery with 60k miles, full roof rack and arb bumpers. I love it a lot if you really take care of them they are great but the market is booming for them so I’m selling it
That Land Rover is what I want sooo bad. Whoever owns this one is very lucky. I'm glad you have changed that battery cable end as that one is an add-on when the original rots off. Either a solder on type or whole cable replaced is the answer. Great video.
Seeing this video and the outcome reminded me of this post I read today: A giant ship's engine broke down and no one could repair it, so they hired a Mechanical Engineer with over 40 years of experience. He inspected the engine very carefully, from top to bottom. After seeing everything, the engineer unloaded the bag and pulled out a small hammer. He knocked something gently. Soon, the engine came to life again. The engine has been fixed! 7 days later the engineer mentioned that the total cost of repairing the giant ship was $20,000 to the ship owner. "What?!" said the owner. "You did almost nothing. Give us a detailed bill." The answer is simple: Tap with a hammer: $2 Know where to knock and how much to knock: $19,998 The importance of appreciating one's expertise and experience...because those are the results of struggles, experiments and even tears. If I do a job in 30 minutes it's because I spent 20 years learning how to do that in 30 minutes. You owe me for the years, not the minutes.
Nice to see someone in the US having time for the Disco 1, very underrated truck especially off road , used to be very cheap in the UK but now the nice ones are making strong money, most rot on the body here, strange as the disco 2 rots on the chassis! At least in the UK parts are very cheap and plentyful, most here would be 2 or 300 tdi as opposed to V8.
Defenders and Disco 1's are very similar, even down to the same axles. But the Disco 1's are far cheaper these days. Crawl underneath and you'll see that beneath the pretty sheet metal, they're built like tanks.
They are creeping up in price. Similar to the rr classics. They can be made just as capable as a defender and actually the discovery is nearly a defender with the refinement of a range rover. However off the shelf the defender is more capable however it borders on too utilitarian while this is has the best of both worlds imo. It does not have air suspension which should be categorized as a routine replacement item since it will eventually wear out every 4 or 5 years maybe longer but likely less.
I miss my Discovery 1’s I had two 300tdis rather than V8’s, the worst repair I ever had to do was a 50p spring that tensioned the door latch but required totally stripping the door down!
We've all been there Nik! I swapped my TDI for a TD5 Disco 2 last year. Imagine the joy when i discovered the rear door wouldn't open from the outside... Tried WD40, no effect. Checked on the forums, no spring, just replace the lock. Luckily found on eBay a new genuine lock assembly for about £40. The difference between the 1 and the 2 is that within half an hour i'd replaced the whole lock assembly on the 2! I'm keeping my eye out for the other four locks, for the future 😁
@@koitorob wow, that’s a difference, I would happily pay £40 for 3 hours less work and less cuts on my hands from the razor sharp metal on the inside of the doors 🤲🩸🩸
I had a 95 Disco with the 3.9. Honestly it was an excellent little rig. Very fun and capable. Had 170k or so, airbag lights, but never any mechanical issues. Daily drove it for a couple years. Definitely turned me into a Rover guy.
Great video! As an owner of a D2 and part of the largest active owners group, I was sure it was a ground issue. The headgasket is a pretty easy change. Favorite video so far. Like button smashed
I had a 2010 tribute come into the dealer one of the other techs replaced the battery a month before but the complaint was after they washed the car it wouldn’t start a the security light would come on so I spent hours trying to figure it out I wasn’t making any money on it so I went into work on it on a Sunday and pulled the battery for the 10th time checking all the ground wires but this time I pulled the battery tray I immediately noticed a wire got hooked on a tab moulded into the battery tray pushed through a hole and was rubbed through but only made contact with ground when it got wet it would kill the PATS system I was able to recreate the issue and be 100% sure that was the cause it always ends up being an easy fix it just takes time to find it sometimes
"It looks like something you can actually use!" Fantastic, Car Wizard! Those are the only kinds or mods (or stock items) that I have any respect for, too!
Yeah I don't mind tackling the head gasket ones in the lifetime of my car. Allows me to see in what shape the internals are. That's for old cars mind you. Where head gaskets aren't a 1 week job😂
I bought a turbo diesel S1 disco for $3000 Aussie, never spent a cent on it except for a broken indicator stalk that I broke and an ignition barrel. Had that for 3 years, drove it every day to work, used it multiple times a week after work in summer down the beach and playing in the dunes. Thrashed it thought the bush in winter over rocks, logs and through mud. Never gave me any drama, till the doors started rusting and falling of lol. Best 4x4 I ever owned.
Great to see a Disco in the shop. I have a '98 Disco that I recently bought that I am repairing a rusty frame on, because I live in Canada and everything rusts here. The rest of the truck is actually very nice with all original paint, a mint tan leather interior and only 150K KM on the clock. Best of all, everything works, the sunroofs do not leak, and the head gaskets are fine. Hopefully I can get a few good years of four season use from it, plus it will easily tow my car trailer. These are really fine trucks when properly sorted, and will take you anywhere you need to go. I also think the Disco 1 is the best of the bunch. Thanks for the tip Car Wizard!
If you get more of these in with immobiliser issues, You can bypass the whole anti theft on these when they start playing up. It's pretty common in the UK to just disable the system. So common infact, that Land Rover themselves started to make the part! Look up Discovery Spider bypass.
Perhaps he assumed that was checked as well, given the dismantled column, test light and the customer's own claims. Additionally, crusty fuses and terminations cause the same gremlins.
@@yambo59 glad someone said this & to top it off he made a video off of this guys simple mistake. I understand making money and running his shop but if I was a customer and saw the video I wouldn’t be happy. I will say I’ve been watching the wizard for along time now and think he’s a very fair and honest mechanic (really hard to come by) Just in this instance I think a little kindness would go a long way. Plus he’s got hoovie to keep the cars coming.
I had a Discovery 1 same colour as this one brand new. Mine was a turbo diesel, was solid as a rock and more than earned its keep for the business. Even took 4 adults and 2 kids on holiday to France. It had the optional suspension upgrade and larger wheels that became standard on the later facelift version which I bought trading in the first one. The only issue was an overheated radio in the first one (replaced under warranty) but the facelift one had a different dash and no problems at all. Superb cars that really get a bum wrap from people who don't understand them and don't service them as they should be.
In 1999 in Tanzania we rode in a Defender 110. Yes, we broke down on a lonely stretch in the middle of nowhere. We sat on the side of the road for an hour or two and several other Defenders passed us and talked. Eventually, one came by and the guy had the spare part we needed. We promised to pay him back when we got to the next car parts place. Everyone knew the towns ahead and where to get Land Rover parts. Vehicles we saw on the road most often: Land Rovers, Toyota Land Cruisers, Toyota Hilux, and G Wagons in that order. Saw a single Jeep Cherokee. I can’t imagine where you get parts for one of those out there. 90% of the vehicles on the back roads were Land Rovers. In the cities, it was a totally different makeup of vehicles. I realize this was 21 years ago.
I own a discovery 1 98 its Niagara gray. I love it. My first car and more than likely id never sell it. I put a magnaflow stainless catback exhaust kit on it and only makes me want to drive it more. Its honestly a very simple vehicle to work on. Invest in a mechanics grade tool kit from kobalt, a 52mm socket, and a fan clutch wrench and there really isnt much you cant work on with this vehicle. Also replace that plastic radiator cap with a metal one for peace of mine. To date ive replaced the headgaskets, oil pan gasket, cleaned the oil pickup tube out, rear diff gasket, fuel pump, fan clutch, reolaced all 4 rotors brake pads and calipers, painted calipers and valve covers ceramic red, replaced the water pump, upgraded steering rods to hd spec, replaced the power steering gearbox, replaces the brake servo and master cylinder. I also painted power steering reservoir, alternator, and front timing cover back to factory silver. It was alot of work but it gives you alot of confidence knowing if something does go wrong with your vehicle that you will be able to fix it. Unlike most modern vehicles that without going to a shop some things are actually impossible to fix since they need to be programmed into the actual vehicle.
I just purchased a 2008 Range Rover L322. The L322 (3rd Gen I think) was made from 2001-2011. Until 2005 it had BMW 4.4 L engine, electronics, and was assembled by BMW. From 2006-2011 it went to Jaguar engines, electronics, and was assembled back in England. Well they didn’t learn the first time and I read today a new body style for the full size Range Rover is coming out in the next few weeks and Land Rover, in the future, is looking at using BMW engines again. Sounds like bean counters are getting involved again and when that happens the product will fail.
This is a really good video thank you. But I do have a question about my 2004 Land Rover Discovery 2. Recently, it has decided to not turn over or click or start unless a diagnostic tool is connected, and then the BCM is accessed. It will start up like clockwork then. But if no diagnostic tool is accessing the BCM, it won't start or even click or turn over. Nothing. The vehicle lights up like there's power, and all of the accessories work, it just doesn't start at all. It has a brand new battery and starter about 3000 miles ago.
My disco 4 / lr4 had 287k before I got rid of it. Not a single thing wrong with it, only major expenses were timing chains at 240k and water pump at 100k and 180k. Simply amazing car.
Nice find Junior Mint! Had a similar issue with our old '70 GMC... my dad had it out at a movie shoot and just when they were trying to do the last shot of the day, it wouldn't start, no lights or anything (the ended up pushing it around!l)... it had to be towed back to his house... I looked at it and turned the lights on, no power, no click no crank. Touched the positive battery connection, it had the same type of replacement clamp,was tight, but not tight enough... the clamp was painted red, even where the wire was clamped, it was enough to allow some arching and carburization of the connection... replaced the whole wire with a proper oem style, all good!
@@idiotstupid5904 perhaps with this particular Land Rover. Range Rovers are garbage even with regular maintenance. I think it’s so funny to watch people drive a 10 year old dilapidated Range Rover in attempts to look important. I’d gain more satisfaction out of burning a pile of money versus paying for maintenance on this junk.
I KNEW IT!!! I knew you were gonna say problem at the battery terminal! Do you know my company car, 2017 Jeep Renegade spent probably 75% of 2020 in the shop for a chaotic electrical issue? It first went to the dealership admittedly just before the pandemic. They blamed it on the aftermarket construction lights that worked perfectly before they unhooked them, sent me out, problem came back few days later. Car would randomly shut off and throw hella warning codes. Pandemic hits, car gets stuck at the shop, I’m stuck with a loaner. Months go by, I get the car back, problems return, months go by, get the car back problems return. This went on forever! They even changed the BCM! This went on for so long we were on the verge of calling for lemon law. Till that last time, they had it for a while, drove it around several times so it could act up on them. Finally, they discovered there was “some corrosion on one of the battery terminals” They cleaned that up, haven’t had a problem since.
We had a TV commercial in Australia some years ago. Obvious car fanatic guy notices rattling sound in the dash. On the driveway of his home he is shown progressively stripping the entire dashboard apart. Large pile of pieces shown on the driveway. Then we see him, looking very tired and frustrated, open the ashtray and there in the ashtray are some coins (or something, I can't remember exactly what). He shakes the ashtray. That's the rattlings sound. I think we've all been there. It's so easy to miss the obvious. As for Land Rovers. We have a 2000 Disco 2 TD5. I get really tired of people making snide remarks about Land Rovers and reliability. "If you want to get there, take a Land Rover. If you want to come back, take a Land Cruiser." Our Land Rover has almost 500,000 kilometres on it. Excellent off-roader. Best vehicle for towing heavy loads. Super comfortable, good looking vehicle. It has had no more problems than the two German cars in the family - my VW Passat has had more issues than the Land Rover and my son's Audi A3 blew an engine (failed timing belt tensioner). Even my wife's Hyundai i30 has more repeat problems than the Land Rover. I'd have another Land Rover in a heartbeat. If the current one ever wears out.
You can't trust them adverts, as a kid in the 80's UK TV adverts gave the impression all kids in Australia lived on cattle stations and were kept "good and tough with mighty white bread" and that Australians loved fosters beer so much it was the "Amber nectar" they drank 10 pints of it a day. then I visited, they lied! They prefer VB
@@mikehunt8823 I don't think I've met a single person who drinks Fosters. That's marketing for you. Our property is about an hour south of the Queensland border, so mostly XXXX Gold is the beer of choice here. And these days if we're dining with friends it's more likely to be a Coonawarra or Yarra Valley Cabernet Sauvignon on the table than the amber stuff.
@@davidhynd4435 I envy you! You I've in paradise, my sister married a fella from the gold Coast, 3 times she moved there but came home coudnt handle the heat, I loved it, 35°c at night I'd sleep in a chair outside in me undercrackers under the stars, I'm in pipeline engineering so I'm thinking about trying for a visa, I wish I had done it years ago.
What timing on this video! Started a head gasket on a white P38 yesterday. I've always feared this job, 4 hours in and Im down to the block. Getting the heads on tomorrow and she'll be back on the road. Just in time for the weekend!
You gut it right #CarWizzard landrover and Landcruiser are very common in Southern Africa. Botswana South Africa Namibia Zimbabwe very reliable safari vehicle
Timing belt failures is the diesel 2.5 motor. In Australia 4 litre and the garbage 4.6 v8 were only in Rangies, Disco had 3.5 and 3.9 v8. 4.6 cylinder liners leaked.
Again, great video! I had a similar experience helping my friend (He is a very experienced mechanic that specializes in Ferraris..). His wife's Cadillac had a no start issue. He determined that it was a bad starter and asked me to basically "hold the flashlight". We dig in, take out the intake manifold and stuff. Replace the starter. Put it all back together. Still no start. I recommended that he re-check battery and connectors. While doing so, guess what? One of the connectors was simply loose. Re-tightened it. Started right up. Wasted like 6 hours on that, plus the price of the starter. LOL
@@adriaanpretorius3411 HI Adriaan. Nog steeds 'n pragtige dorp. Ons bly in Dalview. Baie grappe altyd, maar ek sê altyd "dont knock it till you've tried it"!!
I have a 97. My most modern car. I thought that smell was due to it being damp from the leaks around the windscreen! That's on my list to fix. Also corrosion around the alpines, sagging headliner, etc, etc. Never been a truck or 4WD guy. I own an MGB and an Austin 7 so little cars but I really like the thing. Main reason I got it so for when I need to tow the other (little) car I am building, a Riley 9, on a trailer. Did you or Mrs Wizard every get another one?
Hello from Namibia, i drive my Discovery 2 in the farm, its great off road and in the bush. I really like your videos, instead of waving hands and telling everyone to get a Lexus or a 94 Celica you have truly usefull content.
“How can such a simple repair cause huge problems in this 99 Land Rover Discovery?” You don’t know? They circled it in green for you all over the vehicle! The Brits are nice like that!
I went on safari as a kid in africa. The driver and his land cruiser used it for pushing a 3-4 cars who was stuck. Not towing, just pushing. We got stuck once, after pushing out a car which was stuck until we pushed it out and stucked at same place. Edit: I know nothing about offroad, but after that, I would go with a land cruiser.
I've got an 03 D2. I switched to the 180 degree thermostat from the TD5, replaced the entire cooling system minus the heater core but including the hard pipes, flushed with distilled until it ran out crystal clear, and used G05 coolant and a bottle of water wetter for the hopes and dreams aspect. Haven't seen temps go past 198 and that was sitting idle in 100 degree heat with the AC on. Hoping the headgaskets are happy
Greetings from the UK. Amazing that Disco is still running, not many 21 year old left in the UK. The V8 was not popular here, too thirsty, most were diesels. The engine as you say is ex Buick and a very old design, and was used in many British cars, Rovers,TVRs, Morgans,MGB, Range rovers etc. Started out as a 3.5 litre and slowly grew to 4.6 and sometimes a bit more. I ran a 4.6 litre MGB roadster, I used composite head gaskets and no problems. Head gaskets were an easy repair if caught early. I had an early Disco automatic diesel, it was awful, almost dangerous, very slow to pull out of a junction.
Yeah. I feel you, for Toyota makes tough trucks, and has since the BAJA race of 1977. And in that iconic race, they logged in second place with the fewest mechanical breakdowns of any other 1,200 entrants?
It's very easy for people to say why wasnt that simple fault picked up by the owner or the mechanic. Hindsight isn't always in the toolbox. Great video Car Wizard, keep it up.
If you guys notice slight green flicker it is not Wizards camera, TH-cam has been doing this to all the uploads I have been watching for the last 2 days.
Recently bought an 03 disco 2, now this is the first "big girl car" I own, kind of a childhood dream I had. Drove super well all summer but last month it threw up the entirety of its coolant on the floor of the parking lot after only 50km of highway. Panicked, immedately thought 'omg the head gasket is done for'. My brother said 'chill, go from cheapest fix to most expensive'. Started with the coolant tank cap, and it was fixed. The o rings on the cap were dead and the tank couldn't hold the pressure in anymore. Impressive breakdown, and stupid simple fix lol
Bottom line: you like what you like. Wizard loves English cars, even though he knows every Rover V8 will blow its head gaskets. Wizard obviously loves the Jag V12 - although I still dare him to even try taking the heads off the bad 5.3 V12 he got rooked on (spoiler; those heads are guaranteed to almost be welded onto the block of that 5.3 V12).
@@bonvoyage5377 Yes the origins of the Rover V8 are from a Buick of the early 1960's. Rover has been the manufacturer for some years now. They blew head gaskets in the 1960's, they still blow head gaskets now - even after all the Rover improvements. I still dare the Wizard to even try to take a head off that 5.3 V12 he first bought. He won't even try because he knows it has been fused with the block and will need a few tons of force to separate.
My first reaction when anything starts to act up start to check the source👍I wish more people watch your channel it would save people allot of headaches
How is anywhere in Western Europe comparable to the Australian Outback or the African savanna? If your vehicle broke down in the remotest place in Western Europe how many kilometers would you have to walk to the nearest house or farmstead?
@@williamegler8771 probably 10 km. Outside of Greenland or Russia, there are few places in mainland Europe where you can be more than an hour's walk from other people.
I been watching your show for months I like input on different things and ways you your wife explain great work. Problem 1997 sebring timming belt issue ,can a cam move back or forward and what great tool to hold sprocket.
Tyler is a smart businessman! That is a true entrepreneur - spotting something that he could buy and sell on at a much greater price. He saw what others could not see. Also once he got you up to speed in fixing the gaskets he could negotiate a special deal - as you could do it with your eyes closed by then - and he brought in lots of business for you. Also becoming Doug's right-hand man was a good stepping stone move.
I drive a ‘96 Discovery every day. Wizard is absolutely right, a lot of the issues I’ve fixed on mine have been as simple as bad fuse connections, or a loose ground… very sensitive to electrical connections that’s for sure. Gotta say I love this thing!
I think it might be how easy or difficult they are to fix? He says in this video that it's really easy to fix stuff on the Rover V8 engine, so even if they're prone to blowing head gaskets it's probably much easier to fix it than whatever common issues hit BMWs.
Hey Wizard & Mrs Wizard, you are so courteous, you don't have to apologize for the background noise, I think that it adds ambiance to a working shop!! 👍😁
I’m guessing there’s a sponsorship deal and he has to mention Bendpak lifts X amount of times in X amount of videos. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
When I went to South Africa in 2009, my rental was a VW Golf Mk1 (City Golf) and it was brand new (they built them locally until that year). I drove it more than 3000 miles, part of it on dirt roads.
8:10 that is the problem with the Northstar engine. Techs tell customers they have a blown head gasket when they don’t. Ever time a Northstar run hot or pump out coolant. People think they have a blown head gasket.
Thanks, Wizard. Like the Discover, like the Defender and Range Rover more. I've been busted for something similar. Told by the service garage my battery terminals were corroded (I am not paying them $50 to do that I can do it myself). But I waited..... until no go, then I cleaned them off and it worked fine.
Its good to finally see someone giving the discovery the credit it deserves. I have had 2 both from new, a disco 1 then a 2002 which I am still driving today and have never had a major issue with, never had a head gasket need replacing though I might replace it soon just as a precaution, and would use ARP head bolts instead of the original or Land Rover OEM replacements. 250,000 Km and going strong.
Stop! Making! Me! Want! One! My wife is going to shoot me dead. Also when you moved the seat you should have asked Mrs. Wizard if you made the earth move for her.
If you get an old series Land Rover it won’t break the bank their incredibly basic and easy to work on you need to watch out for chassis and bulkhead rust and you’ll get your money back on it due to appreciation if you don’t want it but however they aren’t comfortable to drive at all but some of the classic range rovers with the 3.9 rover v8 are pretty reliable though but they suffer from huge rust issues unless you look after it heavily
Its actually the other way around. We found the problem and was honest about it. I know of several shops that would have taken this guy to the cleaners. “Oh it needs a new control module, $1200” and only tightened the battery for $1200. This guy now knows we are honest and will be back. Just like the other 3000+ customers in my customer base.
@@CarWizard Congrats on your 3000+ loyal customer base...I hope they stay that way. I was just saying that to tighten a couple bolts it would have been a good gesture to do this on the house and catch him next time.
Always check the simple things, while I was a service manager for a national auto repair chain I had a regular customer call panicking about how his car would accelerate when he pressed the brakes. He had almost crashed several times and was spooked to drive his car. I told him bring it on in, my senior master tech would be waiting. Mind you this gentleman had been coming to us for well over a decade, super awesome and kind gentleman who we all knew by name. So, yeah I made sure to have my best guy on it. Anyway, guy shows up in a tow truck and while I'm getting the repair order set my tech brings the vehicle in. Five minutes later just as I'm about to print the work ticket my technician comes in with a huge smirk. He looks at me and the regular pulls a floor matt from behind his back and says "Well here's your problem" then chuckles. Apparently he had just put some generic floor matts in and the drivers matt got pushed up over the throttle pedal and behind the brake pedal. So, as he pressed the brakes, the matt pushed the throttle down. Our regular turned bright red with embarrassment, we all laughed. My tech trimmed the matt to make sure it never happened again and we sent him on his way no charge. An hour later he came back with six pizza's, breadsticks, wings, pop, the works, and apologized for wasting our time. Me and the master tech assured him it was no problem and that anyone could have missed that. We asked how his floor matt was every time he came in afterwards. Awesome guy, glad we didn't find anything horribly wrong.
This aftermarket floor mats, I had a buddy who thought something was wrong under his car and it ended up being the floor mat he put in. He moved it and the problem went away, he was all worried. Need to have those things clipped in or something.
Wouldn't happen if all vehicles had pedals above the floor.
Great story!
My brothers first car in the early 80s (1962 F85 olds) he put a cover on the gas pedal that looked like a foot. Every once in a while it would "stick" and you would have to quickly put your toe behind it and pull it forward so the car didn't keep accelerating.
I do not like slick floor mates; because of armor Al. I like the green color on the Range Rover.
I have a Disco 1 in the mint green color and I freaking love how rudimentary and simple the design is. Aerodynamics is for the birds.
My teen daughter wanted one for her first car. I found a beauty but I knew it was going to be a headache. But she was 16 and only drove it to and from school. And I liked the idea of its size from a safety aspect. It had the usual disintegrating plastic hoses. This caused it to overheat. I don't think it blew the head gasket. But the coolant would disappear. No visible leaks. No visible smoke. No coolant in the oil. But it would just vanish. Eventually sold it for what I paid. Disclosed the issue to the buyer. They are amazing off road
That was a great decision to make. You should buy your teenage daughter a four-cylinder mid-size sedan for her first vehicle. For example, a 2010 Hyundai Sonata or a 2018 Mazda 6. I would definitely go for the Sonata because it is normal, but the Mazda 6 is fast with their Skyactiv engine.
had an issue with my Aussie Ford Falcon loosing coolant, all hoses was fine and no visible leaks, I happen to rip the engine out to swap over a gearbox and stumbled across a leaking rear Welsh plug.
Our kids drove our lr3 aka battle box, they put in a few pickles, but always walked away with dents, and minor things, no major damage, just basic maintenance which out teenage son got into, with help of you tube, altanic British , 245,000 miles, on its last teenage much to there demise
Great trucks mine isa 97 V8 3.9. Currently sitging in Garage as did the Head gasket thing at 200.000 give or take am slowly pulling engine out have sourced another low milage motor. Will be getting water pump, thermostat, frost plugs bronze ones before goes back in oh and power steefing pump mines leaking. Other than that all good 😊
I've been watching the Wizard since the beginning but only today realised why I like this channel so much, the amount of knowledge you gain from such a variety of different cars is amazing! One of the best car channels on TH-cam for building your knowledge up about cars.
The old saying for these: "If it's not leaking oil then there's no oil in it"
That's how it marks its territory!
@Martin if you know them inside and out they aren't that bad...every vehicle has problems, some worse than others. There's no one perfect make or model...
@@jeffthejinjer Some are just much much worse than others....
Like for instance the Landcruiser is a million times better vehicle than the land rover.
If it's not leaking oil, it's not a land rover.
@Martin I honestly feel sorry for anyone buying any range rover. New or not, you're taking a huge gamble.
Why not get a Landcruiser, and never have to worry again?
I had a 98 disco 1,was an awesome vehicle and never gave me trouble,and really made sense around town as well because here in south africa we have some really bad roads and plenty landy spares available and this side we refer to the disco1 as the comfy defender😂.
Why don’t Land Rover owners waive at each other on the road? Because they just saw each other at the service center.
Nope Defender and series drivers usually wave, but it's, just an aknowledgment, "No shit, you've got one, and it started too!!👍"
That's why we wave!😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣
Long time Defender owner
You might be confusing us with jeep owners. We Land Rover Discovery and Defender owners usually do the maintenance and repairs ourselves. There is so much room available that it's actually a pleasure to work on them. Also if you maintain your truck, it's reliable. Its the ones that have been neglected that have trouble.🙋♂️👌👍I love my Discovery! It's amazing!
Because the likelihood of seeing another functioning Land Rover driving down the road is next to nothing?
@@andypress - if they really were unreliable they would not be the go-to truck for safaris and desert trekking.
@Martin - Mechanically totaled is only a thing in the U.S due to overpriced mechanics. Toyotas are rustbuckets compared to Land Rovers.
The glimmer of excitement when he talked about getting his lifts installed just shows that if you love your job you'll never work a day in your life.
That's a big deal to a shop. Adding lifts mean your in the big leagues. Omega is killing it on TH-cam. The wizard is a good dude
And that he has a deal with Bendpack....
Apologising while something is happening is not apologising ahead of time...
Rule number one in any old car with an electrical problem: replace the battery. Works 90% of the time.
I’ve got a 2004 Disco and a 2015 lr4 and love them!!! Always keeping an eye open for a clean disco 1 to complete the set
Disco isn't dead! Long live the discovery 2!
Discovery 1 200/ 300 DTI were the best trust me, as I owned one as my daily driver for 10 years - miss it badly but I`m now disabled so as it had a clutch it had to go to a collectector here in the UK.
"I love the British stuff...Land Rovers, Range Rovers, Jaguars, Bentleys..."
*A Turbo R has joined the chat*
The hesitation after he said Bentleys... think it might have triggered some flashbacks
the resale value defines how shit uk cars are also other car makers
@@dakusaab - That's why Aston Martins from the 80's and 90's are fetching six figure prices. Want to know how much a McLaren F1 would cost you today or a Jaguar XJ220?
@@dakusaab Can you name a good reliable American car maker ? I had one of these early Discovery D1's broke down within seven miles of me collecting it brand new from the dealer. Now on my third Discovery, I love em when they are being good that is ..
@@mb1326 Clearly NOT true. CFM (GE and Safran) owns 39%, Pratt Whitney owns 35%, GE owns 14%, with Rolls Royce owning 13% of the turbo fan commercial engine market. In the wide body market GE owns 51% of that market with Rolls Royce owning 30%.
The fact that Car Ninja hates British cars really evens out the fact that Wizard sends most BMWs to German Motor Works. I'm pleasantly surprised!
The nice bit for me is that they're both sending each other's *customers*: Many garages wouldn't do that, and would instead contract the work to each other and pocket the difference between retail and trade rates.
the car ninja is VERY switched on👌👌👌👌
Car Wizard was saying half the problems dealing with BMW's is 40 year old owners with $6,000 BMW's with $1800-3000 dollars worth of repairs calling their parents to pay the bill.
@@MP-vd1ck
He made that up, clearly. Probably happened once. Reality is, only the V motor and diesels cause major pain. Land Rover is the most unreliable brand on the planet, Wizard hates on BMW cause his backside doesn’t fit in them.
@@M4rt_FX they’re both just junk cars man
Love the "Mother in Law" seat in the back.
Our currency in South Africa is called the 'Rand"
We call these vehicles Rand Lovers, as they're always broken, and the repair bill is always astronomical.
I lived in Joberg in the 70s, had friends that drove from UK to Joberg in a Land Rover, they carried a spare motor in the boot, completely different animal than the modern pieces of junk money pits of today.
Don't buy them, then.
@@LM-rk3nm You'll always get stupid people that buy stupid cars. I've learned to trust Toyota, although their vehicles can sometimes seem boring.
It's because they never break that they're boring.
@@BubblesTheCat1 Toyota's rust really bad. Fine in SA, terrible in the Northern hem. My Hilux rusted out in 8 years from new. Landrover use much better quality steel.
@@agt155 I get it. The salt on the roads. Land Rover is obviously better protected against this.
Rust seem to be less of a problem with modern cars body panels, but the underside takes a beating in the salt or seawater.
As a former Land Rover tech, I can tell you that four liter engine is a GEM.
actually a "GEMS"
200 and 300 DTi`s were the gems not a wonky alli V8
@@ianburit3705 agree and the USA didnt get them - but what's new
@@ianburit3705 GEM stands for generic engine management. In Land Rover repair circles that generation of engine was referred to as a GEM.
@@ianburit3705 They're Tdi's not DTi's! Turbo Direct Injection....
I have a 2003 discovery with 60k miles, full roof rack and arb bumpers. I love it a lot if you really take care of them they are great but the market is booming for them so I’m selling it
@@badm0t0rf1ng3r on bring a trailer with my miles and mods I doubt it would sell for under 14k, I paid 2k for it and only put 3k overall into it
That Land Rover is what I want sooo bad. Whoever owns this one is very lucky. I'm glad you have changed that battery cable end as that one is an add-on when the original rots off. Either a solder on type or whole cable replaced is the answer. Great video.
Always like a V8 rumble going past the garage when your filming.. Greetings from the UK
Seeing this video and the outcome reminded me of this post I read today:
A giant ship's engine broke down and no one could repair it, so they hired a Mechanical Engineer with over 40 years of experience.
He inspected the engine very carefully, from top to bottom. After seeing everything, the engineer unloaded the bag and pulled out a small hammer.
He knocked something gently. Soon, the engine came to life again. The engine has been fixed!
7 days later the engineer mentioned that the total cost of repairing the giant ship was $20,000 to the ship owner.
"What?!" said the owner.
"You did almost nothing. Give us a detailed bill."
The answer is simple:
Tap with a hammer: $2
Know where to knock and how much to knock: $19,998
The importance of appreciating one's expertise and experience...because those are the results of struggles, experiments and even tears.
If I do a job in 30 minutes it's because I spent 20 years learning how to do that in 30 minutes. You owe me for the years, not the minutes.
Great analogy... So true.
That guy was Jeremy Clarkson!
this is amazing
The Gamestop card by the shifter is the best upgrade. Nicely done!
Diamond hands
Nice to see someone in the US having time for the Disco 1, very underrated truck especially off road , used to be very cheap in the UK but now the nice ones are making strong money, most rot on the body here, strange as the disco 2 rots on the chassis! At least in the UK parts are very cheap and plentyful, most here would be 2 or 300 tdi as opposed to V8.
People jump for the older Defenders but I like this...
Yeah its sweet
@Chris Howard , WALL STREET 😎
Yea I love these things for some reason
Defenders and Disco 1's are very similar, even down to the same axles. But the Disco 1's are far cheaper these days. Crawl underneath and you'll see that beneath the pretty sheet metal, they're built like tanks.
They are creeping up in price. Similar to the rr classics. They can be made just as capable as a defender and actually the discovery is nearly a defender with the refinement of a range rover. However off the shelf the defender is more capable however it borders on too utilitarian while this is has the best of both worlds imo. It does not have air suspension which should be categorized as a routine replacement item since it will eventually wear out every 4 or 5 years maybe longer but likely less.
"It looks like something you can actually USE!"
Preach, Wizard!
I miss my Discovery 1’s I had two 300tdis rather than V8’s, the worst repair I ever had to do was a 50p spring that tensioned the door latch but required totally stripping the door down!
We've all been there Nik!
I swapped my TDI for a TD5 Disco 2 last year. Imagine the joy when i discovered the rear door wouldn't open from the outside...
Tried WD40, no effect. Checked on the forums, no spring, just replace the lock. Luckily found on eBay a new genuine lock assembly for about £40.
The difference between the 1 and the 2 is that within half an hour i'd replaced the whole lock assembly on the 2!
I'm keeping my eye out for the other four locks, for the future 😁
@@koitorob wow, that’s a difference, I would happily pay £40 for 3 hours less work and less cuts on my hands from the razor sharp metal on the inside of the doors 🤲🩸🩸
I had a 95 Disco with the 3.9. Honestly it was an excellent little rig. Very fun and capable. Had 170k or so, airbag lights, but never any mechanical issues. Daily drove it for a couple years. Definitely turned me into a Rover guy.
Great video! As an owner of a D2 and part of the largest active owners group, I was sure it was a ground issue. The headgasket is a pretty easy change. Favorite video so far. Like button smashed
What’s the largest active owners group?
@@folkpuusa6077 Green Oval Guild in Ohio
If you want to drive into the jungle, take a Land Rover.
If you want to come back, take a Landcruiser.
Something like that !
"the most reliable car in the world, is the most unreliable car in the world"
"Fair enough!"
Have you ignorant people ever watched the CAMEL TROPHY SERIES on youtube ?
I had a 2010 tribute come into the dealer one of the other techs replaced the battery a month before but the complaint was after they washed the car it wouldn’t start a the security light would come on so I spent hours trying to figure it out I wasn’t making any money on it so I went into work on it on a Sunday and pulled the battery for the 10th time checking all the ground wires but this time I pulled the battery tray I immediately noticed a wire got hooked on a tab moulded into the battery tray pushed through a hole and was rubbed through but only made contact with ground when it got wet it would kill the PATS system I was able to recreate the issue and be 100% sure that was the cause it always ends up being an easy fix it just takes time to find it sometimes
"It looks like something you can actually use!" Fantastic, Car Wizard! Those are the only kinds or mods (or stock items) that I have any respect for, too!
I've got a 01 disco 2. Gaskets done at about 150 k. 220k on the clock now, runs strong.
Yeah I don't mind tackling the head gasket ones in the lifetime of my car. Allows me to see in what shape the internals are. That's for old cars mind you. Where head gaskets aren't a 1 week job😂
Sounds like you’ll be due for another head gasket in about 30k then. My D1 needs them and it’s only got 80k on it.
@@Geetee3991 I hope she makes 300k. If so I'll be a proud papa lol.
Love hearing positive talk about Rovers!
Anybody else see the GameStop card at 5:02? 😂
It’s a sponsored video
Damn. GME! GME!
Stonk. Stonk. STONK!!
GME to the moon!
WSB dude lol
My dad had one of these when I was young, was pretty solid lots of nostalgia watching this
The unique smell is from the dried tears of consecutive owners.
That’s a good one. Thank you.
Thats a good one
I bought a turbo diesel S1 disco for $3000 Aussie, never spent a cent on it except for a broken indicator stalk that I broke and an ignition barrel. Had that for 3 years, drove it every day to work, used it multiple times a week after work in summer down the beach and playing in the dunes. Thrashed it thought the bush in winter over rocks, logs and through mud. Never gave me any drama, till the doors started rusting and falling of lol. Best 4x4 I ever owned.
Lol 😂
I'd say that smell is coming from what's in the ash tray at 5:20
Great to see a Disco in the shop. I have a '98 Disco that I recently bought that I am repairing a rusty frame on, because I live in Canada and everything rusts here. The rest of the truck is actually very nice with all original paint, a mint tan leather interior and only 150K KM on the clock. Best of all, everything works, the sunroofs do not leak, and the head gaskets are fine. Hopefully I can get a few good years of four season use from it, plus it will easily tow my car trailer. These are really fine trucks when properly sorted, and will take you anywhere you need to go. I also think the Disco 1 is the best of the bunch. Thanks for the tip Car Wizard!
If you get more of these in with immobiliser issues, You can bypass the whole anti theft on these when they start playing up. It's pretty common in the UK to just disable the system. So common infact, that Land Rover themselves started to make the part! Look up Discovery Spider bypass.
US models did not come with the spider unit.
There is another method to bypass the immo in these, or just program it out of the 10as.
5:18 "oops we'll just close that..." 😂
The 150 bucks isn't for the tightening of two bolts. It's for the knowledge of which bolts to tighten.
Exactly!!
@@yambo59
You wouldn’t spend $150 to fix a problem after you tore apart the steering column and whatever else you waste time with?
Perhaps he assumed that was checked as well, given the dismantled column, test light and the customer's own claims.
Additionally, crusty fuses and terminations cause the same gremlins.
@@yambo59 glad someone said this & to top it off he made a video off of this guys simple mistake. I understand making money and running his shop but if I was a customer and saw the video I wouldn’t be happy. I will say I’ve been watching the wizard for along time now and think he’s a very fair and honest mechanic (really hard to come by) Just in this instance I think a little kindness would go a long way. Plus he’s got hoovie to keep the cars coming.
@@Despicable909
He had the owners permission otherwise he wouldn’t have made a video
I had a Discovery 1 same colour as this one brand new. Mine was a turbo diesel, was solid as a rock and more than earned its keep for the business. Even took 4 adults and 2 kids on holiday to France. It had the optional suspension upgrade and larger wheels that became standard on the later facelift version which I bought trading in the first one. The only issue was an overheated radio in the first one (replaced under warranty) but the facelift one had a different dash and no problems at all.
Superb cars that really get a bum wrap from people who don't understand them and don't service them as they should be.
Love those old Rovers. Definitely a classic look, and absolute beasts off-road.
In 1999 in Tanzania we rode in a Defender 110. Yes, we broke down on a lonely stretch in the middle of nowhere. We sat on the side of the road for an hour or two and several other Defenders passed us and talked. Eventually, one came by and the guy had the spare part we needed. We promised to pay him back when we got to the next car parts place. Everyone knew the towns ahead and where to get Land Rover parts.
Vehicles we saw on the road most often: Land Rovers, Toyota Land Cruisers, Toyota Hilux, and G Wagons in that order. Saw a single Jeep Cherokee. I can’t imagine where you get parts for one of those out there. 90% of the vehicles on the back roads were Land Rovers.
In the cities, it was a totally different makeup of vehicles.
I realize this was 21 years ago.
Does Haynes still make car & truck manuals? When I was in my 20's I learned so much about working on my old pickup trucks from Haynes manuals.
Yes, I got a Haynes manual recently for my old Saab (Ebay, I think), and it will stay with the car.
I own a discovery 1 98 its Niagara gray. I love it. My first car and more than likely id never sell it. I put a magnaflow stainless catback exhaust kit on it and only makes me want to drive it more. Its honestly a very simple vehicle to work on. Invest in a mechanics grade tool kit from kobalt, a 52mm socket, and a fan clutch wrench and there really isnt much you cant work on with this vehicle. Also replace that plastic radiator cap with a metal one for peace of mine. To date ive replaced the headgaskets, oil pan gasket, cleaned the oil pickup tube out, rear diff gasket, fuel pump, fan clutch, reolaced all 4 rotors brake pads and calipers, painted calipers and valve covers ceramic red, replaced the water pump, upgraded steering rods to hd spec, replaced the power steering gearbox, replaces the brake servo and master cylinder. I also painted power steering reservoir, alternator, and front timing cover back to factory silver. It was alot of work but it gives you alot of confidence knowing if something does go wrong with your vehicle that you will be able to fix it. Unlike most modern vehicles that without going to a shop some things are actually impossible to fix since they need to be programmed into the actual vehicle.
I think we are going to make you an honorary British citizen- LOL - All the best from the UK 🇬🇧
I just purchased a 2008 Range Rover L322. The L322 (3rd Gen I think) was made from 2001-2011. Until 2005 it had BMW 4.4 L engine, electronics, and was assembled by BMW. From 2006-2011 it went to Jaguar engines, electronics, and was assembled back in England. Well they didn’t learn the first time and I read today a new body style for the full size Range Rover is coming out in the next few weeks and Land Rover, in the future, is looking at using BMW engines again. Sounds like bean counters are getting involved again and when that happens the product will fail.
If you want to go into the bush, take a Land Rover. If you want to come back out, take a Land Cruiser.
Mainly the 70 series
This is a really good video thank you.
But I do have a question about my 2004 Land Rover Discovery 2.
Recently, it has decided to not turn over or click or start unless a diagnostic tool is connected, and then the BCM is accessed. It will start up like clockwork then. But if no diagnostic tool is accessing the BCM, it won't start or even click or turn over. Nothing. The vehicle lights up like there's power, and all of the accessories work, it just doesn't start at all. It has a brand new battery and starter about 3000 miles ago.
The LR3, LR4 are my favorite Land Rovers . Both can be very reliable.
And astronomically expensive to repair...
So true about the head gaskets. I’d have people come by the shop to just do the head gasket as preventative maintenance.
My disco 4 / lr4 had 287k before I got rid of it. Not a single thing wrong with it, only major expenses were timing chains at 240k and water pump at 100k and 180k. Simply amazing car.
Nice find Junior Mint! Had a similar issue with our old '70 GMC... my dad had it out at a movie shoot and just when they were trying to do the last shot of the day, it wouldn't start, no lights or anything (the ended up pushing it around!l)... it had to be towed back to his house... I looked at it and turned the lights on, no power, no click no crank. Touched the positive battery connection, it had the same type of replacement clamp,was tight, but not tight enough... the clamp was painted red, even where the wire was clamped, it was enough to allow some arching and carburization of the connection... replaced the whole wire with a proper oem style, all good!
Wizard it genuinely astonishes me that you relentlessly defend Land/Range Rovers.
it's called "regular service", do these things, and cars will do 200k easy
@@idiotstupid5904 perhaps with this particular Land Rover. Range Rovers are garbage even with regular maintenance. I think it’s so funny to watch people drive a 10 year old dilapidated Range Rover in attempts to look important. I’d gain more satisfaction out of burning a pile of money versus paying for maintenance on this junk.
@@idiotstupid5904
Regular maintenance and 200K miles is your expectation? I have a 1992 740 Volvo with almost 500K miles. Land Rovers are crap.
He's a Land Rover defender...
Putting his children through college; he would go broke if he only worked on Toyotas
I KNEW IT!!! I knew you were gonna say problem at the battery terminal! Do you know my company car, 2017 Jeep Renegade spent probably 75% of 2020 in the shop for a chaotic electrical issue? It first went to the dealership admittedly just before the pandemic. They blamed it on the aftermarket construction lights that worked perfectly before they unhooked them, sent me out, problem came back few days later. Car would randomly shut off and throw hella warning codes. Pandemic hits, car gets stuck at the shop, I’m stuck with a loaner. Months go by, I get the car back, problems return, months go by, get the car back problems return. This went on forever! They even changed the BCM! This went on for so long we were on the verge of calling for lemon law. Till that last time, they had it for a while, drove it around several times so it could act up on them. Finally, they discovered there was “some corrosion on one of the battery terminals” They cleaned that up, haven’t had a problem since.
We had a TV commercial in Australia some years ago. Obvious car fanatic guy notices rattling sound in the dash. On the driveway of his home he is shown progressively stripping the entire dashboard apart. Large pile of pieces shown on the driveway. Then we see him, looking very tired and frustrated, open the ashtray and there in the ashtray are some coins (or something, I can't remember exactly what). He shakes the ashtray. That's the rattlings sound. I think we've all been there. It's so easy to miss the obvious. As for Land Rovers. We have a 2000 Disco 2 TD5. I get really tired of people making snide remarks about Land Rovers and reliability. "If you want to get there, take a Land Rover. If you want to come back, take a Land Cruiser." Our Land Rover has almost 500,000 kilometres on it. Excellent off-roader. Best vehicle for towing heavy loads. Super comfortable, good looking vehicle. It has had no more problems than the two German cars in the family - my VW Passat has had more issues than the Land Rover and my son's Audi A3 blew an engine (failed timing belt tensioner). Even my wife's Hyundai i30 has more repeat problems than the Land Rover. I'd have another Land Rover in a heartbeat. If the current one ever wears out.
You can't trust them adverts, as a kid in the 80's UK TV adverts gave the impression all kids in Australia lived on cattle stations and were kept "good and tough with mighty white bread" and that Australians loved fosters beer so much it was the "Amber nectar" they drank 10 pints of it a day. then I visited, they lied! They prefer VB
@@mikehunt8823 I don't think I've met a single person who drinks Fosters. That's marketing for you. Our property is about an hour south of the Queensland border, so mostly XXXX Gold is the beer of choice here. And these days if we're dining with friends it's more likely to be a Coonawarra or Yarra Valley Cabernet Sauvignon on the table than the amber stuff.
@@davidhynd4435 I envy you! You I've in paradise, my sister married a fella from the gold Coast, 3 times she moved there but came home coudnt handle the heat, I loved it, 35°c at night I'd sleep in a chair outside in me undercrackers under the stars, I'm in pipeline engineering so I'm thinking about trying for a visa, I wish I had done it years ago.
What timing on this video! Started a head gasket on a white P38 yesterday. I've always feared this job, 4 hours in and Im down to the block. Getting the heads on tomorrow and she'll be back on the road. Just in time for the weekend!
Weezards wobble but they don't fall down . The sped up part of the intro where he enters the shop really tickles me .
Man you’re starting to get close to 500k subscribers! I love that you and Ninja kick each other work.
You gut it right #CarWizzard landrover and Landcruiser are very common in Southern Africa. Botswana South Africa Namibia Zimbabwe very reliable safari vehicle
Love early D1s, they make excellent donors for my 110!
Yep. The only difference is the Landcruiser is out in the African bush.
The Rand Lover is sitting at the dealership for repairs....
Timing belt failures is the diesel 2.5 motor.
In Australia 4 litre and the garbage 4.6 v8 were only in Rangies, Disco had 3.5 and 3.9 v8.
4.6 cylinder liners leaked.
The best part of this video is hearing mrs. Wizard call Pop Pop and not soda.
I thought she said pot. Gummed up with pot. It smells funny in here too.
Again, great video! I had a similar experience helping my friend (He is a very experienced mechanic that specializes in Ferraris..). His wife's Cadillac had a no start issue. He determined that it was a bad starter and asked me to basically "hold the flashlight". We dig in, take out the intake manifold and stuff. Replace the starter. Put it all back together. Still no start.
I recommended that he re-check battery and connectors. While doing so, guess what? One of the connectors was simply loose. Re-tightened it. Started right up.
Wasted like 6 hours on that, plus the price of the starter. LOL
Much love from South Africa.
Me to from Pretoria RSA.
Cape Town
Brakpan!!!! Lol
@@ricoolivier my ouers het in die 50er jare in Brakpan gebly Trollip Straat ek gebore in 1964 in Walvisbaai SWA
@@adriaanpretorius3411 HI Adriaan. Nog steeds 'n pragtige dorp. Ons bly in Dalview. Baie grappe altyd, maar ek sê altyd "dont knock it till you've tried it"!!
I have a 97. My most modern car. I thought that smell was due to it being damp from the leaks around the windscreen! That's on my list to fix. Also corrosion around the alpines, sagging headliner, etc, etc. Never been a truck or 4WD guy. I own an MGB and an Austin 7 so little cars but I really like the thing. Main reason I got it so for when I need to tow the other (little) car I am building, a Riley 9, on a trailer. Did you or Mrs Wizard every get another one?
If I’m going to Africa or the end of the world, I’ll be driving a Land Cruiser. Thank you.
You and ISIS agree 😉
100%
@@aussie2uGA and Australia also agrees.
100% This is the way!
Yes correct and the wizard is wrong not everything will break down, land cruisers will keep going.
Hello from Namibia, i drive my Discovery 2 in the farm, its great off road and in the bush. I really like your videos, instead of waving hands and telling everyone to get a Lexus or a 94 Celica you have truly usefull content.
“How can such a simple repair cause huge problems in this 99 Land Rover Discovery?”
You don’t know?
They circled it in green for you all over the vehicle! The Brits are nice like that!
That’s my absolute favorite, especially with the full ARB kit !
Sorry but you take a Land Rover out to the bush, and need a Land Cruiser to bring you back.
This
lol Yess
I agree with that
I went on safari as a kid in africa. The driver and his land cruiser used it for pushing a 3-4 cars who was stuck. Not towing, just pushing. We got stuck once, after pushing out a car which was stuck until we pushed it out and stucked at same place. Edit: I know nothing about offroad, but after that, I would go with a land cruiser.
🙏
I've got an 03 D2. I switched to the 180 degree thermostat from the TD5, replaced the entire cooling system minus the heater core but including the hard pipes, flushed with distilled until it ran out crystal clear, and used G05 coolant and a bottle of water wetter for the hopes and dreams aspect. Haven't seen temps go past 198 and that was sitting idle in 100 degree heat with the AC on. Hoping the headgaskets are happy
15:16 "And I send him the piece of trash BMWs" lol 😂
And stays with trash Land Rovers 😂😂
@@ivannarvaez367 lmaooo What's sad is the electrical is really the dealbreaker for me it's not even the head gasket
Greetings from the UK. Amazing that Disco is still running, not many 21 year old left in the UK. The V8 was not popular here, too thirsty, most were diesels. The engine as you say is ex Buick and a very old design, and was used in many British cars, Rovers,TVRs, Morgans,MGB, Range rovers etc. Started out as a 3.5 litre and slowly grew to 4.6 and sometimes a bit more.
I ran a 4.6 litre MGB roadster, I used composite head gaskets and no problems. Head gaskets were an easy repair if caught early.
I had an early Disco automatic diesel, it was awful, almost dangerous, very slow to pull out of a junction.
I’d still take a Land Cruiser over both of these if I was going to the middle of nowhere
Exactly. I'm from Africa, drive a V8 Landcruiser, and it has never broken down in ten years in the bush.
You know what they say.... if you want to go anywhere you can take a Land Rover, but if you want to come back then take a Toyota.
Imagine going to Dingo piss Creek in the Australian outback in a Land Rover, and experiencing electrical and electronic problems with it there....
Yeah. I feel you, for Toyota makes tough trucks, and has since the BAJA race of 1977. And in that iconic race, they logged in second place with the fewest mechanical breakdowns of any other 1,200 entrants?
I didn’t think it would take long to find the Toyota fan boys in the comments with all their wonderful stories!!
It's very easy for people to say why wasnt that simple fault picked up by the owner or the mechanic. Hindsight isn't always in the toolbox. Great video Car Wizard, keep it up.
If you guys notice slight green flicker it is not Wizards camera, TH-cam has been doing this to all the uploads I have been watching for the last 2 days.
I thought it was artifacting. I have a big OC on my GPU memory since it's also mining right now.
Yep... seems to be affecting many videos from a variety of creators. Obviously TH-cam's video processing is at fault.
Or you live in the Matrix
it's the 5g
No it’s global warming
Recently bought an 03 disco 2, now this is the first "big girl car" I own, kind of a childhood dream I had. Drove super well all summer but last month it threw up the entirety of its coolant on the floor of the parking lot after only 50km of highway. Panicked, immedately thought 'omg the head gasket is done for'. My brother said 'chill, go from cheapest fix to most expensive'. Started with the coolant tank cap, and it was fixed. The o rings on the cap were dead and the tank couldn't hold the pressure in anymore. Impressive breakdown, and stupid simple fix lol
Bottom line: you like what you like. Wizard loves English cars, even though he knows every Rover V8 will blow its head gaskets. Wizard obviously loves the Jag V12 - although I still dare him to even try taking the heads off the bad 5.3 V12 he got rooked on (spoiler; those heads are guaranteed to almost be welded onto the block of that 5.3 V12).
that rover V8 is an american engine though.......not english
@@bonvoyage5377 Yes the origins of the Rover V8 are from a Buick of the early 1960's. Rover has been the manufacturer for some years now. They blew head gaskets in the 1960's, they still blow head gaskets now - even after all the Rover improvements. I still dare the Wizard to even try to take a head off that 5.3 V12 he first bought. He won't even try because he knows it has been fused with the block and will need a few tons of force to separate.
I like Mrs Wizards take on things, I'm waiting for you to call her the Boss, it's nice to see good couples working together.
He opens the ash tray at 5:21. Pipe and a lighter lol. Lil something to smoke on while in the vehicle haha Thats my kind of African safari
My first reaction when anything starts to act up start to check the source👍I wish more people watch your channel it would save people allot of headaches
"You don't see a lot of g-wagons in the middle of nowhere" g-wagons are used by tonnes of military's across western Europe.
Western Europe is not in the middle of nowhere.
Those are not the v8 mall crawler spec variety.
@@nielsdebakker3283 Nope, they're the special military spec. Diesel, I think?
How is anywhere in Western Europe comparable to the Australian Outback or the African savanna?
If your vehicle broke down in the remotest place in Western Europe how many kilometers would you have to walk to the nearest house or farmstead?
@@williamegler8771 probably 10 km. Outside of Greenland or Russia, there are few places in mainland Europe where you can be more than an hour's walk from other people.
I been watching your show for months I like input on different things and ways you your wife explain great work. Problem 1997 sebring timming belt issue ,can a cam move back or forward and what great tool to hold sprocket.
That's what happen with my 1991 Land Rover Disco Series 1. Blow the Head Gasket.
All land rovers blow head gaskets
Tyler is a smart businessman! That is a true entrepreneur - spotting something that he could buy and sell on at a much greater price. He saw what others could not see. Also once he got you up to speed in fixing the gaskets he could negotiate a special deal - as you could do it with your eyes closed by then - and he brought in lots of business for you. Also becoming Doug's right-hand man was a good stepping stone move.
I love my 2003 disco, its my second one.
I also have a 2003 D2. Love it 😄 -some time soon i'll add a CDL on it.
I drive a ‘96 Discovery every day. Wizard is absolutely right, a lot of the issues I’ve fixed on mine have been as simple as bad fuse connections, or a loose ground… very sensitive to electrical connections that’s for sure. Gotta say I love this thing!
Still wondering why the Wizard would fix Land rovers, RRs, Jags, Aston and Lotus but will never touch a BMW.
I think it might be how easy or difficult they are to fix? He says in this video that it's really easy to fix stuff on the Rover V8 engine, so even if they're prone to blowing head gaskets it's probably much easier to fix it than whatever common issues hit BMWs.
Car wizard works his ass off for sure! I appreciate you taking the time to make content. I love LR Discoveries as well....
Hey Wizard & Mrs Wizard, you are so courteous, you don't have to apologize for the background noise, I think that it adds ambiance to a working shop!! 👍😁
I’m guessing there’s a sponsorship deal and he has to mention Bendpak lifts X amount of times in X amount of videos. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
When I went to South Africa in 2009, my rental was a VW Golf Mk1 (City Golf) and it was brand new (they built them locally until that year). I drove it more than 3000 miles, part of it on dirt roads.
Isn't going over every bolt and tightening it a weekly scheduled maintenance task for any Land Rover?
8:10 that is the problem with the Northstar engine. Techs tell customers they have a blown head gasket when they don’t. Ever time a Northstar run hot or pump out coolant. People think they have a blown head gasket.
It's a well known saying in the UK that you can sell anything to Americans & positive proof of this is, you buy Land Rovers😂
Thanks, Wizard. Like the Discover, like the Defender and Range Rover more. I've been busted for something similar. Told by the service garage my battery terminals were corroded (I am not paying them $50 to do that I can do it myself). But I waited..... until no go, then I cleaned them off and it worked fine.
A Land Rover, with no issues... lol
I'm sorry, but I'm a little sceptical.
But, on the other hand, the Wizard knows his stuff ☺👋👍
And when it’s not leaking any oil it is empty :)
@@arijverkaik6473 😅😅😅😅
Its good to finally see someone giving the discovery the credit it deserves. I have had 2 both from new, a disco 1 then a 2002 which I am still driving today and have never had a major issue with, never had a head gasket need replacing though I might replace it soon just as a precaution, and would use ARP head bolts instead of the original or Land Rover OEM replacements. 250,000 Km and going strong.
Stop! Making! Me! Want! One! My wife is going to shoot me dead. Also when you moved the seat you should have asked Mrs. Wizard if you made the earth move for her.
Me Too! My wife would smother me with my pillow, lol!
Well if you’ve LOTS of money for repairs, go ahead.
If you get an old series Land Rover it won’t break the bank their incredibly basic and easy to work on you need to watch out for chassis and bulkhead rust and you’ll get your money back on it due to appreciation if you don’t want it but however they aren’t comfortable to drive at all but some of the classic range rovers with the 3.9 rover v8 are pretty reliable though but they suffer from huge rust issues unless you look after it heavily
Thats why he's the wizard! Thank you for blessing us with knowledge.
Wow. My mechanic would have charged me nothing and told me to remember the goodwill--and to tell my friends.
Same. He charged him for that...wow.
Its actually the other way around. We found the problem and was honest about it. I know of several shops that would have taken this guy to the cleaners. “Oh it needs a new control module, $1200” and only tightened the battery for $1200. This guy now knows we are honest and will be back. Just like the other 3000+ customers in my customer base.
Wow. Your mechanic works for free?
@@CarWizard Congrats on your 3000+ loyal customer base...I hope they stay that way. I was just saying that to tighten a couple bolts it would have been a good gesture to do this on the house and catch him next time.
$150 to tighten two bolts. Must be great to be a mechanic.
Being a master tech isn't only about being able to do the big jobs. It's about being able to do the simple stuff perfectly every time.