LR Disco 2

What's the availability of parts out in the sticks compared to Toyo/Nissans.

Also are mods (susp lift, engine upgrades etc.) more expensive compared to Toyo/Nissans?

www.aulro.com

This is all you need.

Cheers.

Late model Disco 2a with be fine and you can buy any lockers for the D2 including True Trac, Detroit, ARB, Maxidrive (LR only locker) and JMac.

Auto TD5 Disco will tow that van with ease, and there's no Lucas electrics in the LR anymore, it's all Bosch now.

Baz.

Hi Ben,

The Td5 engine in the Discovery II is a fine engine that punches well above it's 2.5L weight. They can be 'chipped' to give very respectable power outputs and appear to last very well if well maintained (like most diesels). That said, I wouldn't want to tow more than 2.5T with one.

Is your "2.4T'ish" an accurate fully-loaded figure. If the Tare is around the 2.4T, the ATM (Agregrate Trailer Mass) is likely to be 400kg higher, ~2.8T. And many people, if they weighed their rigs on a public weighbridge, would be surprised to find how easy it is to exceed a caravan's ATM when loaded for travel. The 400kg 'payload' has to not only include food, clothing, cuttlery, crockery etc. but also gas, water, all the gear in the 'van's boot plus anything that may have been added after the van left the factory, such as roll-out awnings, air-cons, etc fitted by the dealer.

Back to the Td5 Discos: like most models, it's best to avoid the early ones, 1999/early 2000. Some early engines had issues with the flywheel and a wayward oil pump gear. Also, somewhere around 2001/2 they deleted the mechanism to operate the centre diff-lock (CDL), relying fully on Electronic Traction Control.

Fortunately the CDL is still in the transfer case and you can buy kits to re-instate it in these models, but I'd go for a later model if possible, after they reverted to fitting the CDL control as standard. With CDL and ETC, they're hard to stop. The AULRO site mentioned earlier would be able to tell you exactly which models are which.

The Td5 can also suffer from oil getting into the injector wiring harness and stuffing up the system. But there's heaps of info around on curing that problem should it occur. (The Td5 uses electronic unit injectors in the cylinder head. So, the wiring harness to the injectors actually runs through the cyinder head.)

If I had the cash, I'd change our poor overworked 1997 300Tdi Disco I for one of the last D II's (2004/05?) with the modern-looking multi-reflector headlamps - the best-looking 4WD wagon ever, IMHO.