Some General Questions

[Eva]

Hi Everyone,
I have a 97 LR Discovery and I have a few questions. first let me say I do love mine, bought it used 3 months ago but my first question is:

Do they spend more time at the mechanic than they do on the road ? In the short time I have owned it, I have had to take it 3 times, first time just for a check up, second time for oil and lub, third time it had leaks and needed the muffler replaced which cost about $1500.00.

Now last night we were coming back from a x-mas party and all of a sudden the "check engine" light went on, it is amber and I checked the book that came with it and it said it is a warning light so I will of course take it back to the mechanic hopefully Monday.

I really like the Land Rover but again, if I am going to have to continually spend a small fortune to keep it running I will sadly have to get rid of it. I am of course thinnking that the previous owner did not take care of it so maybe I am having to get all the service up to date, any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Eva

 

[joey]

First Eva, never go to the dealer for anything on a '97 Disco they charge way too much and just about any mechanic can work on one if they are willing.

let us know the mileage and any other maintence history that you know of, and we may be able to help more.

Check engine light can be read for free and any autozone. Let us know the codes, and we may be able to tell you what needs fixed or repaired with out the $80 - $100 per hour charge at the dealer.

Also was it the check engine on the left or the service engine on the right?

Exhaust on a '97 shouldn't have cost more than $200 unless you had to replace the Cats.

 

[Eva]

Since I live in a small town, alls I have access to is a mechanic. I had to replace the muffler (the whole thing because it had rusted badly from previous owner) and it had an oil , coolant and a transmission leak so I wanted all of that fixed which is probably why it was $1500.00. FYI they were very small leaks but I am a fanatatic about keeping vehicles in good shape so the minute I saw the leaks I took it in, didn't want them to get worse.

The "check engine" light is on the left hand side and it is amber. It has approx 92,000 miles on it. The people we bought it from said they had no problems at all with it and it does drive fine. I do live in a rural area and have to drive on dirt roads but other than that I have not taken it on a "4 wheel drive" out anywhere.

Thank you for your help.

 

[Heem]

buy yourself an OBDII code reader. they can be had for about $100 at any auto parts store or online even.

You simply plug it in to the port underneath the steering wheel, down near your feet - and it tells you what the code is. sometimes they are just "nothing" codes that can just be cleared and ignored or 'dealt with later'. In any case, it's best to know what the codes are being thrown before going to a mechanic/dealer to get ripped off. at least if you know what the codes were they will have a harder time BSing you.

 

[joey]

Also to add to Heem's point. Land Rovers leak, and there is not much that can be done about it. Even if you changed ever gasket in the vehicle give in a month and it will leak. So unless it is loosing alot of oil just watch to make sure it is full.

At 92k the CEL is probably for O2 sensors, but that is just a guess.

 

[Eva]

Yippee Skippe , I took it to my mechanic today and it was nothing, WHEW !!!! And he did it for free so it didn't cost me a dime. Thanks everyone for all your help.