300Tdi Auto Disco - what to look out for?

[repton]

Just having a further think on this.... At what age did the autoboxes on the disco go electronic? Was it at the same time as the injector pump? I don't really want any more electronics that I really need...

Paul

[davew]

The electronic auto boxes came in with the TD5 so Disco II

[repton]

Ahh right, thanks Dave. There's no danger of me getting one by accident then as a Td5 would be well out of my budget.

Current best contender is this one which we're off to look at on Saturday if it's not sold before then:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... 204987040/

That one should be old enough to be on a mechanical pump too.

Paul

[dave willard]

Ahh right, thanks Dave. There's no danger of me getting one by accident then as a Td5 would be well out of my budget.

Current best contender is this one which we're off to look at on Saturday if it's not sold before then:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... 204987040/

That one should be old enough to be on a mechanical pump too.

Paul

Hi
If it helps i think this may be the better one - I think mech pump might be hard to find & you cant test it until its fitted
good luck

[bandiflip]

Chap on a Facebook 4x4 forum selling a 300 Tdi auto... M reg taxed and test £1000 Ono from Doncaster near the airport 07939560614 Martin

[dave willard]

Ahh right, thanks Dave. There's no danger of me getting one by accident then as a Td5 would be well out of my budget.

Current best contender is this one which we're off to look at on Saturday if it's not sold before then:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ ... 204987040/

That one should be old enough to be on a mechanical pump too.

Paul

Hi
If it helps i think this may be the better one - I think mech pump might be hard to find & you cant test it until its fitted
good luck

Hi again
You probably do this but I ask the selller not to start the engine the day I am looking at it so that you get to see a real cold start
If its warmed up is there a problem??
The 300tdi will smoke on start up but should clear after avery short distance
cold starting problems usually due to faulty glow plug/plugs easy to change but I dont like doing it as I have had one break off in the head
In this case the head was already off

if the auto box is slow changing up when cold I have been told this can be an indication of a problem
Also check that the torque converter locks up at about 45/50mph easy to check watch the rev counter to see if engine revs dont change with load if they do it isnt locking it also pulls better when locked
If in a built up area use low box for this test at a much lower speed

Mine used to not lock up occaisionally but cleared itsself after sticking valve sorted its self

Also check kick down works

check for oil leak at the back of the engine due to leaking crank seal

Also check to see if oil is coming out of the cam belt cover at the wading plug hole The wading plug should not be fitted if it is remove it 13mm spanner oil leak over cam belt a common problem

have a look on the Ashcroft website used to be an area with common auto box problems

Some of the points I have indicated are not really major but could be used to haggle

have fun tommorow dave

[repton]

have fun tommorow

It looks like that one is sold, never mind, back to looking...

Paul

[repton]

Chap on a Facebook 4x4 forum selling a 300 Tdi auto... M reg taxed and test £1000 Ono from Doncaster near the airport 07939560614 Martin

We went to have a look and a test drive of this on Sunday. It's a very tidy motor but only has a few weeks test (although he did say he would put it in for one and was confident it would pass) but it looked to me to have a crank rear oil seal leak which put me off. He has since claimed that it was just residual oil being washed off by the rain from a previous rocker cover oil leak but I'm not convinced. He could be right as it was pissing it down at the time so I didn't spend much time underneath but it did look very much to me like it was coming out of the wading plug hole on the torque converter housing.

So it's back to looking again then...

Paul

[dave willard]

Chap on a Facebook 4x4 forum selling a 300 Tdi auto... M reg taxed and test £1000 Ono from Doncaster near the airport 07939560614 Martin

We went to have a look and a test drive of this on Sunday. It's a very tidy motor but only has a few weeks test (although he did say he would put it in for one and was confident it would pass) but it looked to me to have a crank rear oil seal leak which put me off. He has since claimed that it was just residual oil being washed off by the rain from a previous rocker cover oil leak but I'm not convinced. He could be right as it was pissing it down at the time so I didn't spend much time underneath but it did look very much to me like it was coming out of the wading plug hole on the torque converter housing.

So it's back to looking again then...

if you are going to take engine/box out the sealis easy to change when everything on the floor why not make a low offer
dave
Paul

[repton]

if you are going to take engine/box out the sealis easy to change when everything on the floor why not make a low offer
dave

I want to run it though for a good few months first and where I reversed it back on to his drive there was a splat of oil about every 3 feet so it's more than just a slight weep.

Paul

[Matthews]

Tdi's leak from all sorts of places , at 1k I'd be bloody surprised if you find one that's not leaking from somewhere due to the mileage it will have done, I think you are looking for problems that aren't there , if you want a mint motor you'll have to spend mint motor money not MOT failure money , it's a couple of gaskets and the odd oil seal FFS, i'd be worrying if it was leaking oil out of the timing belt cover more than the crank oil seal.
Matthew

[repton]

I'm not expecting something that is bone dry but I think a drip on the ground every 2-3 feet is a little excessive. Given Phil had suggested an MoT fail would normally be 500-600quid I was hoping that for about twice that money I would get something that didn't leave a trail behind on the road everywhere it went.

Paul

[dave willard]

Hi
When I was window shopping Ii came to the conclusion that I would pay about 1500 for one that i could use for some time
By the way the oil leaking out on the floor it was engine oil not red auto fluid was it
If y do want to change the seal in a none scrapper its easier to remove the engine I have made an adjustable lifting bar if y want to borrow it

The seal means splitting the engine & box DO NOT undo just the bell housing bolts before taking apart
You need to unbolt the TQ from the fly wheel where the starter motor was then tip the engine backwards to make sure the TQ stays on its splines
then as soon as you can bolt wood/steel across the bx bell housing to make sure the TQ stays on

The boggers dont do this especially breakers which put me off

Why do this? 1 the oil seal may be damaged on the gb i/p shaft
2 dirt gats onto the spline
3 its good engineering practice to ensuse it stays in the same psn on the splines
Getting to the saal means removing the starter ring noting position of the spacers The seal unbolts the new one comes with a protection/fitting tool which slides off as you fit it
I fitted a new genuine LR seal on my disco, when I started it up, it leaked (the air was very blue)despite making sure itwas not possible to damage it
i had to remove the engine to change the seal using a none lr one from paddock that I decided originally not to use this worked ok for a long while

Oil in the cam belt cover is common & easy to fix in situe plus y may be planning to do the cam belt
Good luck
dave

[repton]

Well it looks like I've just bought this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/230987255734

Bit of a gamble given I've not seen it in the flesh but if it's as good as it has been described then it should be OK. Off to collect it tomorrow.

Paul

[davew]

Come to Fellbeck with it on Sunday and see if it works