Land Rover Discovery FAQ’s for New Owners Quirks and Facts of Life

[Joey]

This is not mine and I give credit to the author in the post:

Land Rover Discovery FAQ’s for New Owners
Quirks and Facts of Life
by Jason Vance
A very useful tool you can own is a Bentley Shop Manual for your Land Rover. At the very least, try to find a Haynes manual.
The Bentley manual offers a very comprehensive, detailed instructions to tackle every repair task you may experience, granted if you have all of the right tools to perform the repair. The Haynes manual is not as detailed; however, if you are mechanically inclined, you can figure out most procedures from the abbreviated instructions…and most importantly, they provide all of the torque specifications necessary to put your vehicle back together.
If you are going to perform any work while under the vehicle, use the appropriate jack stands rated for your Land Rover’s weight and block any unsuspended wheels. If you are going to remove a wheel to change a flat, or to inspect the brakes and hub assemblies, again, using a hydraulic jack or jack stands would be recommended; however, if you choose to use the bottle jack included with your Land Rover, be sure to lock your center differential first (make sure CDL light is lit on dash before shutting engine/ignition off) and set the parking brake.
Disclaimer: the following suggestions are intended to provide advice and insight about determining the source of a problem and possible solutions. Many of these are compiled from frequently asked questions and responses from the Discoweb.org discussion board (Discovery tech section). These FAQ’s are intended to aid the new Land Rover owner in their understanding of their vehicle, as well as identify components to check (and check often) that not only may be the source of noises and concern, but are easy to address and fix, especially before neglect accelerates wear on your vehicle. If after checking these possibilities and the noise or problem persists, it is time to visit your dealer or repair shop.
Transmission Heat
Symptom: gear selector and indicator become very warm/hot
Transmission heat is common with heavy vehicles. The Discovery auto tranny is equipped with a cooler, as well as a temperature sender. If the temperature gets too hot, a warning light will be indicated on the dash. Under normal operation, heat may (and will!!) be transmitted up through the gear selector. It can be quite a surprise if you fingers rub the bare metal below the plastic handle…so be forewarned!
The gear indicator(s) beside the gear selector also become very warm, often becoming hotter than the gear selector. This is not due to your transmission! There is a small, 5-watt bulb lighting the indicator that also doubles as a Coleman Camp Stove replacement burner. Don’t leave chocolate or perishables near the gear indicators (children’s fingers, too!).
Steering Play
Symptom: slop in the steering wheel, not responsive to small wheel movements within a small range of rotation when driving straight. Wants to wander like a kid in a toy store.
Check all suspension components! While the steering box, tie-rods, and tie-rod ends may be an equally plausible culprit, as is the need for an alignment, suspension components becoming loose or in need of new bushings can create this symptom. While underneath the car (with all four wheels on the ground!!!) have another person turn the wheel left and right. Inspect whether there is any play is various suspension members (e.g. panhard rod, etc), as well as play in the tie-rod ends and the steering box drop-arm.
If everything is tight (suspension and steering components), then check the rear suspension! If everything is tight and the bushings are not worn, it may time for an alignment, or there may be a more serious issue present (e.g. wheel bearings) that should elicit its own warning noise!
Front-End Noises
Symptoms: Clunks, clinks, clops
Loose suspension members or worn bushings may elicit a number of clunking or clinking sounders under braking, acceleration, or turning. Loose or worn engine mounts may also sound similar. Check suspension member mounting bolts and inspect bushings. Also inspect engine mounts. Tighten to correct torque specified in repair manual.
The front brake pads are located within the brake calipers via two shafts that pass through the tops of each side of the caliper and the tops of the pads. There is enough play within the pads, shafts, and calipers to allow the pads to ride up the rotors a couple of mm’s, then drop back down, which may sound like “clop clop clop,” once per revolution of the axle (kind of like a horse’s hooves while walking on pavement). The sounds should go away when the brakes are applied, even just slightly.
The above symptom may also be indicative of loose or worn wheel bearings. Remove the wheel on a questionable side and check the hub for play. Rotating the hub back and forth should reveal whether moving brake pads are causing the sounds, but play within the hub indicates that a more serious problem needs to be addressed. Instructions on replacing wheel bearings can be found in Bentley or Haynes repair manuals, or http://www.discoweb.org/faq/wbearing.htm
Auto Transmission ‘Clunk’
Symptom: clunk (can feel and hear) after shifting into reverse or drive
Engine piston-return springs may be worn and muffler-bearing needs to be replaced…just kidding. Discovery owners have reported this from the time they have purchased their vehicle. It is probably best to not accelerate prior to this ‘clunk’ indicating that reverse or drive has been engaged, and also (common sense) not selecting reverse or drive when the vehicle is in motion. If the ‘clunk’ is of exceptional concern (e.g. you’re just plain freaked out or it has become noticeably louder than before), check the front and rear radius arms. If the bushings are worn or the arms are loose, the axle’s tendency to want to move backward or forward (depending on which gear you select) will snap out the slack and add to the ‘clunk’ sound. Replace bushings if needed and/or tighten arms to specified torque.
Interior Noises
Symptom: you rotated knob on center of dash and cabin was engulfed with unpleasant and intelligible sounds.
You located the factory audio package! The following is not to recommend components or replacements; however, if you are looking to replace the stock head-unit, it can easily be removed using a 2mm Phillips-head screwdriver to loosen the retaining clips through the small hole on each side of the face of the radio. You do not need to dismantle the dash to remove the radio…the rest is up to you and your musical tastes!
Capacities:
Engine oil including filter 7.1 qt
Transmission Fluid (ZF Auto) 10.0 qt
Transmission Fluid (R-380 5-speed) 2.8 qt
Transfer box 2.4 qt
Differentials (F & R each) 1.8 qt
Swivel Pin Housing 1.2 pt
Power Steering 3.0 qt
Cooling system 13.6 qt
Fuel tank 23.4 ga
Hydraulic bottle jack is located in engine compartment, driver’s side in front of the air-filter box. The arm to actuate the jack and lug-nut wrench is in a long vinyl bag that is located under the rear seats, secured with Velcro straps. Do not remove the stainless-steel covers from the lug-nuts!!! Remember to secure the central diff-lock (CDL) and parking brake prior to jacking up the vehicle!
Changing Oil
The order of changing the oil was mentioned on the Discoweb.org tech bulletin board; it was instructed as follows:
1. Drain oil
2. Fill with new oil
3. Remove oil filter
4. Fill new oil filter with new oil and mount filter
The logic behind these procedures is that the oil pump and oil filter are mounted above the fill-level of the engine sump. It is important to not loose the prime between the sump and the pump; apparently when the oil is drained and the filter is removed at the same time, this oil prime is lost. The following may help if you have feared losing the prime: remove the coil-to-distributor wire and turn the engine over without it starting to prime the system and build up oil pressure.