55,000km 4.5 year oil change

So I bought a 1999 LR Discovery 2 V8 about 3 weeks ago, bought it unseen from Christchurch and drove it back to the Waikato about 1100kms.
Drove really well and was impressed with the power and smoothness of the engine and gear box.
Just before my trip home I checked the usual things water level, oil etc and noticed the dipstick came out looking pretty black, as I usually only drive diesels I thought it a bit odd but didn't think too much of it.

I bought some oil and a filter to do the oil change and got to work last night after work, upon draining the oil I was a little concerned as the oil seemed to be a bit thinner than I would expect, was very black had and quite a bit of sludge. Thought that was definitely overdue an oil change.
Then the excitement really began, the oil filter felt like it was welded in place, is was so tight I bent my filter wrench all out of shape and had to use a long screwdriver to get more leverage on the strap wrench. Upon removing the filter I found some interesting information written on it.
See picture below:
Attachment 75042

If you can't read it, someone has written on it 139,153km and 27/2/13.
Now I assume this is when it was last changed, and considering that was 53,900km and 4 and a half years ago it's no wonder it was black and sludgy!

I had no option but to carry out the oil change with my current oil, which I did with no hiccups, no engine light and seemed to run ok.
I'm thinking of calling the previous owner and asking when he thinks the last oil change was done, he seemed a good guy and had taken great pride and care with the vehicle.
Not sure if the garage he took it too was ripping him off or if he was a good liar.

I'm likely going to change the oil and filter again after a few hundred kms, depending what the dipstick looks like.
I've not heard good things about doing engine flushes as they can sometimes do more harm than good, but I am toying with the idea of running diesel engine oil (of the same spec) through as have heard that the detergents can help with a sludgy engine and in some vehicles folk will run diesel oil anyway as has better anti-wear additives that modern petrol engine oil.


Let this be a warning to people buying second hand vehicles, do your home work and check the vehicle out thoroughly.
I usually try to view a vehicle before buying, but wasn't an option on this occasion.

Lucky it had oil in it being a land rover.

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Originally Posted by Nibblet

Lucky it had oil in it being a land rover.

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Might be something in that, if you never change the oil it's too thick to leak out!

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Originally Posted by Timmay

Might be something in that, if you never change the oil it's too thick to leak out!

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On my aeronautical engineering course we had a guy who had a Honda prelude, that's not the craziest bit either, he had owned for 8 years and had never done an oil change. Reckoned he almost never needed to top up the oil either.

We tried to convince him to change it as we were curious to see if it was like cookie dough but her figured ain't broken don't fix, just the kind of guy you want working on commercial airliners lol

Wait... You're supposed to change the oil?

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Originally Posted by Timmay

Might be something in that, if you never change the oil it's too thick to leak out!

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Or he figured as he was putting in 4 litres of oil with every tank of fuel it was fresh and didn't need to be changed?


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A friend buggered his engine because he didn't realise he had to change the oil. He topped it up regularly, but never changed the oil or filter.

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Originally Posted by Spudattack

Or he figured as he was putting in 4 litres of oil with every tank of fuel it was fresh and didn't need to be changed?


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This is not a stupid concept, old piston engine aircraft (DC3 etc) use to burn enough oil that it was not required to be changed.

This Landy was very good in the way of oil leaks (none that I could see), but I don't think that will be the case for much longer.

Yep run some diesel oil through it for a few hundy kms, won't do any harm and yes its high detergent and will flush the crap out.

Probably changed oil but couldnt get filter off so didnt.
Good that this one isnt a leeker. Mine leeks rain in through the sunroof and oil out the bottom

Maybe the old oil was so thick that it could not leak ! :-)

Should have bought a V8 diesel! I'm getting Landrovers every smoko, the guy that works for me wants to buy one, been going on for about 3 mths. Drives me nuts, but I know where every Landrover for sale in NZ lives right. You bought a crapper:D

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Originally Posted by Maca49

Should have bought a V8 diesel! I'm getting Landrovers every smoko, the guy that works for me wants to buy one, been going on for about 3 mths. Drives me nuts, but I know where every Landrover for sale in NZ lives right. You bought a crapper:D

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I wish, don't quite has $50k to spend on one unfortunately.

Let him know I've got one for sale, goes well just had an oil change...........

consider changing just the oil in say a weeks time..... that will act as a sort of flush,the semi new stuff will/shouldve picked up any crappy stuff left in system and replacing it with new should see it good to go. mate who used to do my oil changes for me used to pour about a litre of good clean oil through motor before replacing bung for that very reason.

55000km for a disco and its still alive that's a bonus in itself

Yeah but how was your L/100km on the drive?

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Originally Posted by northdude

55000km for a disco and its still alive that's a bonus in itself

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Those motors seem pretty tough, old man's goes really well, especially after replacing both O2 sensors. That's the problem though, replace one thing on the car and the next goes.
ABS shuttle valves, plastic connectors for the auto leveling system so shocks always droop, gasket for the cooling block for the throttle butterfly so all your coolant will disappear.

Ooh and the seemingly large hole in the fuel tank that only appears when you're driving it. Pretty sure any loan application requires declaring ownership so they're aware of the huge out going expense.

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Originally Posted by gimp

Yeah but how was your L/100km on the drive?

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Not too bad, about 16L/100km, but it had a roof rack which I've since taken off and last tank was under 15L/100km.

The air filter needed replacing also, so I wont be surprised if the the economy improves again.

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Originally Posted by Nibblet

Those motors seem pretty tough, old man's goes really well, especially after replacing both O2 sensors. That's the problem though, replace one thing on the car and the next goes.
ABS shuttle valves, plastic connectors for the auto leveling system so shocks always droop, gasket for the cooling block for the throttle butterfly so all your coolant will disappear.

Ooh and the seemingly large hole in the fuel tank that only appears when you're driving it. Pretty sure any loan application requires declaring ownership so they're aware of the huge out going expense.

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There are a few common/well known faults with the Disco 2 (ABS being one of them), but considering that most of them a 15 years old know they hold up pretty well.
Great thing about Land Rovers is all that it's easy to know what to look out for as there are so many LR nutters and so many forums that it's easy to keep on top of things.
LRs are usually pretty easy to work on too and easy/cheap to get parts from the UK.

I've got a diesel Disco 1 also and that thing has been great, have used and abused it and it's kept going and going, only thing to have failed thus far in the alternator but that's something that will fail on all vehicles once it gets old enough.

My dad loves his disco, its basically just a hack to take the dogs to the beach and tow with though.
I hate it haha. Everything is so clunky and heavy like closing doors etc, and not the heavy feeling that cries quality.
You either love or hate them.

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Originally Posted by Beetroot

Not too bad, about 16L/100km, but it had a roof rack which I've since taken off and last tank was under 15L/100km.

The air filter needed replacing also, so I wont be surprised if the the economy improves again.

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Not so horrendous

Steer clear of those oil flush additives they are bad news. Have seen two workmates cars die within a week of a flush - two separate occasions. Just change your oil earlier as others have mentioned.

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Originally Posted by Nibblet

My dad loves his disco, its basically just a hack to take the dogs to the beach and tow with though.
I hate it haha. Everything is so clunky and heavy like closing doors etc, and not the heavy feeling that cries quality.
You either love or hate them.

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Which I like, I find driving my Disco 1 everything feels heavy and when you change gear you actual feel things engaging.
Unlike newer cars I have driven where the gearbox feels like mush and the clutch goes straight to the floor with no feeling at all.

Have a 98 Disco1 diesel. Drives really well and mostly reliable apart from oil leaks. Bit gutless with 33" tyres but ok when she gets wound up.
In total contrast.
I also have 99 4.6 P38 on coils. Goes like a rocket ,nice drive and no oil leaks .Great for towing.

Guy I know drains the oil, puts bung back in, puts in same amount of diesel and runs engine for a couple of minutes then drains and replaces with oil.

He asked if I wanted him to help with my ute, I told him to f%$k off.

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Originally Posted by Beetroot

This is not a stupid concept, old piston engine aircraft (DC3 etc) use to burn enough oil that it was not required to be changed.

This Landy was very good in the way of oil leaks (none that I could see), but I don't think that will be the case for much longer.

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thats because they didnt have an oil sump or return system. all got blown out the arse.

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Originally Posted by Pointer

Steer clear of those oil flush additives they are bad news. Have seen two workmates cars die within a week of a flush - two separate occasions. Just change your oil earlier as others have mentioned.

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Yeah thats the plan, have bought new oil and filter today.
After a few hundred kms will do anyother change.

If you're always topping them up do you have to change the oil? :thumbsup:;)

Had a mate at school who bought a diesel toyota carina which had done over 400,000kms, but the last 100,000kms without an oil change. It wouldn't come out the sump plug hole when we did it. Took several flushes with kero mixed with thin engine oil to get it the sludge moving. Seemed logical at the time :wtfsmilie: He then flogged that car for nearly 3/4 of a million kms and never put a spanner on it

Mate had an old Corolla that had a container tied to the bottom of the engine mounts, once a week just unclipped it and pour it back in the top :thumbsup: