desertdude

Very sneaky Gaurav, very sneaky indeed, by tagging me, so I get a notification and get dragged into this ! LOL Gaurav, Rahim bhai how are you guys, loooong time no see! And thank you Rahim bhai for remembering me and your kind words and bothering to look up my old posts Yes, (unfortunately for some) I am very real and these are my actual experiences, Although having sold the Disco 1 I still Diesel Oil on my catless Range Rover P38 which is now sitting comfortable at 220k kms. There is a lot of research gone into this, specially by hot rod community in the US. Because most old school muscle cars also use flat tappet push rod engines. Just google ZDDP. Now big oil companies are coming out with oil formulas with added ZDDP just for these cars out there. So its not some thing I made up ? Technically the LR V8 is a 60s Buick Engine with LR bought the rights to, and practically remained unchanged till it last production run. And for people making noise about sticking to "manufacturer" specs, how many of them even bother to read the owners manual, eh ? I can bet 90% don't even know the recommended tyre pressure of their cars ? That brake oil needs to be flushed and replaced every 3 years, coolant every year or two, ( figures may vary ) etc etc. Or every bothered reading the owners manual ? Do you even know what engine oil is being put into your motor ? Or you just go to the gas station he asks, You want the 3000kms, 5000kms or 10000kms oil in your car ? Since we are talking LRs here a shot, attached below from the manual for the Range Rover, for countries with temps from 0-40C + use 10-60w oil, and if you read further on it says countries with hot and dusty climates ( which is considered extreme duty by most manufacturers ) an oil change is recommended every 5000kms, when normal oil change ( as in European and North American climate ) interval for the same vehicle is 10,000kms. So how many are using 10-60w ? L322 Range Rovers, Audis, VWs, BMWs and many more all which use the newer ZF transmissions come with "sealed for life" engine oil, yet the world is filled with people whose transmissions have given up the ghost anywhere from between 100-160k kms. And yet ZF themselves sell replacement transmission oil and filters, and when questioned about their sealed for life boxes, they simply say its the life of the box and not the car, and they estimate the life of one to be around 100k miles after which it needs to be serviced. There is even a huge neo green sticker on the ZF boxes which mention the oil part number. My other Range Rover has a built in oil service countdown and once reset, it shows next oil change after 25,000kms !!!! Now if I want to destroy my motor I will follow what the "manufacturer recommended". My new RR takes only fully synthetic ( i.e expensive ) oil, but I still change it every 5k rather than the "recommended" 25k by the car itself. Oh and in the manuals and even the oii cap says use only Castrol oils...right !!! So don't just blindly follow "manufacturers recommendations" use your own 2 cents as well

Ahhh ! No wonder it looked a little off for a sat nav, anyways sir put down a deposit for 1999 Vogue SE with 151k on the clock today, wish me luck Still wishing yours had a sandstone beige interior, would have got it ! Oh and good luck with the L322 purchase, the market is flooded with them so it shouldn't be too hard to find a good deal pn them and plus the Air suspension is much more reliable on those, but have a good look. Can't remember which year but look for U Joints on both end of the front drive shaft as the early models came with only one in the transfer case side, and these ended up ruining the front diffs. If it has only one U joint, its not a matter of if but when the front diff is going to explode !

Siiir, I'm in the market for a Range, is this the same one we bought, I don't remember having it Satnav ? Anyways I would have snapped it up in a heartbeat, specially since you know how much I love Autobiographys, but only the dark interior color is putting me off. Seems like you have taken good care of her, good luck with the sale Cheers

Abu Askoor Work shop, in mussfah, close to ARB emirates and Gulf Star, if you go to gulf star they can tell you exactly where it is located, its walking distance from there. Run by a guy called Saeed, who worked with the previous dealers of LR in Abu Dhabi AL Otaiba, then when they sole the dealership he left and opened up his own Workshop. Very knowledgeable with LRs and tell him the " hindi "guy with the red discovery from Dubai sent you.

For being a Baller on the road, nothing beats the newer Ranges and Sports, for off road prowess, the old, save for the Defenders, although now they only come in oil burner format.

Hello peeps, I know this Rangie personally and to find a LWB Classic is akin to finding hens teeth. So if any Classic fans out there, this is literally once in a life time oppurtunity http://tnydu.biz/DOhYeE

Its not a big thing and you can get it done from anywhere, check about in Sharjah for cheaper rates. Just make sure you don't get "White man" prices. All this work should cost under 1k I'm guessing and a few days at the most.

That will cost you just as much as buying another abused disco 1, not worth the cost. Better to keep on looking for a bull bar. Check my pics in the intro thread to see how it would look.

Don't worry about tyres or other mods, learn how to drive in the desert first. Once you reach a reasonable level then start thinking about these mods and such.

Thats a nice ride, I see it already has a lift on it. Anyways look around online there are various groups of people here who go on drives to the desert regularly.

Thanks for the link. I've been using Diesel oil in my petrol 3.9 for what, at the very least for a year and a half now I think. You're absolutely correct about the ZDDP, not levels though, regular modern petrol oil does not have it all, lack of it leads to tappet and cam shaft lobe wear, turning you motor into an anemic donkey over time.Something cruicial to our flat tappet motors. All Land rover V8's till 2002 and 2004 on the Discoveries. The best bang for the buck I have found till date is ADNOC HDSP Diesel oil 42 bucks for a gallon it has a SJ rating. The S in the rating stands for Spark i.e Petrol Engines. The C rating in diesel stands for Compression. You want to make sure the diesel oil you use has a S rating.

You'll need to clean the contacts. Remove the insulation a bit more with something like acetone and expose the contacts and plonk it back in and hope it works. You'll need to open the instrument binnacle though. Since the this generation or Range Rover shares a lot of parts with the X5 and other BMW's this is appropriate. http://bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/285208 P.S : I rather smear myself in honey and be left in the woods to be eaten by bears than go to Ashraf !

How do you know your HG needs to be replaced in the first place ?

Hi there, Dude of the desert with you. Been a landrover nut ever since I bought one not so long ago, somewhere in 2005. Have had five land rovers since then. First one was a Disco 96 FXI. OME lift, custom fabbed front bumper, Shaheen sand service tyres Second one was another 96 Autobiography loaded to the teeth, factory fitted screens in the head rest, a TV tuner and a VHS player ! Yes folks DVD's wern't around then back then and VHS was the bomb, and with enough wood inside to put a Amazonian forest to shame. Sadly on a few pics remain and this is the only one I can find now Then next came an Epson Green 1998, which was alright but really didn't like it that much because of the exterior and interior colour ( gray ! A range only looks good in light beige on the inside IMO ) Then I got hold of an absolute beauty. A 1999 ( but still a gems motors ) 50th anniversy edition with only original 45k on the odo. The car was bought here and then taken over to the UK as the person who bought it moved there and took the car with him. It stayed there till 2007 or something and then he came back here and brought it back here ( car had full service history from the dealers in London, driven less than a 5000 kms per year ! ). Then he retired and left so basically got rid of it and I bought it for a song ! The best P38A I've ever driven ! This was the car I wanted to be buried in !!! But unfortunately the credit crunch, crunched a little hard on me and I was absolutely left with no choice then to sell it. My heart still aches to this day when I think about it Unfortunately just a few pics remain, this was on the day I got it. Obvious to say I got rid of the nasty 16" alloys instantly and replaced them with 2008 RRS alloys Currently my only car at the moment Big Red a 1998 Discovery. My true companion through thick and thin. Its got over 300,000kms on the clock and most of them I've put on it and it still purrs like a baby Been all over the country with this on and offroad. Love the thing to bits. Its got a 2 inch lift with britpart coils ( have lasted and performed much better than old mans to my surprise ) Stock shocks. Trimmed front bumper. Camel cut to the rear wheel wells to fit the 275/70 R16 Michelin LTX's Poser pic Some action shots Al Wagan Landie leading a group of lost sheep ( Jeeps ) In Al Faqa Chilling on top of a ridge in Sweihan The calm before the storm Some sideways action Relaxing after a good day of wheelin' More relaxation in Liwa The day I got big red, bog standard with tricycle traning wheels on it and sitting lower than a Ferrari So here is my story. Whats yours ?