A2 Voyage of Discovery Underway!

Kyojitsu

Kyojitsu

Member
Hello folks,

I've been lurking on here a few weeks gathering advice - what a fantastic forum this is! I'm also a Land Rover owner and this resource is so much better and more helpful than many I've seen for the Discovery 2.

Anyway - my wife needed a small hatchback for not too much money and the nerd in me carefully steered her away from dull stuff and managed to convince her that an A2 was a great choice(!) We are 2 weeks into ownership of a 2001 Mauritius Blue 1.4 TDi with 140,000 miles and I think I'm in love with this little car. My wife has barely had a drive!

Plenty of jobs to do but nothing too serious - the usual cosmetic or can-live-with-it for-now niggles. It had a service at the end of April but just oil and filter so I've managed to replace the air filter (filthy), the pollen filter (disgusting) and will tackle the fuel filter this weekend. Biggest pain in the a***s was changing the G62 coolant temp sender (lost quite a bit of coolant due to my idiocy with clips) and then the thermostat (wish I'd known the right tool to use but got there eventually). Car gets to 90 deg now and stays there so seems to have worked. Hoping to see improvement in economy now...

As a new owner I was very confused by the dipstick - I just couldn't read it. Thought it was a strange design, something quirky and Audi-like. Hunted everywhere for a picture and it looked nothing like the owner's manual. Finally... the penny dropped that the measuring portion had snapped off at some point (doh!) so ordered a replacement.

So thank you for all the numerous helpful posts and advice on here. It's very reassuring.

James
 
Kyojitsu said:
Hello folks,

I've been lurking on here a few weeks gathering advice - what a fantastic forum this is! I'm also a Land Rover owner and this resource is so much better and more helpful than many I've seen for the Discovery 2.

Anyway - my wife needed a small hatchback for not too much money and the nerd in me carefully steered her away from dull stuff and managed to convince her that an A2 was a great choice(!) We are 2 weeks into ownership of a 2001 Mauritius Blue 1.4 TDi with 140,000 miles and I think I'm in love with this little car. My wife has barely had a drive!

Plenty of jobs to do but nothing too serious - the usual cosmetic or can-live-with-it for-now niggles. It had a service at the end of April but just oil and filter so I've managed to replace the air filter (filthy), the pollen filter (disgusting) and will tackle the fuel filter this weekend. Biggest pain in the a***s was changing the G62 coolant temp sender (lost quite a bit of coolant due to my idiocy with clips) and then the thermostat (wish I'd known the right tool to use but got there eventually). Car gets to 90 deg now and stays there so seems to have worked. Hoping to see improvement in economy now...

As a new owner I was very confused by the dipstick - I just couldn't read it. Thought it was a strange design, something quirky and Audi-like. Hunted everywhere for a picture and it looked nothing like the owner's manual. Finally... the penny dropped that the measuring portion had snapped off at some point (doh!) so ordered a replacement.

So thank you for all the numerous helpful posts and advice on here. It's very reassuring.

James
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Enjoy it James and welcome.

One word of warning, A2’s get lonely and prefer to live in groups of 2 or more.
 
Welcome aboard :) Sounds like you've already been doing your research but anything you need to know, don't hold back from asking - we all love helping ? Oh and by the way, photos are mandatory, especially of a Mauritius Blue one ?
 
Here you go..
PXL_20210625_131611305_2.jpg
 
Welcome to the forum and A2 ownership. Not necessarily important (unless buying painted parts) though that doesn't look like Mauritius blue to me.
 
damadgeruk said:
Welcome to the forum and A2 ownership. Not necessarily important (unless buying painted parts) though that doesn't look like Mauritius blue to me.
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That's one reason why I suggested a photo, because Mauritius Blue wasn't available for a 2001 car (year as stated by the OP). I think that's Azure Blue but I'm sure @Kleynie and others will correct me if I'm wrong. Nice looking example either way ?
 
welcome and nice car!

something to plan for - when the cambelt is next due you should consider budgeting for replacement of the oil pump chain, tensioner and sprockets that also drives the harmonic balancer. Failure has been known at roughly your mileage onwards (although many other cars have done half as many miles again without this being done with no problems) - there does not seem to be a reliable way to predict its working life and hence it’a best done as a precaution while the cambelt is being done - as this has to come off anyway.
 
dj_efk said:
welcome and nice car!

something to plan for - when the cambelt is next due you should consider budgeting for replacement of the oil pump chain, tensioner and sprockets that also drives the harmonic balancer. Failure has been known at roughly your mileage onwards (although many other cars have done half as many miles again without this being done with no problems) - there does not seem to be a reliable way to predict its working life and hence it’a best done as a precaution while the cambelt is being done - as this has to come off anyway.
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Agree - WOM Automotive did mine at around 240,000 miles and it was fine, but they showed me one that they'd replaced on another car at 140,000 miles which was close to failing.
 
damadgeruk said:
Welcome to the forum and A2 ownership. Not necessarily important (unless buying painted parts) though that doesn't look like Mauritius blue to me.
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Oops. Fair cop. I googled Mauritius Blue cars and thought it looked similar! Good to know I actually have an Atlantic Blue vehicle - thank you @Kleynie for the info.
 
trevorswaine said:
Looks good ! At 140,000 miles it should be just run in, and ok for another 140,000 miles at least. Anyway welcome.
Non-standard centrecaps on the wheels ?
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I have no clue I'm afraid. A couple don't fit very well so maybe that's why or someone's been a bit heavy handed removing them ?
 
dj_efk said:
welcome and nice car!

something to plan for - when the cambelt is next due you should consider budgeting for replacement of the oil pump chain, tensioner and sprockets that also drives the harmonic balancer. Failure has been known at roughly your mileage onwards (although many other cars have done half as many miles again without this being done with no problems) - there does not seem to be a reliable way to predict its working life and hence it’a best done as a precaution while the cambelt is being done - as this has to come off anyway.
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Yes - coincidentally I read a post on here about the oil pump chain and was wondering about it. Service records say my vehicle had the cambelt and water pump changed in 2016 at c.116k miles so not quite sure I can justify it being done again for a bit vs value of car. Are there specific symptoms?
 
Kyojitsu said:
Yes - coincidentally I read a post on here about the oil pump chain and was wondering about it. Service records say my vehicle had the cambelt and water pump changed in 2016 at c.116k miles so not quite sure I can justify it being done again for a bit vs value of car. Are there specific symptoms?
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5 years in and 34k miles later I’d strongly advise getting your cambelt done ASAP. There are often zero symptoms before destruction
 
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