Post pictures of your Land Rover.
- Thread starter Winky
- Start date
ABout two years ago I bought a 2003 Discovery that somewhat of a neglected past. I got it for cheap with several known problems, and as it turns out a many undisclosed or unknown problems as well. I didn't buy the truck out of necessity, more out of the fact that it was a cheap project and I had always like Discoveries. I figured this would be a chance to have a rig that I could load up with Mt. Bikes, gear, and fiends and it could serve as a decent winter vehicle for me as well.
The known issues included ABS issues, terribly worn brakes on all 4 corners, door lock actuators that locked, but did not unlock, blown out exhaust manifold gaskets, O2 sensors that were essentially dead (all reading way out of spec even after the exhaust was fixed), and damage from a minor front end accident that the previous owner did the bare minimum at repairing. The body "repair" involved replacing a headlight and a fender, and then "repainting" and "blending" the new paint into the original paint on the surrounding panels. The guy was a total hack that didn't remove any trim or decals, and just decided to mask that stuff off instead. Very amateur, very sloppy. Unknown issues were about as one might expect on a neglected LR.
The day I drove it home. A lot of work ahead, but at least it looks clean...soon after I bought tires better suited for winter driving. The tires on the stock 18" wheels it came with were fairly new, but garbage in the snow.
I decided to set about making sure everything was in good running order and drove the truck for about a year learning about it and repairing mechanical issues and performing some general preventative maintenance along the way. After driving the truck for a while I came to decided that the motor needed to come out to be cleaned up and refreshed. The amount of oil and coolant seep at the head gaskets was unacceptable to me, and I figured I would have the heads rebuilt and give the motor a general "once-over" and replace anything that showed signs of needing to be replaced. Head gasket, oil pump gears, water pump, coolant lines, thermostat, every gasket and seal I could get my hands on as well as anything else I might break or discover along the way.
Unfortunately, just days after pulling the motor my garage was broken into and all of my tools stolen, which forced me to put the project on hold for several months. Since then I have installed several layers of security measures (both electronic, and mechanical) and replenished most of my tool collection. I hope to be able to get everything back together and buttoned up soon so I can move on to more fun ways to spend my money on this this thing. As it sits right now I have to install the new timing chain and gears, install the timing cover (with new oil pump gear set), and then get everything else bolted back to the block and drop it back into the engine bay.
The known issues included ABS issues, terribly worn brakes on all 4 corners, door lock actuators that locked, but did not unlock, blown out exhaust manifold gaskets, O2 sensors that were essentially dead (all reading way out of spec even after the exhaust was fixed), and damage from a minor front end accident that the previous owner did the bare minimum at repairing. The body "repair" involved replacing a headlight and a fender, and then "repainting" and "blending" the new paint into the original paint on the surrounding panels. The guy was a total hack that didn't remove any trim or decals, and just decided to mask that stuff off instead. Very amateur, very sloppy. Unknown issues were about as one might expect on a neglected LR.
The day I drove it home. A lot of work ahead, but at least it looks clean...soon after I bought tires better suited for winter driving. The tires on the stock 18" wheels it came with were fairly new, but garbage in the snow.
I decided to set about making sure everything was in good running order and drove the truck for about a year learning about it and repairing mechanical issues and performing some general preventative maintenance along the way. After driving the truck for a while I came to decided that the motor needed to come out to be cleaned up and refreshed. The amount of oil and coolant seep at the head gaskets was unacceptable to me, and I figured I would have the heads rebuilt and give the motor a general "once-over" and replace anything that showed signs of needing to be replaced. Head gasket, oil pump gears, water pump, coolant lines, thermostat, every gasket and seal I could get my hands on as well as anything else I might break or discover along the way.
Unfortunately, just days after pulling the motor my garage was broken into and all of my tools stolen, which forced me to put the project on hold for several months. Since then I have installed several layers of security measures (both electronic, and mechanical) and replenished most of my tool collection. I hope to be able to get everything back together and buttoned up soon so I can move on to more fun ways to spend my money on this this thing. As it sits right now I have to install the new timing chain and gears, install the timing cover (with new oil pump gear set), and then get everything else bolted back to the block and drop it back into the engine bay.
AndrewClarke
Adventurer
JK9K, welcome! That really sucks about your garage.
Glad to see someone doing proper mechanical work to a Discovery.
It will look like it did when you started in about 9 months though
I'm not expecting any miracles! Just a slightly slower rate of fluid loss would be nice. It ran well enough as it was, but with the amount of slack I found in the timing chain makes me wonder how it ran as well as it did. Plus, that nice brown varnish on all of the aluminum? Ish. It sure does not look like a motor with less than 90k miles on it should look. The varnish looks bad, but I'm just glad I didn't find any signs of sludge. It was neglected for sure, but it likely could have been worse.
The break-in was a nice kick to the groin, but it could have been much worse. The thieves did not vandalize anything (aside from damaging the doors to gain entry), they did not come into my home, and they left some of the larger expensive tools that must have been too large to fit in their "get-away" vehicle.
Unfortunately insurance was essentially useless in the matter with my deductible being 1% of the value of my home and I did not have a lower deducible policy or rider to specifically cover my tools. In the end I made the decision that it was not worth it to make the claim, since the deductible amount would have been more than the payout and it had the potential to raise my rates.
Thanks! As long as the drips under the truck accumulate slower then I think I will be happy!
proper4wd
Expedition Leader
I have seen dozens of these engines apart and I would say yours is about average, cleanliness wise. Maybe slightly on the good side for 90k.
They all varnish and build up some deposits, depending mostly on the quality of oil used and how frequently it is changed.
I have only seen a few, very few, that were "clean" when taken apart. These were meticulously maintained, oil changed every 3000 miles with synthetic, and still leaking oil from almost everywhere.
There are a good number of tricks you can do to really minimize the amount of oil the engine leaks. Minimize being the key. Find your local Land Rover dealer and bring in a box of donuts for the shop and chat with the oldest, saltiest guy you can find. The one with the dirtiest hands. He will know.
They all varnish and build up some deposits, depending mostly on the quality of oil used and how frequently it is changed.
I have only seen a few, very few, that were "clean" when taken apart. These were meticulously maintained, oil changed every 3000 miles with synthetic, and still leaking oil from almost everywhere.
There are a good number of tricks you can do to really minimize the amount of oil the engine leaks. Minimize being the key. Find your local Land Rover dealer and bring in a box of donuts for the shop and chat with the oldest, saltiest guy you can find. The one with the dirtiest hands. He will know.
I guess I'm used to seeing a beautiful light honey color when peeking under the valve covers of my other cars. I supposed it is good to know that it doesn't look abnormal for a Rover V8! I've found the simplicity of these motors to be a thing of beauty in its own right. I had never dug into a pushrod V8 before, any real motor work I have done in the past has been dual overhead cam in-line 4 and 6 cylinders, often with turbochargers attached. I had a major SAAB addiction issue for many years and more recently I have found myself experimenting with BMWs. I think I would consider working on the Rover V8 to be downright fun in comparison.
How is the rear chassis holding up?
Sadly here in the UK, rusty chassis on D2's are starting to become more common on the prefacelift models, some to mot failure standards. The D1's here are fading away fast as they rust like mad and a MOT failure usually sees it scrapped, or broken and the 200/300tdi stuck in a defender.
Here's the video i ment to put up earlier, photobucket must have been on strike when asking for it.
Standard bar the Duratrac tyres, had a couple of people pointing/calling out lines as you couldn't see anything. Good fun as only 4 defenders and 1 other D3 had been down it.
Slow and steady keeps it safe. No suspension issues here.. lol.
Sadly here in the UK, rusty chassis on D2's are starting to become more common on the prefacelift models, some to mot failure standards. The D1's here are fading away fast as they rust like mad and a MOT failure usually sees it scrapped, or broken and the 200/300tdi stuck in a defender.
Here's the video i ment to put up earlier, photobucket must have been on strike when asking for it.
Standard bar the Duratrac tyres, had a couple of people pointing/calling out lines as you couldn't see anything. Good fun as only 4 defenders and 1 other D3 had been down it.
Slow and steady keeps it safe. No suspension issues here.. lol.
I also share the BMW (anything german really) bug. If properly maintained, like Adam said, you should be seeing that light honey color. Had the valve covers off my '04 not long ago (around 70k ) and light honey is exactly what I found. No synthetic in this one, just religious oil changes.
Josh
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
I installed the elevator today.
Genuine LR ladder. One of the easiest installs I've ever done.
Genuine LR ladder. One of the easiest installs I've ever done.