Hello All...

I have an 03 Disco II that just turned 65k miles, similar if not the same exact problem...

In the morning start it up and its quiet, gets up to running temp and sounds like a diesel clacking away like there is a couple midgets inside the motor on the drivers side beating the inside out with hammers....

The sound sometimes is louder at times than others, if I have been driving it a significant distance and hit a red light sometimes its quiet....almost nonexistent...

I thought it was the oil pump as my VIN is within the bad oil pump range..spent a ton replacing it...still ticking/knocking...

My question is this....other than the embarrassment of the noise...is there any long term issues with driving the truck when its doing this??

After the oil pump replacement I don't have the funds to dive into this right now...but I need to drive it...

Any suggestions?

 

rycymru1 posted vids of a bad engine on his Youtube account.


Land Rover 4.6 V8 - YouTube
This is as bad as it gets - it was loud, but also low on compression on one pot which made the sound worse.


Land rover slipped liner cut up the head gasket - YouTube
And this is the worse that seems to happen - it will eventually cut through the head gasket firing ring, and that slither will either take the preffered option of heading out of the exhaust, or the less preffered option of scuffing the cylinder. IIRC, he had 20K+ after the ticking started before it did this.

For your situation, It's not going to suddenly die - but I don't see any reason to not use the vehicle.
I put approx 10K on mine before I bought a new block and rebuilt all my old parts into it.
Others have reported the "tickers" as still functioning for many tens of thousands of miles...

As Mike keeps suggestiong though - It is worth doing an oil pressure test to verify that this is not oil pressure related. Harbor freight sells a kit with all the adaptors needed.

 

If this was what is actually happening, then wouldn't replacement of the head gaskets correct this issue since you would take away that indent that was created on the fireing ring with new firing ring? I'm not debating that the liners can be removed when the block is heat as this has been proved. With the head gaskets in place the firing ring should cover up this tapered correct? . I don't have a head gasket around to verify. I will test if a head gasket replacement will correct this and get back with everyone.

 

Mine is not ticking near as bad as the one in the video, but as you noted that video was the worst that it gets....when revving mine up or accelerating the noise actually goes away...rpms above 1500 at idle the noise is gone, when driving 2000rpm and up, no noise...

However if Im doing lots of in town traffic driving and the motor is good and warm, she will get loud and I'll put up the windows, crank the a/c and radio and act like nothings wrong when others are looking at my time bomb at a red light...lol

In essence the warmer the motor the worse the sound...

I just bought my Disco a few weeks ago on ebay, and I didn't know it was ticking until it arrived and I got it. After haggling with the selling dealer I decided to keep it. In the beginning I thought it was the oil pump as they are noted to go bad and the oil light was on....so I self diagnosed it, ordered one, and had a local shop install a brand new oil pump...this was just last week.

I can deal with the embarrassment for a few weeks until I have the money to fix it...I just wanted to make sure I wasn't hurting it anymore than I needed too. I have another SUV I can drive so this is not a must have transportation vehicle.

What year block should I be looking for?....I have access to vehicle parts and if I can find a used block pretty easily and send it to a machine shop to get it ready....

Please Advise..

 

Ummm, if the oil light was on, I'd be more concerned with the condition of my big-ends / mains...

I'm not saying it isn't the liners, but that is a big red flag...


Regardless - you can use a block from any year D1 or D2 - all you need to do is fit the later crank sensor housing into the block and have it welded into place (if you get a pre-bosch block)...

 

The oil light was barely on, it may have flickered less than a handful of times....Im 99% sure the mains are good...

Here is what I don't understand...my ticking sounds EXACTLY like the video...but why does the ticking go away when I accelerate?

Will a complete motor from say an 02 (4.0L) replace my 03 (4.6L)? I'm going off the simple assumption that since I can use a 4.0L block the rest is similar enough to simply do a motor swap?

Thanks...

 

I am not a practicing mechanic, I'm just an engineer - so I'm not sure how valid my thoughts are, but (in the case of loose liners) the likely reason it quietens down (IMO) is due to the inherent drag between the piston rings and liner, the mass of the liner, and the velocity of the piston... Basically at lower piston speeds, the friction between the rings and liner is sufficiently slow to lift and lower the liner between TDC and BDC. The liner has a mass which for it to move means it has to be accelerated from rest - the mass is constant of course. At higher piston speeds, there is insufficient time to accelerate the liner mass before the piston has reached the end of travel and is reversing direction. This means the liner might still be moving, but instead of hitting the firing ring, or lip at the bottom, is 'floating' between these stops. As piston speed increases further, and the time to move the piston is reduced further, the liner probably stops moving all together.

If anyone has a different persepctive, then share it by all means. :-)

 

The LR dealer told me today that the tapping/knocking sound is normal and I should put an additive in the oil and drive for 500 miles. Then I guess it should be quiet again. Also my engine was nice and quiet before they replaced the headgaskets (done under warranty).

Darren

 

darrengj - hope it is still under warranty....

 

It is, but now how do I convince dealer that the liners could be the issue.

Thanks