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Just registered so I could share this (although a bit late as you'll see in the story). I've got a 2020 First Edition 110 P400 with 14,000 miles on it.
I do off-road heavily so I've been doing oil changes at the 2,500 mile mark after break-in, then an oil change every 5,000 miles afterward.
On Wednesday 9/1/21, I went on a 5 minute drive to a store down the road from me; at this point the engine started up perfectly and the vehicle drove as normal. I was inside for probably 20 minutes and came back out to my vehicle not starting and randomly saying it could not see the key fob. After 30 minutes of no success (tried both key fobs under the steering column and a jump just to make sure it wasn't battery related) I finally called roadside to get a tow. I had spoken to the dealer tech as well and they were concerned on the phone that it needed a tow based on my explanation of events, which I thought was interesting considering I assumed there might be other things I could try.
Roadside assistance, if you haven't used it before, was very prompt and I had a tow within 10 minutes of my call. I live in a very rural area so I was surprised they located a tow service and one that was very close to me; I fully suspected it would need to come from a closer large city (about an hour away).
The tow driver said he had seen this before (apparently their company specializes only in 'luxury' vehicles and they tow a number of Land Rovers locally). He did note that since we needed to drag it onto the tow bed backwards due to how I was parked, it was very possible the electronic transmission was just in a weird 'half park' position and pulling the vehicle up would likely unlock it. He slathered the tires and bed in baby oil to ensure the vehicle slid smoothly and didn't risk damaging the transmission - again, things I would never have considered but he was prepared and thoughtful about how to handle the vehicle with care.
Upon arrival at the dealer they actually dropped everything they were doing to look at the Defender and see if they could get me out quickly (can't say enough good things about this dealer - if you're looking for a Land Rover around Huntsville, AL then Century Automotive is your dealer). Around an hour after arriving they came back and noted they could not get it to start and had found no obvious issues. The engine would attempt to turn over but barely cranked. I did confirm with them that nothing I had done regarding the oil changes might have caused that, which they said absolutely not - I had the vehicle in for accessory installations after almost every oil change, by chance, and they always inspected it and felt confident in my local service center that was changing my oil (driving to Huntsville is about 2 hours round trip so I was not going back to the dealer for every oil change). Due to COVID they have had trouble keeping appropriate numbers of loaner vehicles, but they managed to arrange one for me over the next hour, knowing how far away I live from them.
About two days later the service advisor called and said I needed a new engine. I again asked if anything I had done would have caused it to which he was adamant it was unrelated to my driving or upkeep of the vehicle. He did, however...and here's where things get good...tell me that the tech had spent around 2 hours arguing with Land Rover to have it warranted because, apparently, the mud inside my engine bay from off-roading recently caused them to think the mud was the issue (again, mud inside the engine bay, not in the engine or on the engine, but a picture of mud on the inside painted body wall of the engine bay!). The tech told Land Rover that it was ridiculous that they wouldn't warrant an engine failure at 14k miles simply because I was using the vehicle as advertised and that they shouldn't advertise the Defender to be a 'best of both worlds' vehicle with off-roading capability if they would not warrant equipment failures that were unrelated to use of the vehicle. Apparently pointing out to them the recent service coupons they sent with a Defender rock crawling in a river caused them to back off quickly.
So long story short, I need a new engine (again a P400) at 14k miles. I had seen all of the random issues with the P300 but I suspect I might be one of the first folks with a P400 failure and felt like I should share this with the community. I do not know what the cause is, the dealer was hesitant to share and at the moment I'm still waiting on a replacement engine to arrive; once I pick the vehicle up I fully intend to press them on the failure cause and will share that as well.
Brings back memories. Wife had an XF V8 that just gracefully shut down at an intersection at 34k miles.
Interesting that your tow guy used baby oil. The XF has that electronic dial shifter and there is a transmission release cable hidden in the center compartment to get it on the truck. I'd suspect the same for the Defender but I'm sure you got a chuckle watching the rub-down.
Anyway, same deal. Blown engine and we had to wait for a new one to be built and shipped over. Took 4 months and we had the incredible smell of Cosmoline once again. I wish they made a cologne.
Dealer was good. We had a loaner that we heavily road-tripped so it was kinda fun.
Long story longer, $43,000 later in warranty work and we were on our way.
Only advice I'd give is, lay off asking if it's something you did because this had to go through a couple of layers to get approved. Don't give them a reason. And, inspect every bit of the engine bay for missing clips, clamps, and trim. Compare it to a new one of you have to. We had a few loose bits and the hood came out of alignment after hitting the highway. Not exactly confidence inspiring. We got another loaner for another week and they went over the whole thing.
Car was perfect after that. When we sold it on Craigslist at 70k miles, I just flat-out said "fresh new engine with only 36k miles!!" It ended up being a selling feature.and it went in 1 day.
I'm sorry to hear it but I'm sure they'll get you taken care of.
As to the "cause" you want to know about, I get it but we were simply told "cylinder 4 compression fault". They don't exactly spend much time on a write-off engine.
Last edited by _Allegedly; 09-18-2021 at 02:54 PM.
I has a Subaru Forester from new, and the engine blew at about 25,000kms. It happens unfortunately. When tens of thousands of vehicles are sold, the 1 in 10000 failure happens a few times. LR aren’t known for reliability, but Subaru are and it happens even to them…
Glad the dealer supported you the whole way. That’s how they win loyal customers.
I has a Subaru Forester from new, and the engine blew at about 25,000kms. It happens unfortunately. When tens of thousands of vehicles are sold, the 1 in 10000 failure happens a few times. LR aren’t known for reliability, but Subaru are and it happens even to them…
Glad the dealer supported you the whole way. That’s how they win loyal customers.
S
I had a Ford Escape with a far too common engine failure - coolant leak into a cylinder. It was a 2 liter EcoBoost if you want to Google the complaints. They replaced the entire engine under warranty somewhere in the 30-odd thousand mile range. It does indeed happen to all makes these days, some sooner than others.
I had a 2014 Wrangler engine melt down at 14,000 miles. But I was on a gentle backcountry trail outside of Moab (Salt Valley Rd), about 12 miles from the roadhead. With my wife. Who had never, not one time, been off-roading with me, and has never done so since. No cell service. I was out for 3 weeks, she had joined me for Week 2.
Not really the look you want from your wife.
After an hour an old TJ came by and I asked if they’d let me throw a tow strap over their rear bumper. They agreed and drug us back to the nearest road. Jeep flatbedded the Wrangler to Grand Junction CO, put in a new engine and shipped the Jeep back to Atlanta for me.
But the first few days I was thinking, “There’s no way on earth they’ll warrant this, when they literally picked it up on a trail in Moab.” But turns out No. 6 dropped the valve seat down into the cylinder and things got ugly real fast.
Similar story here - I had a 2010 VW GTI that needed an engine replacement after about 10K miles. They found metal shavings in the oil pan after a check engine light came on and everything went downhill from there (I had been fully on schedule with all regular maintenance). There was definitely some back and forth with corporate to get everything replaced under warranty but it happened in reasonably short order.
Wow, that is surprising. Really want to know the true cause warranting a complete engine failure. My 2001 range rover had an engine replacement at 25k miles by previous owner but it was dealers fault. They dropped it off and said engine oil was low. Mechanic test drove it without checking and seized the motor. Ouch. One line item on the service bill for 'long block'. Lol...
09-16-2021, 01:40 PM
2020 First Edition P400 Engine Failure
No cell service. I was out for 3 weeks, she had joined me for Week 2.
