Project $$$ pit has given me some serious headaches as of late. Disco was at the shop for 2 months getting the trans line replaced as well as some fabrication work done including welding the sliders to the frame, adding nerf bars to the rear bumper, and reinforcing the rear tire carrier.

given the shop is 3 hours away, a friend local to the shop picked up the disco for me recently. About 20 miles from the shop of course the disco started to run like crap and a code for misfire in cylinder 2 popped up.

the disco went back to the shop and they confirmed the ignition and fuel injectors were working properly. I ended up having the truck shipped down to my local shop that is three hours away and they confirmed the issue is mechanical.

the exhaust valve on cylinder 2 is stuck partially open. The situation is extremely frustrating as this is the second AB engine that was installed in the past 2 years due to the first having a hairline crack in the block.

My shop is in communication with AB about warranting the parts. I hope they come through as I am beyond disappointed with the quality of the AB engine and it would be unfortunate to have to pay to repair an engine with a few thousand miles on it.

I absolutely love the disco but the reliability of the disco is starting to really become a pain despite having changed out the entire power train except for the trans/t-case. It’s left me stranded on two occasions with family with me this past year alone. I’m starting to think it may be time to move on from the disco and buy an 80 series

 

Sorry to hear that man... LS swap? I know it's easier to suggest that than actually do it, but with how expensive 80 series are you'd likely still be ahead.

 

I actually thought about doing a LS swap before I had the AB engine installed. However, in the end I decided not to due to the smog issues I would face living in California. To make the LS swap smog legal I’d have to pay for the CARB certification process which is about 10-20k from my understanding

 

Ahh, I missed that you live in California. That would complicate things with an LS swap.

 

I have really enjoyed following this build through this thread and hope for your sake that you can work something out and keep it, but if you did end up selling it, I'd be interested.

 

thanks I’m still weighing things out. The shop removed the head and it looks like a new engine will be needed as the damage is not merely just a stuck valve

waiting on AB to confirm the engine will be replaced under warranty. I was told a new engine will take 4-6 months so the disco will sadly be out of commission for the whole camping season…sigh

 

Well that just sucks beyond measure. Might be worth it when you get the new AB engine to have an engine builder go through it prior to install to confirm it’s health prior to install.

On going LS or whatever, I thought the people’s republik would let you put a newer engine in as long as that engine met the emissions standards for that year? Again, it must be a newer engine, and you’d just have a referee or whoever verify all the required equipment was in place, and then of course run the tests.

I dunno, it seems kinda lame that you’d give up after all the effort you’ve put in. On the flip side, my Alveston just turned 180k towing a trailer back to Kalifornistan or a trip to Death Valley.

 

The whole referee bit you mentioned is the carb certification process I mentioned earlier. 10-20k cost for the certification process based on my discussion with shops that do engine swaps for bmws that are smog compliant.

trust me, I LOVE the disco and put a ton of time and money into it. But this will be the 4th engine in 2 years and it breaking down twice on the trail now with family in tow is starting to get a bit old.

 

I'm not sure you're right on the cost at all. Unless something has changed in the last 10 years or so, I don't believe it costs nearly that much. I had a Jeep with an inline 6 that blew. I LS swapped it with a year 5 newer LS. I didn't have to do any carb certification, just took it to get smogged when my registration was up. The tech plugged in the specs for the LS and it smogged easily.

Certification would be for an engine which is not CA compliant and you're trying to bring it to CA specs. At least that's how it was when I did it. :dunno

 

maybe something has changed as I have friends who swapped in S54 engines from E46 M3s to E36 M3s. Those that wanted it smog compliant paid a good deal of money to make it carb legal.

but regardless, I don’t think a LS on the table for me. I’ve spent too much on the AB/install to even begin to think about starting over with the disco.