I'm shopping around for a Disco 2 and came across one that has a strange ticking/rattling noise coming from the engine. The seller sent a video of the car where you can clearly hear the noise while it's idling. The seller says it runs fine, but the sound is definitely a bit of a red flag for me. I sent the video to some more mechanically inclined friends and they all seem to say lifters, but I figured it can’t hurt to ask people more experienced with LRs. Does anyone have any ideas on what it could be/how serious it'd be? I'm trying to go look in person tomorrow, so any help or tips on what else to look for would be greatly appreciated.

 

I’m voting for exhaust leak around manifold or Head gasket leak.

 

Well 9 times out of 10 it is a slipped liner on an 03, could be an exhaust leak though. An exhaust leak will be louder throttle on, slipped liner will go away over 1500 rpm. Exhaust leak will be there even if the engine is stone cold, slipped liner rarely starts ticking before it reaches 150 degrees.

The other possibility is low oil pressure, that can be checked with an oil pressure gauge. Very easy to check on an 03, remove a plug from the oil filter housing and put a mechanical gauge in that position. You can get the appropriate size plug in aluminum at the auto parts store, drill and tap for the oil pressure gauge fitting. I always bring an oil pressure with me when I go to look at 03-04's. If it is low oil pressure, could be a walked cam bearing or a broken oil pump.

 

that hissing is 100% an externally blown head gasket

change my mind

 

Sounds like head/exhaust, agreed ... you need to get a huge discount on this truck. (which can be a good thing...)

 

I'm going with exhaust leak. You can almost hear air moving. Should diminish as it gets warmer, as mentioned previously. Our 03 blew the head gasket externally and sounded somewhat similar to that, but it was less often...and more of a chirping sound. I'm thinking flange gasket at y-pipe. Easy to check, and so is head gasket external leak.

 

That does not sound like a slipped liner to me. My first engine had one, or maybe a bearing, and it sounded like a gnome inside the engine hitting it with a hammer.

I would rent the pressure test kit from Autozone and see if they will allow you to test the cooling system, and also do the soapy water test around the manifolds and exhaust. This sounds like air to me and those are the systems that would create it.

 

Sounds like an exhaust leak similar to what I had a couple of months ago.