• Ok, forgive me if this has already been posted, but I could not find a related thread.
  
  I just bought a
  2003 Land Rover Discovery
  2003 Land Rover Discovery
  that runs terrible, but for $600, I could not pass up a mint condition burgundy Disco with 130,000 miles on the odometer.
  
  The Bad and ugly, The motor runs with a code Miss fire on cylinder 1. All 4 o2 sensors are coded as well. the motor runs with a definite miss fire. After the 4.6 warms up it starts to leak oil terribly at every gasket, the coolant temp never rises above middle, it has a terrible lifter tap, and after 2 hours of running around it will not idle and dies out. When it dies out it acts like it has no compression when turning over. When you let it sit for about 30 mins it will start and run but will not idle but it will get you home. When it cools, IE the next day, it will start, run, and drive down the road at 70. It leaks so much oil that even the catalytic converter has caught on fire. My guess would be blown head gasket, but the coolant never ever overheats. Has anyone ever seen this before? Also the oil appeared to be very hot, so much that checking the dipstick for oil branded my friends fingers.

 

That is normal for a rover not having enough maintenance. You suspect head gasket. You can start from there since you will we changing essential gaskets along the process. You might be able to fix the misfires as well when you replace the coil, wires and plugs. Good thing that it runs. The not starting issue could be the crank position sensor that fails when its warm and starts again when it cools off. The tick like you mentioned, could be because that rover was starved with oil coz of the leak. It does not seem to be bad for 600, but theses issues need to be resolved. If you do it yourself it will save you a lot of money.
Gerry

 

the very first thing you should do is put a mechanical oil pressure gauge on it and reference your findings with the specs listed within the RAVE workshop manual.


IF the oil pressure checks out, rebuild the top end with reman' cyl heads, new lifters, rods, rockers, poss camshaft & quality gaskets. drop the oil pan and replace the oil pump & timing set, and crankshaft oil seal, using quality gaskets.


When you are putting the heads back on you will then replace the spark plugs, wires, and coil packs.


In regard to the oil leaking profusely, the possibility of PCV loop being clogged is most likely the issue. You will be replacing the PCV "valve" located with the passenger side valve cover baffle, along with the 2 hoses.


If the oil pressure is low, you have to remove the oil pan and see what you have after removing the bearing caps and pulling the oil pump. This is where you will have to make a decision on the engine in its entirety: rebuild, replace with used, replace with new?


$600 for junk, you can call it a deal but you are going to put at the very least, a couple grand into the engine (DIY repairs, not shop labor) if you want this to be a daily driver. Everything on these trucks goes to $hit @ 100K miles so the engine is only the beginning of this fiasco. If the engine is in this kind of shape, I can only imagine the remaining drivetrain. The temp gauge of the dash doesn't move up to overheating until coolant reaches 240-250 degrees so it can be running super hot and show normal. Most enthusiasts aren't comfortable with the operating temp getting over 200, these trucks easily run 220-230 with lack of maintenance and upgrade/replacements and like I said, shows normal temps and that's how most D2s go to their grave.


If you are going to continue driving this truck in the shape that its in, you had better be checking the oil level/condition & the coolant level @ least twice daily. I would be checking the overflow tank for level and the dipstick for level and contamination before leaving home in the AM, and before driving home in the PM, carrying everything I need with me for refills or field repairs because a hose or fitting will go at any time. this truck sounds like a catastrophic episode waiting to happen. I mean this with best of intentions and sound advice, been there, done that with a '03 D2 in actual good condition and even that is a handful brotha'

 

x2 ^^

stop driving it, its a time bomb until you diagnose some issues. My gut feeling is that you've over heated it several times now to the point of and are in need of a complete build. This seems to be how they die in the wild. The factory coolant temp gauge doesn't move until its to late, so people that don't know better just keep driving until catastrophic failure

 

I understand very well the valve train issues and what needs to be done there. All i am asking is if the over pressuring of oil is headgasket. If that is the case i can just get another engine no problem. As for stop driving it, i only drove it once to see its problems

 

I think he answered your question, Overpressure comes from plugged PCV or plugged oil passages elsewhere. The massive leak may not be the result of over pressure though and I think Chubb did a good job outlining potential causes. Headgasket related pressure issues are from exhaust gasses going into the oil system which is a different kind of issue but you could have that too. There is a simple test for combustion gasses in oil that will tell you whether you have that type of HG fail or not.

At this point just clean it all off and start finding the leaks one by one.

 

If getting another engine is your solution, then you're problem might be solved. Previous posters mentioned some solutions to you but if getting another engine seems to be more logical approach, I don't see why not.
As chubby mentioned, get a pressure test. Since you have leaks everywhere I assume you're loosing pressure instead of over pressure.

 

It leaks oil at every gasket and seal on the engine severly. When i worked on it 3 months ago for the previous owner i noticed no leaks at all, just tapping. What is the oil test called? Also pcv is fine

 

Here it is
http://www.paddockspares.com/engine-...re-tester.html

 

if its leaking at literally every seal and the case evac system is working then there's no need to investigate further. you either have a headgasket leaking to the oil passage (unlikely in my opinion), a valve not sealing, or bad rings on one or more cylinders.... you can do a compression and leak down test to confirm but whatever the case is you will have to tear it down anyways.

i suppose its possible that all the seals are just bad and not sealing from age but in that case, again, you have to tear it apart.