Thanks for your support, I am glad to not be alone on this quest...

 

I am curious if any of you with these problems have attempted to contact one of these 2 lawyers...?

http://www.lemonlawclaims.com/Land%2...%20failure.htm

 

You haven't heard a knowledgable word mentioned to you.
You don't have a chance in thew world of getting anything . I am a retired Rover service manager, was in the business for 30 year, I know what I am talking about. Even if the vehicle were only out of warranty for a month and you were the original owner, the chances were less then 5% for some sort of partial payment.
It is not good, but it is the reality of things and you need to get on with your life.

 

Got a mechanic coming to the house tomorrow to give a second opinion and then I will put it in the garage and pull the front cover off to see if the gear is in pieces... disco mike, sorry to push the envelope of all this, I will probably look at getting a new front cover/ pump assembly from AB as long as there is no damage to the engine internally.

 

I'm not 100% certain, but you might get by with just replacing the pump gears. They run about $100 and the lower gasket set is another $50 or so.

However, if your housing is shot then you'll need to replace the entire assembly. Take a good look and find out.

Labor cost would probably be the same either way, but you just might be able to save a few hundred in parts assuming no engine damage.

If everything's up to snuff, install an oil pressure gauge and keep an eye on it to better detect when it starts going bad. If you're willing to treat it as such, you might consider replacing the pump gears every X number of miles as preventative maintenance. $300-400 every 20k miles might sound expensive, but that's 1/15 or more of what a rebuilt engine will cost with installation.

Perhaps soon someone will arrive at a definitive fix.

 

I called and got pricing from atlantic british for the whole front cover/pump and gaskets and such to do the job... I assume this is the best temp fix for now and perhaps soon a trade in for an LR3 or range rover hse

 

You ranting to a salesman about something he had absolutely nothing to do with is completely stupid and extremely rude. That hits home with me, because in my job I constantly get blamed for things that are not my fault, so I know exactly what its like.

If you know what dealership that guy works for, I would seriously go offer him an apology.

/rant

 

Got real lucky tonight... mechanic stopped by and we started my 03 up and once she warmed up the ticking came back... I stepped on the pedal a couple times and bang went the oil pump gears and then presto... the low oil pressure light was on constant... I guess this could not have happened at a better time than this... she is now resting awaiting the new oil pump and front cover to arrive... I will plan on doing a engine flush and then a couple oil changes to hopefully dispose of most all metal fragment content asap... Any advice would be appreciated..

 

I'd be interested in seeing pictures of your oil pump gears and the housing.

I've read that they break into several pieces and not always all at once.

My hunch is that if you were to monitor the oil pressure with a dedicated gauge one might be able to see the first break/crack as evidenced by a noticeable decline in oil pressure. Subsequent breaks would cause further drops until the gears finally crumble altogether and you get the "bang" plus oil light.

If the above is true and you can catch that first dip you'd know when to replace the pump and could save yourself a lot of grief.

 

It seemed to all crumble at once tonight... The mechanic had just told me to have my wife drive it for the next couple of days and I just so happened to gun it several times and away she went... I will try and grab some pics during the tear down and post them up for view... this will probably happen in a couple weeks...
I like the idea of a onboard oil psi gauge. Now that I have witnessed this while standing next to the vehicle and seen how quick this destroyed itself, I would try and convince every 03-04 owner out there to have one installed for/with confidence... It would be nice for LRNA to give all 03-04 owners a oil pressure gauge for christmas... ha ha ha