I am wondering if this '03 oil pump issue has been blown a little out of proportion. I just purchased an '03 discovery with 100k on the clock, then joined the forums, I about freaked out with all the dire warnings and statments of certain death, pretty much dont buy an '03 and if you did then sell it. Scared one dude on here enough that he sold his '03 5 days after buying it. I decided to research a bit more to see if I was doomed since I was in the tech bulliten vin range of death. I called 7 large city land rover dealers with certified service departments and talked to their service advisor. They included the main dealer in: virginia. Knoxville, TN. Los Angles. Las Vegas. Dallas, Tx. St.louis, Mo and Indianapolis, IN. I asked them: How common is the Failure? How many have you seen come in with the failure? What Mileage did they fail at? Where all in the Vin Range of bulliten affected? They all responded with pretty much the same answers. They all agreed the failure was rare, they all had seen from several to around 6 '03 discoverys come in with the problem. All said that most if not all came in around a 6 month period after the bulliten was issued in 2003. In regards to the mileage they said failure was at a few thousand miles with the vast majority in the 15k mile range. And all agreed the higher mileage '03 should not have a problem with the oil pump being that a defect would have taken it out before now. Also, all said not all vehicles where afected in Vin range of death.
So, what does this long rambling post prove? not sure other then oil pump failure is not a definite thing and probably not much an issue on cars with normal miles for a 7 year old car. Sure it could fail,sure it has failed on some, but it could fail on any year. So, maybe toning it down towards the '03 might be in order, keep from freaking out us newbs.
thanks-jon

 

Mine failed at 18,000. Shut off instantly. No damage done.

 

2003 94,xxx miles on the clock. 60psi at cold start up. 20 at warm idle... 12-13 psi at very hot idle. Forgot what oil I'm using. Readings taken with a cheap guage. May be accurate.. may not be. 45-54 psi at operating temp while driving.

 

That sounds like more the normal situation. Lower mile failure. Did they cover it under warrenty?

 

doesnt sound too bad, I guess the pump is still working.

 

I'm waiting for it to die if it ever does. I'm itching to try and wire a chevy engine to the LR computer.

 

If it hasn't crapped by 100k then it might crap of other natural causes, but hey it is a 100k engine right. Btw my 2003 oil pump and front cover looked like new when I pulled it at 115K and oil pressure was perfect, it slipped a liner.

 

These are similar to my pressure reading numbers and I have a digital oil pressure gauge installed. I have never seen mine go below 13psi at hot hot idle. If it goes below 12 my gauge starts flashing at me. That is where I set the warning. I know anything below 8psi is to worry about. I have 95k in the death VIN but am not longer worried about it.

 

Did it overheat before it dropped the liner? What is the most miles anyone has heard of on these engines?

 

Here is one with 197,000 that sold for about $5000 on eBay. The 4.0 motor which is supposed to be better.

VERY CLEAN 2000 LAND ROVER LANDROVER DISCOVERY II SE7