Looked at a couple 04's with relatively low miles (just over 100k) where the oil pump ring must have broken. No oil pressure or very low oil pressure. Motors still run, but knock. Rest of vehicle's were in great condition, rust-free and priced in the $1,200 - $1,500 range.

My thought is the 04's, when running correctly, would probably be the 'best' of the Disco II's. Please correct me if I'm wrong here and set me straight.

Question is: in the experience of most owners here, what are the 'chances' the motor with oiling problems can be rebuilt at the bottom end, and oil pump/front cover replaced, and be a 'good' rebuildable engine? Or put another way, what are the main issues usually associated with an oil pressure failure? I'm looking to assess the potential costs.

My thought was to pull the motor, strip it down, have the block/heads cleaned, inspected and pressure-tested. My 'hope' is that the liners are where they should be, block holds pressure and a bottom end rebuild is all that's needed. Any thoughts on what the parts (only) for a bottom end rebuild would be (less any machine shop labor)? I'm talking parts/gaskets only. Maybe, if the money is available at the time (and the block seems good) to have hat-shaped liners installed. But the ideal would be to rebuild what's there for a lot less $$, then put in all new seals and gaskets. I'd like to get an 04 and sort of skiddish buying someone else's potential problem, or paying a bunch only to end up with a bad block in 10k miles. Overall, I'm thinking that getting into a cheap Disco 04 and re-doing the motor up front 'could' be a good way to get a L/R where the engine is fairly robust, doesn't leak and is pretty trustworthy (so I can repair other things on it). If the motor didn't pressure-test out good, then the option would be to either try to source a different engine/block, or maybe do an engine swap.

OR, do you think it just makes more sense to pay more up-front and take a chance on one that seems to run fine, maybe re-do the HG's and install studs? I can do all work myself and this would be a 'fun' vehicle for messing around with.

Thanks,

 

personally, with the exchange rate, i would buy a top hatted engine from turner already done.

wrought numbers you going to be into it for $1-1.5 in parts and gaskets, front cover run approx.400, cam& lifters 350, bearing 100, rings 100, timing set, water pump, complete engine gasket set 200 head bolts or studs and so on.

Then you have machine work, honing, line boring, rod re sizing, cutting the crank, decking the block etc.etc.
and you still have an engine that could have a catastrophic failure at anytime.

JMHO

 

^X2, totally make sense , if you want a keeper, after all work you want to put into it, never want to worry about slipped liners again, it will be best to have top hat liners done & forget about that problem coming back to hunt you, then you can concentrate on everything else that it might need down the road ,, then at least you know there will be almost no problem with block again, which is the weak point on D2's.

 

Slipped liners is not what you have to worry about with an 04 block, The big worry is that the block will crack eventually. Fix the oil pressure issues and you may get it up to 180k miles but eventually you will need a new block. So the choice is yours.

Personally I would not spend all the money on new internals, just fix the oiling issue and keep it running until it cracks, then go big on the Turner block.

Or like I and many others did, source a good running P38 4.6 and rebuild that while you are waiting for your 04 block to crack.

 

If anyone could get a LR 4.6 for $1200 shipped with warranty guys would be lining up around the block for them. Never seen one for less than $3k, but I would welcome being proven wrong.

 

I got one for around $1200 four years ago. But I did have to pick it up locally, no shipping required. And yes all the money was in paying someone else to install it. It was a P38 block that the owner had pressure tested and did the rebuild work himself. All new bearings, cam, rings, lifters, etc... Then he had to give up on that project and get the engine out of his apartment garage... Not the easiest thing to find but it was doable not that long ago. About 30k miles on it now and running strong so far.

 

That's what I'm wanting to do, just keep her going until she dies. Are there any good links/resources/ writes ups for doing this conversion? I'm trying to find some good research material to get me started on doing this.

 

The P38 conversion? It is a direct swap. Nothing special required. Same GEMS system and everything. The only thing is the 4.6 was brand new at the time and the tooling was in great shape. The blocks were pre-selected to be "Range Rover" worthy at the time.