I recently bought a 2003 Land Rover discovery se7 130k miles and it has a tick. It only happens when the engine is warmed up at idle and goes away when I rev it. I was told it needed a new front oil pump cover and I was just making sure that was correct, and if it is something that absolutely has to be replaced.

 

Front cover isn't the issue unless you have an oil light flashing/on.

 

Try to spray water on drivers side of the engine, it will cool it off. If the noise stops, likely moving liners. taking mine in to get pinned this week.

 

There are a few different types of ticks. Slipped liners seem to be more of a tap than a tick.
Mine had a tick because of sludge buildup in the hydraulic lifters; I cured it by doing a Seafoam crankcase treatment, then changing the oil and going for an extended drive to free up the stuck lifters.

 

What oil are you running, another factor is thin oil. 15w40 Rotella is the go to around here. Has enough ZDDP for these old flat tappet engines.

 

What coolant temp are you running ? Get the 180 stat or even better the inline thermostat. I bet your sleeves are moving when engine is hot.

 

lifter is most likely - you might get it to quite with oil changes - atf for a few hundred miles - rislone additive - or change out the hydraulic lifters

 

1st off it could be liners but that is not the 1st thought you should have. There are 4 basic causes of tickets :

1. Lifters/rockers most common
2. Exhaust - tends to cold then disappear with heat
3. Bottom end - wear and oil pressure/ oil weight
4. Liners this generally requires a significant overheat 230+ degrees to loosen the liners they will then tend to move at 212 + degrees. The noise is more of a thud than a tick.

You describe a typical low oil pressure tick, this does not mean you need a new pump/front cover. More likely you are running to light a weight of oil or have some varnish built up. Ideally you want to run 10/30 or 10/40, the Brits swear by 20/50.
If you can you need to check the oil pressure that will tell you more than anything else.
I think it can be done by removing the pressure sensor for the light and a actual sensor attached to a gauge, you need the hot idle pressure which should be between 20-10 higher being better.

 

Who did you find to do the work?

 

17 Discos under the belt here, I am going to respectfully disagree on the frequency of the causes. I have had 2 ticked due to low oil pressure - 1 broken oil pump, 1 walked cam bearing. 5 due to slipped liners, zero due to lifter. 6 were 03's, 1 with a slipped liner was an 01.

You can test the oil pressure relatively easy, if the oil pressure is low, fix that first. If it is ok, get and OBD reader and determine what engine temperature the ticking starts at, if it is less than 190 install the 180 inline thermostat and see if that takes care of it.