OK, so if you are in the VIN range for and 03 does that mean that it is an inevitable failure or was a it a dice throw on if it had the defect?

I bought a used 03 with 120,000 miles and it is in the VIN range. It runs great and is very clean - seems like it has been maintained well although I don't have detailed service records (decent price but maybe not now - should have checked this forum first!!! PS compements on this forum - I have been on many for other brands and this is by far the best ever)

Is there anyway to tell for sure if the engine has been replaced? One would think that if it was going to fail it would do so well before 120,000 miles. Is there a number to call at Land Rover where you can give them your VIN and they might be able to tell if it was done at a Land Rover dealer anyway?

I think from the discussions there is no indication of the impending failure until the oil pump fails and the pressure drops to 0 or the light comes on. Is that the case? If there are indications, what should I look or listen for?

Maybe the best bet is to just sell it. I just rebuilt the front drive shaft with regeasible u-joints and am moving forward on the 60K service that Mike recommends. The truck runs great and gets almost 18 mpg on the highway - much better than my old 1994 Disco (252,000 miles on it)

Suggestions would be appreciated although I know there are no black and white answers for whether I should just dump it.

Thanks
Smokey73

 

Just because you are in the VIN range does not mean you will have a problem, but like wise being out of the VIN range does not mean that you are out of the woods.

The only way to know for 100% if your engine has been replaced is to write down the serial number off of the engine and compare it through LR with your VIN#.

When the oil pump starts to go the oil light will come on or flicker at a hot idle, like at a stop light.
Once that happens park it ASAP and get it fixed.

DO NOT do a ATF engine flush, whatever you do do NOT do this, follow the rest of the 60k service just dont do the engine flush or use DexCool.

If you want examples of why not to do these things I will be glad to post them.

 

The 2003 that I'm still thinking about buying is within the VIN range... However, check this situation and let me know what you guys would do in a similar situation..

When I pulled up to the truck, he was standing outside of it, had the windows down with the engine running and was pumping the A/C. We stood outside in the 80 degree weather for about 10-15 minutes talking about the truck as I asked him questions... Now the truck has 80k on it... I figured that if something was going to go wrong, it would have probably happened by then.

When I got into the truck to finally test drive it, there were no issues. No maintenance lights came on, it shifted very smoothly, and ran as if it was brand new...

It is priced at $6,000, but there are a few scuffs here and there so I think we will agree between $5000 and $5400 depending on how hard I push him..

What are your guy's thoughts... Is it worth it?

 

forgive me but is this the 4.0 or the 4.6?

 

For 5k? Yes. Buy it and be happy. Don't worry yourself to death over the oil pump, it may or may not present an issue. You can get good 4.6 engines for about 2500-3000 and it'll run you about 2000 in labor to pull your engine and drop in the replacement. Basically, your worse-case-scenario is that you could be in the truck at 10k, which is what it books for! BUT, you may drive it 50k miles before catastrophic engine failure, you may never experience catastrophic engine failure... or it could happen next week LOL. Personally, I think all V8 Rovers above 3.9L are prone to catastrophic failure and we're all just biding our time... LOL I've a friend in Ohio that has an '02 Disco w/ 38k on it- and it's on its third engine. Unfortunately, his story is not as rare and unique as one would hope!

 

Is it possible to put a manual pressure gauge on a 03 discovery? If so where can I buy it?

 

Yes it is.
jycsalas has added one to his truck, you can buy one at any autoparts store or online from Summit Racing or the like.

 

Spike555

So I don't waste a lot of time and energy trying to find it - where is the engine number stamped on an 03 Disco 4.6L block?

Thanks in advance.

Smokey73

 

There should be a serial number somewhere on the block, I do not know where nor am I 100% sure that there is one.
If you call your dealer than can tell you for sure if there is a serial number on the engine.

 

My oil light just started flickering the other day so I parked it and jumped on here to see what I should do. Everybody is talking about replacing the entire engine and I'm not seeing the reason. I know that there is a TSB but my engine is not making any weird noises so I'm thinking that I caught it early enough to fix the problem with a new oil pump. I just bought this truck and I've called Land Rover and checked the service records and reported no problems. It has 94,000+ miles on it so I think if the engine was going to fail it would have done it by now. Am I right in thinking that changing my oil pump will fix this problem? And if so, does anyone know where I can pick up a decent priced pump, the cheapest I've found is like $450. Ouch!!! Thanks for any feedback and sorry to jump in like this.