I have an 03 that i am looking at moving due to some problems and a divorce. PM me if you want to talk.

 

My 2003 has been great for almost 3 years now. The factory must have paid attension the day they assembled mine. Only the regular stuff like new Magecore wire, plugs, 4 new 02's and Crank shaft sensor & throttle body fix. Just wanted to let people out there know that if you do above the required maintainance a 2003 can be good. Still keeping my fingers crossed on the oil pump now with 88,000 turned over yesterday. I stay away from the dealer and keep reading the DII forum. I know everybody is Debbie Downer on 2003's, but its younger than a 2000, 2001, 2002 so that has to count for something with less age.

 

Ive put head gaskets, transfer cases, intake manifolds, many throttle bodies, and 2 headlight switches, totaling $5000 in the past 3 years. Now I need a whole new motor. Boss If you cant afford a new motor you should sell now to before you hit 100k, that seems to be when the slow oil pressure failure takes place. This is unfixable by replacing the oil pump.

 

Snowdude,
So I have about 12,000 to save for a good extended warrenty or a used 4.6. Ok I will start adding more money to my repair savings account.
Why won't a new front cover fix the oil pump issue? Just curious, since that is where all teh oil is pumped from.
Just curious how far you are away from Green Lake, WI / Ripon WI. My folks have a summer house up there.

 

Actually, some will argue that every year that went by the Disco's reliability got worse.
I feel like 99-mid01 DIIs are the best DII years and LR cursed everything after that by not including the CDL nipple. The Rover gods were very angry with that decision and struck down the 2003 models until LR execs said 'ENOUGH' we'll add CDL to the 2004!!! The rover gods approved and the 2004 had MUCH less issues than its facelifted brother, the 2003.

Ok, so I may have made the last few parts up.....

 

Here you go....

https://landroverforums.com/forum/sh...ighlight=dowel

 

Yes I have read the official bulletin form Land Rover and copied it for people as well. Dont you think they used the " replace new engine" dianogsis so they would make people ditch their Discoveries. The dealerships did not want be fixing front covers on a bunch of cars. If they say it needs a new engine people walk away from the cars and give up. I know about the dowel pins. I dont see why a new front cover or even a oil gear only would not fix the problem for another 100k. Put some permatex around it and call it a day. These old *** engines do not have that perfect of tolarances for it to matter that much. With the whole new front cover from AB only being $600 its worth a shot.

I also tore apart a 2004 Discovery with hydrolock awhile back and should have kept the front cover. I have the whole block in my garage. So in a week I may be able to build that one up if my 2003 block would prove defective. My 03 is in the Death VIN range so I may see if everything goes south within the next 15k. Hope not and keeping my fingers crossed.

 

You're my hero! I hope you're right. I prefer to take a little less conspiratorial view of it though: from Land Rover's perspective the only way to actually FIX the manufacturing ERROR is to replace the engine. They can't very well put out a TSB that says, "Well, just cobble it together and tell the customer see them in 50k".

From a DIY perspective it seems more than reasonable that the misaligned dowels didn't get any WORSE with wear right? So if the first pump lasted 100k, a replacement should last as long. Right??? I prefer that solution rather than trash it 'n weep method...

An a possibly embarrassingly stupid question: does replacing the front cover involve engine removal/replacement?

 

I don't think you would need to remove the engine, but I have not checked the RAV. Seems like if you would remove the AC condenser fan, radiator, transmission cooler rad, and front fan, and most of the grill. You would be able to sit on a chair and work straight in front of the engine. That might take 6 hours to remove all those components, but when fixing our own cars our time is free right? I always tell my self. I never claim to be fast. But I am more through, and detailed than many mechanics I've met. They seem to be in a hurry and willing to cut zip ties. Sling parts around. And be more careless. Cause the've billed the job at 1.5 hours. for a 4 hour job.

 

boss, Green Lake is about 1.5 hours south of me, im in Shawano

Yes i know about the front cover replacement, and i talked to the service writer today about it. However I cant get a clear answer from anyone on if this will fix my problem. On the fourms the only people ive heard that fix there pump this way are ones that have the sudden failure exploding oil pumps. Mines a slow deterioration, I'm not sure if its the same case.