Best engine on a DII......?
 

Greetings,

Looking for an add-on to my Land Rover family ( 99' DII SE7, 99' RR HSE, 95' LWB, 94' LWB, 66' LWB):

I am looking for either a 2002 or a 2004 DII, in stock configuration. I've had a great experience with my 99' DII with its 4.0L engine ( and 175K miles); not so good with my RR HSE with the 4.6L engine ( and only 75K miles).
From the obvious differences aside, what is the best engine, the 4.0 or the 4.6........?

Case #1:

Upon arriving back from Iraq in late 09', the wife was adamant about having a last-year DII with the newer front-end. I told her I'd let her have my 99' DII ( which was nearing 160K by then), but she was set on one with low miles.

I found a very clean 04' SE with 40K miles down in So Cal. Price was up there ( $14K), but I figured with the low miles, what could go wrong, right..?
WRONG!

One-owner car, owned by a somewhat famous "jazz musician" ( I will not mention names), out of Beverly Hills. Supposedly always maintained by LR of Encino ( never got the purported records, even after going to court), so all hunky-dory.

About 150 miles north of Santa Monica, around 150 after i had set the trip odometer to 0, all of a sudden ALL the warning lights light up, crank noise, lifter noise, etc, etc).
Well, figure out the rest.
10:30 at night with the wife in the car, and in the middle of nowhere.

CASE #2:

99' Range Rover HSE, 68K orig. Babied, minimally driven. Put about 6K in three years. Head gasket pops. No problem. Get it fixed for $2K. Less than 1000 miles later, pops again ( it had blown hoses before, twice).

So much for my 4.6L experience.

Finally, My 99' DII with now 175K miles, with its 4.0L, has taken me to Ft Lewis in WA five times, three times to Ft Bragg, NC, once to Ft Campbell, four times to Los Alamitos. NOT a glitch.

So the million dollar question..........4.0 ( 2002 DII), or 4.6 ( 2004 DII)..?

ALL and ANY input would be most definitely and most seriously considered before I fork out the cash for another~!:cool:

Much obliged.

I'd say the 4.6L is the better engine, the fact that the 04 D2 was owned by some one famous AND that the service records were not available would have set off alarm bells in my head. I'd bet the farm that that Disco wasn't maintained correctly (if at all) and that's why the engine died on you.

My vote goes to the 4.0

Correct. Big pockets do not necessarily mean well maintained.
The douche swore up and down that he had all the records; even after taking his hide to court ( in Ca, he was supposed to have the car smog certified; he didn't), he STILL did not produce the alleged records.
I even had it on paper, yet the judge did not seem to pay attention. Hey, I won, and was awarded $216, on $6000 worth of repairs. Talk about justice).
BUT,
At 40K miles...? We barely drove 150 miles, and it dies?

And the 99' RR HSE with 75K, and it pops a gasket again, less than 1000 miles later?

...you get back from Iraq and the wife wants a new front end. go figure. what men must endure.

:D .....It probably would have been cheaper to do "that" front end....

I'd say the 4.6 if someone ran 15w-40, mobil 1 oil filter, 180 thermostat, and green coolant since the beginning of the motor's life. Otherwise the 4.0 seems to consistently have less problems.

And just to be that guy, option 3. The TD5.

4.0.
4.6 2003 lets the sleeves go and they whack the head gasket at times.
4.6 2004 to be trusted??

4.0 has thicker casting and I don't think that the cylinder sleeves will let go as easily.

Of course, if you have a 4.6 in the truck already, the ECU and firmware in it -
the fuel map is all tuned to a 4.6. So, you would be into more than just changing out the engine.

And, the ECU is mated to the BCM I think and you just can't change it out.

So, easy way out -is stick with what is in your DII.
You will be into a lot of $ changing engines displacements due to the additional work
with the ECU.


I would love to put a Diesel into one. But, that is not easy.

He could have overheated the engine, not changed the oil ect... that could easily happen within 40k.

In terms of the RR, did you get the heads redone and new hoses installed when the head gasket was changed? If the gasket was just changed and the heads were warped then yes a gasket will probably only last 1000 miles.