Help!!!
I have a 02 discovery II. I had a tapping or rattling sound comming from the front of the engine near the belts. It sounded like the timing chain was slapping. I was camping at the time so I couldnt do anything about the noise. On the way home the engine shut off, I pulled over and there was a little oil dripping from the front crankcase seal(It was dark so I couldnt see too much)? Did my timing chain break and whip around and crack the timing chain housing? The big question is: Is this an interference engine? cause Im screwed if it is.
I have fixed these problems on other cars like toyota and ford. Is this, being a L.R., going to be a pain to put a new chain and housing on there?
Im just trying to get some initial input until I can order the repair manual with all the good info in it.
Thanks For your Help.
Mike

 

So. do you have any compression when trying to start the engine, does it turn over in it's normal way?
It is very uncommon of a Rover to loose a chain, how many miles on the engine?
Mike

 

You didn't mention it, but did the Serpentine drive belt shred and snap? Also-- pull the engine oil dipstick and tell us if the color is a light mocha brown. What I'm getting at here is a front timing cover that had the water pump bearing totally fail, and the shaft/impeller thenground its way through the aluminum back-plane of the cover.

It happens.

regards,
Geoman

 

Well, im not sure if I have compression. Im affraid to turn it over in fear of the interference of the pistons on the valves. But I guess it would be too late anyway. The engine has about 80K and I just did a oil change about 500 miles ago. I did the flush and everything.
GeoMan, I think you could be right. Thats what the noise sounded like but the serp belt didnt shred. Ill take the serp belt off today and see if the water pump spins freely.
Whoa... I hope thats it. I really dont want to do a timing chain. But I guess Ill have to go that far anyway if the waterpump shaft ground into its cover..
Well ill let you know what I find. Thanks for your help!

 

Well,
The serpentine belt didnt snap and the water pump spins fine. So im going to start taking off the front of the engine until I find out what happened. I spun the engine and it back fired through the intake. So its probobly the chain.
Is this an interference engine?

 

No. it is not an interference engine, should be the same mechanically as a small block V8 I think.