Disco Mike Saves My Butt....again
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Mudding
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 161
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Disco Mike Saves My Butt....again
Hi Lads,
It's been quite some time since I've posted anything on the forum,but something happened a couple of days ago that I thought I'd share.Over the coarse of the past couple of years,my 01' Discovery really hasn't been getting used much,other than the odd weekend gettaway trip through the Adirondacks with my wife.The truck just turned 47,000 kilometers(29,000 miles)on the odometer.Anyway,it's always left a little puddle of oil on the garage floor for at least the past 4 years.I've brought it to the dealer to get repaired at least twice and both times it was a $400-$500 repair,but the leak always came back.Finally I said "screw it" and just lived with the leak,until last week when it left a puddle on my interlock driveway,that was the last straw! I brought my Discovery to a trustworthy independent Tech for his opinion before I lit a stick of dynamite under it.He reported that the left valve cover was leaking pretty bad at the rear and he could see a good oil trail with his mirror behind the engine block.As we all know valve covers on a Discovery are a pretty big job(as far as valve covers go) and to replace both along with the plenum gasket,would be about $700.I told the Tech I'd get back to him in a couple of days,brought my Discovery home and parked it in the garage.At that point I sat on my stool and thought about just selling the Discovery once and for all and be done with it.The truck has ultra low miles,no winters,and shines like Christmas,so I figured it was still worth a few bucks to someone looking for this kind of a vehicle.As I flipped open my laptop to log onto the Auto Trader,I googled "Discovery oil leak" just for the hell of it....and bam! right back to this forum and Disco Mike advising another poor guy on the same issue! TORQUE DOWN THE VALVE COVER BOLTS!!...how the heck could I have overlooked something so obvious? well,out came the 1/4 drive set and thats when I discovered the bloody bolts were a little more than hand tight!.I torqued all eight down to 10 pounds,shampooed the engine and sure as **** the leak was gone....dry as a bone.Anyway,THANKS MIKE!!....you saved me over $700.....and from possibly selling my Discovery.Guys like myself really appreciate what you bring to the table.....even if we ourselves miss a few meals....Cheers Mike!
It's been quite some time since I've posted anything on the forum,but something happened a couple of days ago that I thought I'd share.Over the coarse of the past couple of years,my 01' Discovery really hasn't been getting used much,other than the odd weekend gettaway trip through the Adirondacks with my wife.The truck just turned 47,000 kilometers(29,000 miles)on the odometer.Anyway,it's always left a little puddle of oil on the garage floor for at least the past 4 years.I've brought it to the dealer to get repaired at least twice and both times it was a $400-$500 repair,but the leak always came back.Finally I said "screw it" and just lived with the leak,until last week when it left a puddle on my interlock driveway,that was the last straw! I brought my Discovery to a trustworthy independent Tech for his opinion before I lit a stick of dynamite under it.He reported that the left valve cover was leaking pretty bad at the rear and he could see a good oil trail with his mirror behind the engine block.As we all know valve covers on a Discovery are a pretty big job(as far as valve covers go) and to replace both along with the plenum gasket,would be about $700.I told the Tech I'd get back to him in a couple of days,brought my Discovery home and parked it in the garage.At that point I sat on my stool and thought about just selling the Discovery once and for all and be done with it.The truck has ultra low miles,no winters,and shines like Christmas,so I figured it was still worth a few bucks to someone looking for this kind of a vehicle.As I flipped open my laptop to log onto the Auto Trader,I googled "Discovery oil leak" just for the hell of it....and bam! right back to this forum and Disco Mike advising another poor guy on the same issue! TORQUE DOWN THE VALVE COVER BOLTS!!...how the heck could I have overlooked something so obvious? well,out came the 1/4 drive set and thats when I discovered the bloody bolts were a little more than hand tight!.I torqued all eight down to 10 pounds,shampooed the engine and sure as **** the leak was gone....dry as a bone.Anyway,THANKS MIKE!!....you saved me over $700.....and from possibly selling my Discovery.Guys like myself really appreciate what you bring to the table.....even if we ourselves miss a few meals....Cheers Mike!
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Mudding
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 161
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Labor rates at good shops are pretty high but still less than the dealer.My Tech charges $77hr and the dealer is @ $98hr .OEM valve cover gaskets are $37.50 each,plenum gasket is $76.He charged me an hour to diagnose problem which included UV Dye,roadtest for 20km's and inspection of entire engine under UV light. Re and re intake plenum is 5 hours.
total parts....$151
total Hrs......$462
6.0hrs @ $77
GST............$30.65
PST............$49.04
Total.........$692
I ended up just paying for his diagnosing time which was $77,but he also installed a new OEM steering damper and did a complete driveline inspection for free.This guy is honest,fair and runs a state of the art shop.He knows how I feel about my Rover and did exactly what I asked.....find the leak and then call me with your findings.He just gave me estimate for him to repair with new gaskets.I've used this fellow for years,he does all the maintenance on my wifes CRV and my Sportage.If I had went ahead and gave my Tech the go-ahead on the gasket replacement,it would have turned into a head gasket,wire set and plugs too just to freshen everything up while he's in there....LOL!
total parts....$151
total Hrs......$462
6.0hrs @ $77
GST............$30.65
PST............$49.04
Total.........$692
I ended up just paying for his diagnosing time which was $77,but he also installed a new OEM steering damper and did a complete driveline inspection for free.This guy is honest,fair and runs a state of the art shop.He knows how I feel about my Rover and did exactly what I asked.....find the leak and then call me with your findings.He just gave me estimate for him to repair with new gaskets.I've used this fellow for years,he does all the maintenance on my wifes CRV and my Sportage.If I had went ahead and gave my Tech the go-ahead on the gasket replacement,it would have turned into a head gasket,wire set and plugs too just to freshen everything up while he's in there....LOL!
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