I am curious to find out for those of you who's engine has developed that famous engine tick. How long have you driven the truck like that? Have you been afraid to take it on a long trip or even consider taking the truck on the trail for the day? I am leaning toward that direction, my truck drives fine, can only hear the tick when at idle...I am actually tired of thinking about it and just want to drive and enjoy the truck.

 

Just drive it. Mine ticks at idle but the longer I drive the less it ticks. The other day I did a 4 hour trip and it did not tick again for days. Then after a couple of short trips it started ticking again... go figure.

 

Install an oil pressure gauge or just ignore it, if the engine is going to blow not much you can do.

 

Oil pressure gauge and drive... Mine(oil pressure gauge) goes in this weekend. cold mornings it ticks a bit more so I let her warm up a little longer before I drive out of the garage. There is nothing you can do to fix the problem...except change the block....

 

Hah! I changed my short block and still have a tick

 

Mine has been "ticking" for the last 47k miles. I just keep on maintaining it diligently and am going to drive it until it croaks. Then, I'll likely put in a Turner long block. Depending on the $$$, I may even consider the diesel conversion from E2 Services in Orlando. (Anyone interested in more info on the E2 conversion should look up their facebook page by clicking here. There's also a thread on Dweb about the E2 conversion- looks like it'll run about $15k but may be the best diesel conversion I've seen to date. I'm looking forward to seeing the truck first-hand at the Rally in April.

I've read that it could be piston skirts or a wrist pin issue, but no one seems to have a definitive answer. Obviously, it sounds far worse than it actually is or my truck would have **** itself by now. A friend (who happens to be a LR Master Tech) just tore into an '03 4.6L- he was bound and determined to find the source of the tick and couldn't find anything wrong. The engine looked good on the inside, no heavy wear on anything!

 

I'm sure this probably isn't the advice that the 'experts' on the forum would give, or will endorse, but it's the direction I'm headed too.

I've had my engine listened to by 3 separate independent Rover mechanics. All have basically said that it is just what a Rover v8 w/102k miles sounds like. They all separately agreed that I might be able to tear the engine apart and rebuild it to eliminate the tick, but that it isn't (in my case) anything to get too excited about at this point.

I do feel that I should explain that I use this truck as a daily driver and weekend off-roader. At least 1 (sometimes 2) of these Rover mechanics regularly join our group on long road trips and when 4-wheeling...if he thought there was any real problem he'd be telling me to get it fixed rather than being stuck on the side of the trail with me...

 

I bought my 03 with 70K 6 months ago and got scared when I drove it off and came to the first stop light and heard that tick, but it hasn't been a problem. I have gone on a few 200+ mile road trip and the engine has been great and I do find that long trips make the tick stop for a day or two.

 

I'm not sure that their swap is financially viable at this point, but I've been following that thread too... It certainly looks interesting, but expensive and for the $$$ I think I'd need to have some kind of assurance that I wouldn't have problems with PA emissions inspections.

 

With that kind of swap I think you are on your own as far as emissions go, you are after all replacing a stock engine with a foreign engine. If I had $15K to blow I may consider it since I do not have to worry about emissions in FL, but that is still a pocket full of $$$. A Turner short block or long block still seems like a better idea though.