EMERGENCY!! Dealer says my truck is toast!
#21
06-20-2011, 08:52 PM
Engine > Cooling/heating
Water Pump
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Our Price: $109.95
Item: STC4378A
In Stock: Yes!
Fits:
Discovery I | '94 - '99
Discovery Series II | '99 - '04
Range Rover Classic | '95 | For Vehicles with Serpentine Belt
Range Rover 4.0 (P38) | '95 - '02
Range Rover 4.6 (P38) | '95 - '02
Defender 90 | '97
Water Pump
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Qty
Our Price: $109.95
Item: STC4378A
In Stock: Yes!
Fits:
Discovery I | '94 - '99
Discovery Series II | '99 - '04
Range Rover Classic | '95 | For Vehicles with Serpentine Belt
Range Rover 4.0 (P38) | '95 - '02
Range Rover 4.6 (P38) | '95 - '02
Defender 90 | '97
The proper pump has a machined brass impeller and costs about $180.
#22
06-20-2011, 09:08 PM
Intellius, this is the EXACT same workshop manual the stealership uses...
#23
06-20-2011, 09:08 PM
Join Date: Apr 2011
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OK, first of all, you need to learn to work on this thing.
Having one of these as your only vehicle, especially at 19 is an amazingly poor choice, but I made worse ones at that age, so I'm not one to throw stones here ('78 911).
If you are detail oriented, can read well (I mean technical documents), plan well, and stay organized you absolutely can change your head gaskets. But let's not get ahead of ourselves here.
First of all, you are 19. The dealer saw you as an easy mark. Let's verify everything they said was wrong.
Head gasket: Are you losing coolant? You should be checking it every morning to make sure it's in the same place in the reservoir. If not, it needs to be figured out where its going.
Throttle body heater: easy stuff. And very typically bad. This can be done for $25 in parts they were talking about and a screwdriver and some wrenches. It's not a big deal, and will cause you to lose coolant. This it low hanging fruit. Do it. Order this.
Water pump: I'd like to know how they think this is happening. I want you to grab your fan when its cold and try to move it up and down and back and forth. If it's wobbling on the thing it's attached to, your water pump is indeed bad. With both the throttle body heater and water pump bad, I don't know how they could diagnose head gaskets as well.
If it's bad, it's a couple hundred in parts and a socket set and some specialized tools to remove the fan (36mm wrench at least). These can be had for loan at autozone. No reason to panic.
ABS light: This is not a priority. See some of the stickies. Read up on the three amigos.
T-box leak: Also probably not a priority. Likely to be a ****ty afternoon under the truck with a socket set, some degreaser, a tube of silicone sealer, and enough gear oil to refill it.
3rd brake light: Also not a priority.
Most important: the coolant leaks. These must be taken care of or you will roast to motor. Watch your coolant, watch your temperatures. Shut it down if it starts getting hot.
Go out and get some degreaser (foamy engine brite, simple green, whatever) and carefully spray down the motor and carefully hose it down in the front/lower sections. Don't go high pressure, don't get water in electronics or air boxes. Get it clean so you can tell where it's leaking. That's what you go after.
Here is the factory service manual. Start looking through it for some of the things mentioned so you know what you're getting into and what tools you will need.
Having one of these as your only vehicle, especially at 19 is an amazingly poor choice, but I made worse ones at that age, so I'm not one to throw stones here ('78 911).
If you are detail oriented, can read well (I mean technical documents), plan well, and stay organized you absolutely can change your head gaskets. But let's not get ahead of ourselves here.
First of all, you are 19. The dealer saw you as an easy mark. Let's verify everything they said was wrong.
Head gasket: Are you losing coolant? You should be checking it every morning to make sure it's in the same place in the reservoir. If not, it needs to be figured out where its going.
Throttle body heater: easy stuff. And very typically bad. This can be done for $25 in parts they were talking about and a screwdriver and some wrenches. It's not a big deal, and will cause you to lose coolant. This it low hanging fruit. Do it. Order this.
Water pump: I'd like to know how they think this is happening. I want you to grab your fan when its cold and try to move it up and down and back and forth. If it's wobbling on the thing it's attached to, your water pump is indeed bad. With both the throttle body heater and water pump bad, I don't know how they could diagnose head gaskets as well.
If it's bad, it's a couple hundred in parts and a socket set and some specialized tools to remove the fan (36mm wrench at least). These can be had for loan at autozone. No reason to panic.
ABS light: This is not a priority. See some of the stickies. Read up on the three amigos.
T-box leak: Also probably not a priority. Likely to be a ****ty afternoon under the truck with a socket set, some degreaser, a tube of silicone sealer, and enough gear oil to refill it.
3rd brake light: Also not a priority.
Most important: the coolant leaks. These must be taken care of or you will roast to motor. Watch your coolant, watch your temperatures. Shut it down if it starts getting hot.
Go out and get some degreaser (foamy engine brite, simple green, whatever) and carefully spray down the motor and carefully hose it down in the front/lower sections. Don't go high pressure, don't get water in electronics or air boxes. Get it clean so you can tell where it's leaking. That's what you go after.
Here is the factory service manual. Start looking through it for some of the things mentioned so you know what you're getting into and what tools you will need.
Camdisco24, it's a great truck! It does require love and attention I guess, but she's worth it. Yeah, it's amazing, I thought the dealer was the most legit place to take any vehicle, should've asked first. I was looking at Philips, but I think I'm going to try doing some of this stuff solo. Like you said, these mechanical skills pay dividends throughout life!
Spike555, added all of those items and was pretty shocked to see the difference in the quoted parts price. Will definitely be making those purchases in the next two weeks.
*Starts thumbing through RAVE manual*
#24
06-20-2011, 09:27 PM
#25
06-20-2011, 09:35 PM
Rock Crawling
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#26
06-20-2011, 10:10 PM
Got it, made a to-do list out of this and will get on those parts next paycheck. Yeah it sounded really weird, a water pump shaving metal? I did check the fan and nothing appeared to be abnormal about it in any way. Might replace the water pump just for peace of mind anyway though. The hosing / leak trace will be Saturday's project!
If your water pump doesn't look like it's bad (and it sounds like it from your test), do the cleaning up and try to get a pressure tester (something else Autozone or similar will loan you). If you pressurize the system after repairing your presumably leaking TB heater and the pressure drops, you will hopefully be able to see where it's leaking coolant from if its external. Of course, this test can wait until you properly refill and bleed the cooling system and drive it a few days, checking to see if you are losing any coolant. If you aren't, you're likely good to go. But replacing the pump just for peace of mind (not knowing when it was changed last) is definitely a solid idea.
#27
06-21-2011, 04:06 AM
Rock Crawling
Owning a vehicle like this has at such a young age is a terrible idea. I should know, I'm 21, however I have some special circumstances. I'm making O-1 [military rank] pay, which is nice, but I also have a bike and I have been working on cars, including a few Land Rovers a long the way since I was 10.
#28
06-21-2011, 07:02 AM
Winching
That is a ****ty rebuild with a stamped metal impeller. Order that pump at your own peril.
The proper pump has a machined brass impeller and costs about $180.
The proper pump has a machined brass impeller and costs about $180.
#29
06-21-2011, 10:57 AM
Winching
Join Date: Aug 2010
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It is actually well written.
x2 on that pump also. don't buy that one.
Your 19 so you have all the time in the world to work on this truck. You do not have a nagging wife, 3 kids, yada yada...
You will be fine. Don't be afraid.
Last edited by sloan74; 06-21-2011 at 11:00 AM.
#30
06-21-2011, 03:32 PM
If you took it to the dealer to change the brake pads, this isn't the right car for you. Don't pay anything to have it repaired. Sell it as-is and you will get the most money for it. Then go buy something that doesn't require a lot of maintenance. With a Land Rover, you will be hopeless. These are project vehicles and if you can't change your own brake pads, then you're no where near ready for a project.
Even if you're willing to step up, don't bother with your street vehicle. It will be an ongoing nightmare. Get a reliable street vehicle that matches your budget. If you actually do want a project, get one that matches your budget and that you do not have to depend on for daily transportation.
I'm telling you, don't do it. I've been there and done that. It doesn't make you less manly to drive a damn Kia and when you don't have to fix it just to get to work, you can make rational decisions about your personal finances AND your wrenching avocation. Rational decisions about personal finances doesn't include living paycheck-to-waterpump. That's insane. And if you want to take up wrenching as an avocation, why not work on something that presents meaningful challenges instead of fixing one problem after another that all resulted from someone else's stupid negligence?
Even if you're willing to step up, don't bother with your street vehicle. It will be an ongoing nightmare. Get a reliable street vehicle that matches your budget. If you actually do want a project, get one that matches your budget and that you do not have to depend on for daily transportation.
I'm telling you, don't do it. I've been there and done that. It doesn't make you less manly to drive a damn Kia and when you don't have to fix it just to get to work, you can make rational decisions about your personal finances AND your wrenching avocation. Rational decisions about personal finances doesn't include living paycheck-to-waterpump. That's insane. And if you want to take up wrenching as an avocation, why not work on something that presents meaningful challenges instead of fixing one problem after another that all resulted from someone else's stupid negligence?
Last edited by nevada ben; 06-21-2011 at 03:40 PM.