I have an opportunity to pick up a 2003 Land Rover Discovery. Basically, one of my best friends owns a higher end used car dealership in town and they took in a 2003 on trade a couple weeks back. I have always liked the Land Rovers and am currently down to one car so I am looking to pick a second one up.

The good about this car is the body and interior are in great shape for a 2003 with those miles. The drivetrain, suspension, and brakes also seem to be in good shape. No 3 amigos either. The even better is I am getting it for what they gave the guy on trade - right around $2200. The price is so low I feel worst case I can dump it on craigslist for 3k.

Now the, potentially, bad. The engine is throwing all sorts of codes, but after looking through they are all related to misfires, except one O2 code. After some reading here I believe that could be related to the misfires as well.

The big problem is the oil light stays on constantly and never goes off. The engine is also making some bad noises, maybe sounds like several stuck lifters? I am not sure how long it has been doing this. A driver for the dealership drove the car about 50-60 miles and saw the oil light on so he stopped to top off the oil. After checking the oil he overfilled it by a large bit. I have since driven the car about 20 miles too. I did not realize how potentially big of a problem this could be until reading further on here. Below is a video of the engine idling while warm:


I personally am no stranger to cars that require excessive maintenance. I have owned a few german sports cars (BMW M5, Mini Cooper S, and now currently own a Porsche 911). I have always done mostly all of my own wrenching and have access whenever to this dealerships lift/air tools along with special pricing around town on parts, etc. The Porsche is my daily driver; I am looking for the Disco as a second vehicle that I don't have to be so nit picky about and can fit more than a few groceries in if needed.

My thoughts on this are the misfires sound pretty easy, pick up some magenecor wires and some new plugs and more than likely I will be good to go. The oil issue worries me more. I am wondering if it is just excessive sludge build up though. Out of everything I have read I have never seen people talk about the oil light constantly staying on and by the sound of the engine it sounds like several of the lifters could be sticking. Also the car has probably been driven around 100+ miles to my knowledge in its current state, no clue how long the previous owner drove it like that. I would think if it was a more sinister issue it would have blown up by now.

What are some of your expert opinions on this? I am getting the car super cheap, even so if I am going to have to put an engine in, I'd almost rather go find a good running one around the 6-8k range. If all it ends up needing is some plug wires/plugs/and a few oil changes then it's a hell of a deal.

Thanks for all your help.

 

Not an expert but i would suggest finding a good used 4.6 or 4.0, use what you have as a boat anchor

 

Pass on it unless its less than $2,000 and you have the time/energy to put a new engine in. Where are you located?

 

If you are looking to spend some money and stress yourself out then buy it. The PO probably put hundreds of miles on it with the oil light on. A new engine will be the only fix.

 

Pulled the codes:
P0306 - cylinder 6 misfire (this showed up twice)
P0301 - cylinder 1 misfire
P0300 - random misfire
P0302 - cylinder 2 misfire
P1300 - catalyst damaging misfire multiple cylinders
P1319 - misfire with low/empty fuel drive cycle
P0333 - knock sensor 2 circuit high input (bank 2)
P0304 - cylinder 4 misfire
P0130 - O2 bank 1 sensor 1

I am located in Nashville. I think we are going to change the oil and see what comes out.

 

probablly a couple of rod bolts & a lifter of two

 

Stay away from it, yes you are getting it cheap and you will land up buying another $5000 plus into it before it hits the road

 

As the rest have said RUN!!!

 

It's an 03. Many of those have bad oil pumps. Yours sounds textbook. Engine is toast by now. Not worth it.

 

Man, I've heard hurt diesel engines that sounded better.......
Pass on it.