Check this thread out and watch the you tube videos. If the liners move this easy it has got to be the source of the tapping on these engines.
100% Proof that liners are moving at 'normal' operating temps & causing the tapping! - DiscoWeb Message Boards

 

Wow... simply wow! Thanks for posting! That sure as heck makes sense being that others have replaced just about every part possible and still can't track it down. Also makes sense why some have had the sound go away and come back.

 

I never dreamed they could move this easy, I thought it was a one time kind of event that happens when they overheat and the sleave just dropps and never moves again.

 

Yeah that certainly explains alot. However; what is the corrective maintenance now? It sounds like he was thinking about possibly going sleeveless. I wonder if that is even an option.

 

Larry the cable guy can go sleeveless, but fo'get about yo Disco going sleeveless. No way that is going to work.
The only remedy is to either replace the block entirely with a good one (is what that guy did) or have the block re sleeved for about $1600.

 

Wow, I have had 100's of these motors apart and never saw anything like that.

 

I would REALLY like to hear the "before" video of how the motor sounded though.

 

That was a very good write-up, but it's by far not the final word on ticking. He mentions that you can see the liner gouges on the head gasket. If it gets bad enough and goes for long enough you can see them on the head as well. But if you don't see those gouges, it entirely probably that it's something else like piston skirts. Unfortunately, diagnostics aren't always so simple.

 

I bet it sounds like a baseball card taped so it rubs the edge of the u-joint every time it spins. It isn't loud but it is annoying. Mine sounds like a tapping lifter but a really big lifter that doesn't seem to tap every time. The sound only comes at low rpm between 10-20 mph. I drive 15 miles on highways at highway speed to get home and when I pull in the sub-d and slow to the posted 20mph I get 100 yards up the sight incline and it starts - quiet at first then by the time I've reach 200 yards and the first turn it comes on a little more - by the time I am going the remaining 50 yards up a slight incline to my driveway it's there and makes no hesitation to let you know it's ticking. My neighbors have commented on the noise and even they thought there was something stuck to the bottom of the truck rubbing the drive shaft or vice versa.

Took the truck to my mech and he couldn't get it to make any noise after driving around - the 2 days he had the truck it was cool outside again - explains a lot.

I thought it was a u-joint going, the transfer case or the wheel bearings getting ready to crap out. The ticking started after I pulled about 5000lbs of ORVs back from a weekend of fun putting the truck under some pulling strain going up a long slow hill on the way back. But it wasn't too bad and the truck never missed a beat or got warmer than normal.

Has anyone ever done a refit of a "more reliable" engine as in not LR; and as in better fuel economy? I can think of a number of V6 engines that have more power and better MPG not to mention the plethora of V8s out there.

I love this truck but it's like owning a thoroughbred missing a leg if you have to go under the hood for major repairs like this it's just not worth it. The minor stuff I don't mind - I actually love it because my wife and kids will leave me alone for a couple of hours to get greasy before I have to go back to being dad again.

Has anyone out there dealt with all these "more than minor" repairs and have a list of the "fix before it dies" repairs they can post. I'd like to drop the truck off at my mech hand him the list and get him to address them all or determine a most cost effective solution. I don't want to fix sleeves to turn around and fix head gaskets to turn around and replace coils and so on and so forth. I hate throwing good money after bad.

Guess what I'm asking is - better to get a whole brand new LR motor and rebuild it with all the corrections to their **** poor designs or repair the one I have or refix with an engine that will work for more than 10K miles without coming up some new way down deep in the motor issue to deal with.

How can a company make a truck that is this damn good in everyway with a motor that is this damn bad in everyway???

I know, I know, "Welcome to Land Rover..."

 

Sure you can fit any engine out there into a disco, throw about $15K ~ $20K into it to get it working though. It's not economically viable unless you have that amount of money to throw at it. Guys are doing diesel conversions for about $15K.
Drive the truck until the sounds becomes unbearable or it craps out. Then get a short block from "RPi Engineering - Specialised Rover Engines" or Turner Engineering - Remanufacturer of Land Rover Engines and supplier of Land Rover engine parts and rebuild it.