Greetings from California! I'm looking at a 2004 DII. This will be my first Land Rover. I'm very mechanically experienced, having rebuilt entire engines on previous vehicles. I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty. Having said that, I'm moving from CA to Chicago in a month, so I need it to be able to make that drive without the engine dropping on the pavement. Why take the risk? Because vehicles in CA are awesome, vehicles in Chicago are rusted out boxes of ****. And please don't suggest that I ship something - I'm not putting my dog on a plane in February, so we're doing the road trip.

The D2 is beautiful. Exterior and undercarriage are like new. 103k on the clock. Carfax is clean. Car hasn't been driven much over the past year. Owner has it in her garage, under a cover, with a Porsche on either side, and a newer Range Rover in the driveway.

I turn the key, engine kicks over and dies. Great. She says "it idles low when it's cold" - that's an understatement. Kept my foot on the pedal for a minute or two, check engine light comes on, engine starts to idle on its own (not so great), so I throw on my code reader and check out the engine. I shot the following video shortly thereafter:


I wouldn't say the engine was warmed up yet. It had been idling for a few minutes at most. I'm hearing normal valve chatter up top. There's also two sounds I'm not so sure about. There was an intermittent clunky lower sound, source unknown. You can barely hear it in the video. I don't really know how to describe it. There's also a consistent clicking that you can hear louder on the bottom.

Engine/transmission drove and shifted great. There was some shimmy at about 50mph, I'm guessing wheel balance and alignment. Engine had some oil on the pan. Owning a full size Bronco, that's "normal" for me.

After the test drive, engine was quieter, and idled better. Code reader showed 1551 and 1510 - both related to the IACV (Idle Air Control Valve). Should be an easy fix, not worried about that.

Thoughts?

Thanks!
Adam

 

 

What a clean undercarriage. Don't pay an arm and a leg.

 

I expect to get it for $4k.

 

That knock from the bottom end would scare me.

 

Is it louder at the back of the motor at the transmission?

 

Shoot. I don't remember/know if I noticed. It's about an hour away so I can't run over and check it out right away.

 

D2's can have exhaust leaks, or rattling cats that can clack. That video audio = not like being onsite and in person. I've tried to send video clips with exhaust note sounds and it never sounds like in person. I also agree the Bosch Purge Control Valves can tick loudly like a fuel injector on steroids.

I posted on FB about the IAC, and they can truly get nasty. I just was experiencing P0505 faults on the 02 Westminster I'm working on and I found it completely froze up. I removed it, cleaned up a bunch of other items and reset the adaptive settings and so far P0505 has yet to return. The starting and dying almost sounds like a MAF that has a mind of it's own.

 

My MAF recently had to be reprogrammed. How or why is over my head. But it was causing stalling.

 

someone recently noted that their dipstick was hitting a crank lobe as it rotated, which would probably make a very light ticking sound. the bottom end is really easy to open up to check for bearing wear etc.