Bought the '04 with a frozen motor. PO said it was due to an overheating situation.
Yes, it was low on coolant, but only the reservoir was empty, no signs of leakage elsewhere (at least coolant that is).

The students and I pulled the motor and tore it down. No signs of headgasket issues or slipped liners, no signs of steamed pistons, valves, or exhaust.
Interesting....

Pulling the oil sump (oil pan) I noted the discoloration of #3 main bearing cap, and the rod caps of 3&4 & 6&8.
#3 main bearing had started to spin, bit into the block and froze the crank.
Looking more like an oil starvation issue.

Pulled the front cover, popped open the oil pump and found the oil pump outer gear broken in 5 pieces!


What caused this?

 

Bad metallurgy?
Bad design?
Both?

 

Bad front covers

 

And why didn't they stop driving it when the oil pressure light came on?

 

Exactly my thoughts regarding the light.
As for the design, I don't know. The cover was tight and the oil pump cover plate was tight as well.

 

Oil pumps on the 03's were assembled wrong and they smash their own gears.

04's not sure.
But best to replace the oil pump gears.

I don't have much experience with crank shafts.
I just buy a new crank if it is scored.

 

Crank wasn't bad really, it's at the machine shop being evaluated -just looks like it needs a polish. The offended journal had marks that were barely perceptible with your fingernail -barely, so high hopes!
Yeah, I avoided buying a '03 for that reason, strange that this one exhibited that problem. I'll have to check the build date, maybe it got some leftover '03 parts...?

 

https://landroverforums.com/forum/di...l-leaks-46523/

 

i hope it polishes undersized LR bearing are not readily avalable

 

"Oil pumps on the 03's were assembled wrong and they smash their own gears."

Not exactly true...

The issue with the troubled '03s and some 04's was the front cover dowel holes were drilled slightly off on some random vehicles (not all) in the famous VIN range which put the front cover on crooked and led to the oil pump gears being stressed which led to them breaking prematurely. This caused low oil pressure and the ever popular tic.

Most all of them were fixed under warrantee.

Two fixes were employed: Number one, the dealer installed a new 4.6 block. Number two which was not LRNA sanctioned was to redrill the dowel holes and put the front cover on correctly. Number two was typically done to the block that was pulled by someone with the problem. Lots of techs at LR dealerships bought the blocks, repaired them, and used them in their trucks.

The oil pump gears themselves are the same for every year of Disco and will break over time even with a correctly installed front cover.