So like many of you I had a ticking noise. Using a stethoscope, the loudest of the noise didn’t seem to come from the valve cover area but rather the bell housing. It’s worse once engine has warmed up, under load at low speeds, and while in gear at idle it has a “diesel” -type of sound.

After purchasing this disco 2 months ago I replaced the head gasket and afterwards when changing the oil I noticed it did look dark. I filled it with fresh oil for the test drive after and everything was well except for the tick. I did the ATF flush as described in other threads and after 20 minutes of idling what came out was clear red ATF. I refilled with Rotella 15 W 40 and drove it around for a week. Ticking was unchanged.

Thinking it could be bearings or flex plate, I decided to bring it to a local rover mechanic. Apparently when he drained the oil he could tell it was the wrong viscosity. He filled it with 10 W 40 and the noise quieted down dramatically.

This morning, I decided to check the oil and noticed that the oil line was about an inch higher than the “full” line. This is with the engine cold and having sat over night.

Since it was overfilled and the noise did quiet down, I’m thinking the noise may be caused by low oil pressure and the extra oil just bumped up the pressure and masked the issue? Any thoughts? It’s a 1999 with the 4.0. 64k miles.

 

No, extra oil will not bump up the pressure. I would find out the brand of oil he used, and continue using that. I don't know if overfilling it by 1 qt (approx) is a problem or not.

 

"Initiating oil debate in 3, 2..."

Once you're up to temp, 15W40 and 10W40 are the same viscosity so that alone shouldn't change things. Brand/formula maybe. Your mechanic could tell the actual viscosity by draining it? Or is there a meter that techs use?

I agree, overfilling a bit will not change the pressure. Unless your pick up tube is damaged and the extra oil gets the level high enough that it stops sucking air, seems unlikely though.

 

I'm scared to do an ATF flush . there is a procedure to it that must be followed .. some people say dont do it .. and it would strip all the fake seals out of my Rover. Rover doesn't leak and I think it's because of solid oil fake seals ... I wanna keep those..

 

ATF wise do a drain, filter, fill.

 

Oil level is measures hot not cold. Fire it up, run it for 10 mins. Turn off, check level.

Cold is going to read high.

 

i've always heard the opposite, as a general rule. if you run the engine, a lot of oil is going to be in the upper galleries and will take a while to drain down.
i can find nothing in the rave about checking the oil level when hot. it does say that when changing the oil filter (p.10-16) to top up to the fill mark, then run the engine to check for leaks, stop the engine and wait for the oil to return to the sump (emphasis added), then re-check the oil level and top up if necessary.

 

You want to measure the oil level when the engine is well lubricated and oil has been dispersed. The oil level cold, not running doesn't matter as nothing needs to be lubricated then.

 

I checked the oil multiple times. Both cold and warm. Both are an inch over the F.

 

no, you want to measure the oil level according to the manufacturer's guidelines. if the oil level marks are placed for when the engine is cold, they're going to be inaccurate for a hot engine.
similarly, some manufacturers have you measure with the dipstick pushed all the way in, and others have you push it in only to its resting point. on bikes, sometimes you measure with the bike upright, and others you measure with the bike on the side stand. it all depends on how it's designed.