The XJ has high miles, rusted out rockers, vibration at highway speeds, needs tuneup and may need tires. Looks good otherwise. But its way too small for the lifestyle I live. The Sprinter has over 2k but from the info I gather those Sprinter diesel engines last forever when properly maintained. Sprinter is the ideal size for me. Would be nice to experience my first diesel and the improved MPG. Downfall is the Sprinter like most vans is rwd.

The XJ is going for $900 and the Sprinter is going for $6k.

I do not believe Turner is responsible for the issues Im having with this engine. I have reason to suspect that these symptoms are the result of the engines handling during installation. Don is a great guy, but he did have afew other guys working for him at the time that the work was done on my engine. Unfortunately those guys no longer work at Dons shop and there is no way to figure out the cause of these issues until the block is pulled. I dont plan on pulling the block until/unless its being swapped into a rust free donor. Cant afford to have this shop pull the block to inspect, reinstall then pay another mechanic another $1200 to pull and swap the engine into the donor truck later down the road. If this shop cant get its **** together, replace the oil pump and oil pan gaskets then we can get a good idea whats going on. Seems the shop may have taken of more work than they can complete which is why Friday night my truck is still outside their shop...

 

"


Dear Julian

Thank you for your e mail.



The title of your e mail assumes that the product you have bought from us is at the root of your problems. We can advise that it is improbable that the short engine supplied would operate reliably for some 30.000 miles with an inherent defect that predated the purchase date of August 2015. To be absolutely clear it is not possible for a mechanical defect to cause a misfire of the engine on an intermittent basis. Mechanical defects will manifest themselves in such a way that the anomaly is continuous which has clearly not been the case. It can therefore be reasonably assumed that there is not a pre-existing mechanical defect with the short engine supplied that falls under the responsibility of Turner Engineering.



We advise the following for your information.



It is quite possible that the oil pump may have failed or is failing causing the oil light to come on. The oil pump gears are manufactured in such a way that on occasion (rare) they can physically break up and in the first instance I would suggest removing the front cover to check whether this is indeed the case or not. Provided the engine was stopped immediately the oil pressure light showed, it is unlikely that any damage would have occurred to the major parts of the engine.



It is also possible for the flex plate to become damaged as a result of cracking which is not uncommon. This can produce noise, many would consider consistent with bearing failure in the engine. We cannot agree with your mechanic that the flex plate cannot be incorrectly assembled. The dowel peg has no register and can be pressed right home when assembling the flywheel giving in fact four different potential assembly states (90 degrees apart). See attached photograph of depressed ineffective locating dowel peg.



None of your symptoms are consistent with this type of miss assembly of the flywheel as an engine with this type of major error will not run. However if the flywheel reluctor ring pin pieces that fly past the position sensor are in anyway damaged which is not uncommon, misfiring can occur. We have come across this on several occasions. A cracked flex plate would allow some flexing of the assembly and could well interfere with the correct operation of the ignition system.



The short engine assembly is quite simple and misfiring as previously explained will in all probability lie with the external systems Ie something bolted onto the short engine. We cannot be sure that despite your assurances of no previous history of misfire that and external part was not damaged or changed in some way on installation.



With a view to the above please check the front cover/oil pump assembly is in good condition and also the flex plate to determine whether there is indeed a problem with either of these items which may well be causing your problems.



We are closed for Christmas and New Year holiday and return to work Monday 8th January if you wish to talk to me.



Regards

Richard Turner

Turner Engineering"

 

Coming back to this thread after a long time away, and I am sorry to hear of the engine problems. You've spent such meticulous care on your rover, not to mention money.

I scrolled back as far as I could and heard the audio. I have had a cracked flex plate where nothing was left except a small donut of metal in the middle. It didn't sound like that at all. I have also had a dry top end (no oil) and it sounded exactly like that, though to a much lesser degree. I had a blocked pickup tube because some idiot (me) over did it with RTV on mating surfaces.

It didn't sound like pulleys. They squeak when the bearings go bad.

Either the oil pump is in pieces or something else is blocking oil. That sounds to my untrained ears like unlubricated rockers and dry valves to me. You can pull the rocker covers and see if you see fresh oil, but that's pretty unscientific.

If it was mine I would pull the fan shroud, fan, belt, and main pulley, then remove the oil pan and finally the front cover. Remove the oil pump assembly and examine what I bet is a bunch of pieces of former oil pump gears. The wrong thing to do, but what I would do, is put a new oil pump and cover on it, reassemble it, and fill it with oil, then see how it sounds. If the bearings are ruined then they are ruined; trying that won't ruin them any more and just costs some time and oil/antifreeze. The right thing to do and what will probably happen anyway is to remove the entire engine, do as described above, then also remove the camshaft and look at the probable scarred bearings, then turn it over and look at the probable scarred rod bearings and crank bearings. Then just replace all of the bearings, probably replace the cam, and possible the crank (or have it turned and get oversize bearings). Then put it all back together and drive away happy.

You can replace the rod and crank bearings with the engine in the truck... I have done it with success. It is a miserable job. But you cannot, to my knowledge, replace the cam bearings with the engine onboard.

I vote for the Sprinter. Someday you will pull that Sprinter engine and out it in a Rover, and be a hero when you detail how you did it.

Anyway, that's what I would do.

So sorry to hear of the engine problems. That Turner engine is surely a good one, but parts still fail.

 

I really hate to spend another $2k-4k on engine work, on a already new remanufactured block. Still does not explain WHY the oil pump failed. If all this is true then it sounds as though I need a new engine or major engine rebuild. Most absurd. Even if this oil was neglected a little bit (which is has not been) this level of failure is unacceptable. People claim that Land Cruiser engines can be starved of oil, overheated, their air intake systems clogged with sand and with minor maintenance they will still run forever. I do not understand what is so special or fragile in these Rover V8 engines that makes them so dam weak and intolerable to stress. If I do in fact need the engine rebuilt then I will be concluded this drama. I have dreams and goals and its getting to the point where this truck and these engines are holding me back.

Unfortunately I have no where to park this truck should I decide to part it out either so I may send it to a recycling facility and accept defeat. I will always love the capability, heritage and unique styling of Discovery 1/2 models but I absolutely cannot stand or tolerate these rubbish engines.

I was watching afew documentaries on super cars like Bugatti, Ferrari and McLaren and was completely taken back by the level of pride and perfection that is put into the construction/development of every one of their cars. The spotless factories with spot free floors, the amount of testing and the quality of the parts is incredible. The tolerances those cars are designed to endure is almost out of this world. The final product is a masterpiece of art and engineering. Every model, every single one of their cars is brilliance and perfection. If every car manufacturer adopted these principles then Land Rovers perhaps be one of the "best 4x4xfar".

 

I’m with Charlie. New front cover and oil. I bet it wil be fine-ish. As fragile as these motors can be in some instances they are also pretty resilient.

 

I'd surely investigate the oil pump issue, thoroughly, before doing anything else. You may get lucky and have no lower end issues, depending on how much, how long, you drove/ran it after failure. Mains and rod bearing can be pretty resilient, especially at an idle. Dirt and foreign objects cause the most damage to bearings. And if they did fail...that's why they're in there...to fail and protect the hard parts. Replacing bearings, in frame, is not the most enjoyable job, like Charlie mentioned, but doable.

Very first thing your mechanic should do is...pull the oil pan and inspect cam bearing for movement, if they haven't walked...you may be okay with them. If they have...then you are at a real crossroad...to scrap or not to scrap. But, if they haven't. Then pull one rod cap, preferably rear one, and inspect, if it looks good you may be okay in that department too. If the rod bearing looks good, I'd probably bypass the mains and pull the oil pump assemble and try and determine the root cause of failure. Might just be a defective part and you can get away with pump and cover.

Anyhow, good luck. And this just goes to show you...these are a tough vehicle to own if you aren't mechanically inclined...or a millionaire. And it's hard to become a millionaire if you own one...so, you have to become a millionaire first...then buy an older Dll...lol.

Edit: The last statement wasn't really directed at TRIARll...it was for the popcorn eating folks following along.

Brian.

 

 

You can pull the oil pan and check the bearings, as the Deputy suggested, with simple hand tools (sockets, 13mm and 10mm if memory serves, with some cheapo extensions to make it easy), while laying under the truck. Changing out the front cover and oil pump requires the same hand tools and a larger wrench for the fan (36mm? I really don't remember that one), a 7/8 socket (if memory serves) for the main pulley, a tool that you do have to have made at a shop or buy to hold the pulley (mine cost 25 bucks and took an hour at a fab shop... I have a picture and measurements somewhere on the forums)... and a jar of vaseline to make sure the pump grabs oil. All doable, even in the snow.

I was told that if your fingernail snags on any scratches in the bearings, they need to be replaced. If so, clearly Lucky 8 and those guys will send them the same day. You can try a fingernail trick on the crank.

As Deputy and Abran have alluded, with the exception of the front cover (which is, in my estimation, poorly designed because you have to replace the whole thing if the oil pump scars the housing... no bearings) any damage to your engine is probably to expendable surfaces. It may be fine or fine-ish anyway.

To do any serious work on my Ford trucks you have to remove the body first... now that's a crap design. The Rover is user friendly by comparison.

​​​

 

I say screw that Shop, get your truck back. Rent a storage spot for a month and dig in. It’s not a hard job. Better to get aquatinted with the workings of the motor now. Let’s just say it is toast, then you spent $500-$1000 for someone to tell you it’s toast. It’s a DIY job especially with help from forum members.

You will be satisfied to know you did the work and be one step closer to the next chapter for a lot less money. The only way to learn is to do it.

 

My 05 dually had the cab off twice to fix issues with it. Fortunately it had the 5 year 100k mile warranty because the repairs would have been in the mid to high teens. Still had injector module issue while on a trip that set me back a couple grand. This was at 2 months and 5 thousand miles passed warranty.