I often wonder if removing the alignment dowels from the timing cover would help the problem on 03's.
The bolts alone should allow the timing cover to sit in it's natrual postion, possibly removing the stress on the oil pump gear

 

That was my oil gear in 3 pieces. I've seen the gear cracked in 2 or 3 pieces on 2002 and 2001's. Not saying it not more common in 2003's. But most of the engines that had severe mis alignments the engines died on under 30,000k. Mine is at 108,000. As long as I keep my eye on the oil pressure I can probaby make it to 165,000

 

Yes, removing the dowels will help:
Anyone have a partially stripped block to hand? 2003 pump dowel comparison needed. - DiscoWeb Message Boards




BTW - the block, not the cover is the problem. No new cover will fix it. When you start unscrewing the bolts out of the cover, see if they are all biased to one side of the holes in the cover instead of sitting in the centre. If they are, then you have a magical 2003 f*%$#d up block.

 

Yeah, I started looking around, and I guess that other cover on AB is if your Discovery has an oil cooler. I did talk to two dealerships, the first one was where it was purchased new. The service manager I talked to was very knowledgeable of the problem. His voice kind of sounded annoyed when I brought it up. I have a feeling he dealt with a lot of them and was a little angry at Land Rover because they "were sloppy". He said the 4.6 engines that are messed up in the 03s, were originally going to go into Range Rovers, but when management found out about it, they decided to put it in the Discovery. The 2nd dealership where most of the service records were (18 to be exact) gave no indication of there having been an oil pump issue. That and the gal who wasn't.... well very bright, said she could not release the service history to me cause of privacy issues. I'll figure a way around that one later.... But she did say I could ask if specific things were done. SO, I found out the head gaskets were replaced as well as a lot of other items at 60k miles.... YAY! Only 6k miles to go before it needs them again lol.

 

That sounds highly implausible. I suspect it is a story he created himself to tell folks who asked questions he didn't know the answer to! I mean, exactly what Range Rovers would the engines have been put into? They quit making the P38 in feb 2002, so the ONLY units using the v8 post 2002 was the Disco - and the only countries buying it were exports and literally 1% of 2003 UK-spec disco's where the puchasers had ticked the V8 option instead of the Td5...

 

Probably fabricated, but that's what he did say.

Dave, I've sort of been having a delima with this new pump. My old pump would not allow the center gear to fall out at all. On the new one though, it will on one side but not the other. I have the timing cover just resting on the engine right now, haven't been able to spend a whole lot of time on it today. I'm not 100% on which way that center piece should go on. Right now I have it positioned so it could not be pushed out the front of the timing cover, thus the only way to get it out would be to remove the whole timing cover. Prior to that, it was being pushed out when I tried to fit the timing cover on the crank. I just want to make sure I'm doing it right.

 

Scott,
I've read this a few times, and am still not sure what you are asking. By the "centre piece" do you mean the inner rotor of the pump, the drive hub of the pump (attached to and slides on the inner rotor), the pump backing plate, or what?

 

The TSB from Land Rover says -
Replace the WHOLE engine.

How nice


Yeah, remove the dowel pins.


The TSB

Discovery Series II (LT) 3A771801 – 3A808362
Situation
Oil pump failures on 2003 Discovery Series II vehicles may be the result of a
manufacturing error. Locating dowel pins may be slightly misaligned permitting
assembly of the oil pump to the engine block, but placing stress on the pump housing which can ultimately lead to leakage or failure.
Resolution
Whenever an oil pump failure is encountered on vehicles within the above VIN range the only effective repair currently available is replacement of the complete engine assembly including the front cover/oil pump manufactured to the latest tolerances.

Use the following components to affect a repair:
• LBB112301 4.6 Engine assembly LEV
• LBB111461 4.6 Engine assembly NON-LEV

rover technical alert ta03 1201 issued in 2003 but was not divulged to the public

Engine - lbb112301-u-t

 

LRScott,
Your last post need a little more clarification, it confusing as to what your problem is.

 

it should not matter which way, on my set of factory gears the inner most part does not slide out of the inner gear. The most important thing should be the chamfer on the gear facing into the cover.