I have an 03 with 110,000 miles on it. Today I was on the way to my mothers house, as I came off the bypass and gave the truck gas to fall in with traffic I felt a lurch but didn't think anything of it, within the next 5 minutes my oil light came on. By now I was at her house so I pulled in and shut it down. I got out and could smell oil, popped the hood and there was oil on the serpentine belt and good deal of it on the lower front cover and under the motor on the pan. I check the oil level and it was right above add. I waited a few minutes and fired it up, the oil light came on and there is a rattle in the bottom of the motor and a decent amount of vibration. The coolant reservoir was also empty. There hasn't been any signs(the gage) of over heating and the check engine light has not come on. Did I just loose the motor? Thanks in advance.
Also, I have not change the head gaskets yet

 

I sure wouldn't have cranked it up with oil all over the place and no coolant in it. Apparently you wanted to finish her off haha

 

But seriously... the oil light means low oil pressure.

The temp gauge reads normal up to about 220°

Sounds like you should stop driving it and inspect it closely.

You are due for head gaskets but I've not heard of oil spewing when HG's fail.

You probably have not lost the motor yet.

I would guess oil pump fail at the least... That does not normally spew oil everywhere so you have other issues.

Low oil pressure/broken oil pump will make noise.

 

Thanks Dave, that gives me a little hope that the motor is still good. Just for clarification, I let the vehicle sit without starting for 5 hours, and when i did start it I only let it run for 5 to 10 seconds. It is now sitting comfortably in my mothers driveway awaiting a tow to the repair facility which will be this coming Thursday.

 

Just be sure, if you are not doing the work yourself, to have it taken to an independent Land Rover specialist, not a foreign car shop with a "rover guy" and definitely not a dealer.

Most foreign car shops with a "rover guy" see Rover owners as a boat payment walking in their door.

 

Im taking it to a shop I have worked at doing suspension lifts, he is full service machanic, WE will be the work ourselves. He knows im cheap with shallow pockets.

 

03 engines had an oil pump assy problem at the factory for certain VIN ranges.
This make the oil pump drive gear crack.
That is probably the rattle.

There was some guy who worked certain shifts who did not assemble the oil pump components correctly.

 

Good luck! I hope it comes out cheap...

 

What was the vin range or where can I find it, and was there a recall for said problem?

 

Don't worry about the VIN range. Your truck would have never made it this far without that having been addressed. Most of them were dealt with by 40k... Like mine was.

If you search oil pump fail on here you will find that oil pumps and front covers fail regardless of the year or the VIN range.

Usually they don't spew oil out though... That would be other possibly non related issues.