So my "service engine soon" light just flipped on. Here's some background and two theories.

Theory 1: I have 74,500 miles and I assume there might be a computer chip or something of the sort that triggers the light to turn on when my '03 disco is approaching 75k; signaling that I've got some maintenance stuff to take care of. T or F?

Theory 2: I've had the infamous engine ticking sound going on now for about two months. In reading some posts on the forum, I thought I would perform some trouble shooting strategies to see if I could arrest the issue. So here's what I did.

I dumped my crankcase oil three days ago, and put in ATF in the crankcase and idled the Landy for about 30 minutes, to try and clean out the engine. Next, I dumped the ATF, changed the filter, and put in dino oil along with some seafoam. About 100 miles later the light turned on. Dino oil looks pretty clean, but plan on going to Royal Purple Synthetic 20-50 and filter in the next three to four days.

So, which theory might explain the light? DOn't have a OBD II, so any thoughts?

Thanks,
Rob

 

Could be too many things, hit up a auto parts store with OBDII reader.

 

Buy a scan tool! With out codes can't offer much help. But you can try pulling all your sensors and giving them a clean.
Using ATF and seafoam to try and clean Would be my guess why the light is on.

 

No idea but pretty sure Royal Purple is a bad idea! Most issues causing the engine tick won't trigger any fault codes unless the oil pressure drops really low. First, get your codes scanned....free at most auto parts stores. Next, start checking things like oil pressure, exhaust gasses in the coolant, exhaust leaks around the headders...easy/cheap stuff to diagnose, and you can press on from there but with a lot more info.

 

Go to parts store, have codes read for free. Write down numbers. Not their electronic guess of the meaning of the code. We have materials and people on here that can help you with the codes.

Low oil pressure is not capable of making an OBDII code on the Disco 2 - because the oil psi switch just turns on a warning idiot light.

 

Will do. I'll head out to Autozone and see what codes pop up and report back.

Curious, arguments against Royal Purple? Can you elaborate?

Robert

 

I used it in my S60R, while not as good as Amsoil, seemed to work just fine.

 

And I'm pretty sure the Disco, like every other vehicle ever made, will not throw a SES light at 75K, or any other mileage.

 

Royal purple is good stuff, but will leak from places conventional oil will not. On a Rover, that's just about everywhere.

Try this:

https://landroverforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46975&styleid=4