Ugh, if anyone has been following my other posts, last year my Disco2 started making tapping noises and chuffing. Would run about 15 minutes tapping would get louder, then overheat and literally boil the oil.

So, pulled the heads. The chuffing was definitely a head gasket breach, but didn't see any damaged valves or bent push rods so not sure why the tapping. so I completely rebuilt my heads, even putting in new seals and relapping the valves perfectly, and completely cleaned out the rockers . But after having the heads resurfaced, I found them to be a bit under the .5mm removal spec as this was the 2nd time I'd done this in the past 10 years. Not sure how much they were cut the first time, but now they were cut to more like .8mm. So yeah, I probably should have used head shims, but put em in as is. I even replaced all the lifters with new ones (soaked em in oil overnight) this time in case the old ones were jamming and causing the tapping.

Anyway, got it all together, and after spun it over it a few times cold with the fuel relay and plugs pulled, to get the oil pressure up and everything coated, and didn't hear any tapping. Put the plugs back in, spun it a few more times and still no tapping, and spun easily, so apparently no major over compression issues from the resurfaced heads. Finally, put the relay back and started her up. RAN AMAZING... for about 5 minutes, then the tapping started again. Killed it, let it cool down a bit, started again. Tapping still there. Reved it over 2000rpm tapping got REALLY bad. backed down again to 800 rpm. Did this a few times like an IDIOT and after the last rev, she tapped VERY loudly then seized up. Now the starter won't turn the crank at all. Makes me think the tapping was the valves hitting the piston becuase of the out of spec heads, and now one of the pistons is jammed up against a valve.

At this point, I probably should just give up and replace the entire engine, but it's literally KILLING me to not know what went wrong after working so hard on those heads. I mean, yeah the resurface was out of spec, but not by a ton, and I don't think enough for the valves to hit the piston or am I wrong? Can't understand why it didn't tap until it got heated up. Maybe the tapping started after the lifters pressured up? Perhaps the push rods were too far down into the lifters because of the valve lapping and out of spec resurfacing to the point that it was out of the lifter's top end adjustment tolerance and thus they ended up pushing the valves too deep into the cylinder?

Or I'm wondering if it wasn't the heads or lifters at all, but maybe a cam shaft, crankshaft, piston rod or oil flow issue?

Any ideas? I'm probably just gonna replace the engine at this point, really don't wanna take it all apart again. But wanted to run this by you gurus just in case you had any other ideas.

I'm thinking an easy thing to check would be to simply pull out the plugs and run my endoscope inside to see if any of the valves are actually in contact with the piston as it's in a stuck position now, so if that's what's hanging it, it should be evident right?

Thanks for ANY advice. I'd really appreciate it.
-Mike

 

I can feel your struggle brother. Really sucks. So tolerances issues may be happening? Everything in an engine is metal and as a result of shortening the heads everything gets move down the distance removed.

After tens of thousand rotations cams marry to lifters, lifters marry to push rods and push rods marry to rocker plungers. As this goes on and on they shorten. Not by much but they shorten. Still within tolerance but they certainly aint getting longer.

You shaved the heads once and youre tightening everything up.

After the first head gasket job did you preload and shim the rockers? Were the valves inspected and serviced?

If you pushed it on reducing the overall height of the heads you might of pushed it a little too much on the tolerances.

Especially if you didn’t shim and preload the rockers.

So if you didnt shin you “artificially” elongated the push rods, allowing for torsion to be present, and potentially as well caused incomplete opening and closing of the intake and exhaust valves.

I am not trying to beat ya up. This is just talking through it to maybe figure out how to go forward.

You shaved two warped heads a little too much and things didn’t improve. A tight tolerance out of sync twisted flexed rhythmic pressure vessel. I imagine even tightening and torque the bolts down after the first might of been a challenge. Did it fight you on both? Did reassembly go well? Are you a grip it and rip it kind of gal or are you a torque to the specs perfectly kind of fella?

Assuming on the first go you did not clean the lifters and they were hard as a rock. Did you jumble the lifters and push rods?

So you’re in the same boat feeling like crum I bet. I would. How critical is getting this vehicle running? Are you out money? Riding a bike? You got another vehicle? I ask because this is what I think you should do.

If you have another vehicle and this is not pressing I would take a break. Sit on it for a while. It’s traumatic having **** go so wrong. In the mean time, you relax and take a break and not be so hard on yourself so you can have another crack at it.

In a perfect world you would have all the moneys to buy all the tools, equipment, parts, and give it hell.
But it aint like that. Maybe it is for you but it’s not like that for me. So things happen in phases.

So take a break if you can. If youre fortunate enough to have the coin, maybe be open to finding another one? A different one? A D1? A late D1? An early D2? Something stock well taken care of by the previous owner. Something that you can love and start from square one.

If you are in a jam and you need immediate assistance I am confident the community will
rally and help you form a plan.

If you're in jam heres what I think you should do. You need new heads and a top end rebuild.You need to find a decent scrap pair of heads or rebuild what you can of the top end. Find a pair of heads that are in tolerance with decent rockers.

Do a leak down and compression test to determine if a sleeve is slipped. Doesnt sound like it is but if you just did the heads and they hold liquid use what left you have to essentially get it running just to do the tests. I dont remember if you said it wont start now but if you can get it started to do those tests the more you can figure out.

At this point best case in my opinion is pray the lower end of the engine hasn’t been impacted to be out of tolerance. Cylinder damage, ring wear, main bearing, connecting rods. Assume it’s fine and only check for slipped sleeves. Source a decent pair of heads and genuine rocker arms.

Hopefully you can do a leak down and compression tests and they are good results. Then you gotta get the heads off again. Don’t worry about measuring for warpness or height anymore. Remove the rockers and inspect for feasibility of reuse. Maybe youll be lucky but from the sounds of it… they may break when you disassemble. So you probably dont want to use them anyway.

Determine what happened by inspecting and measuring the push rods and comparing them to the design specifications outlined in the manual. You mentioned you knew about head heights but there are tolerances for push rods, intake, and exhaust valves etc.

You wont be using your push rods, lifters, intake and exhaust valves anymore. So you might as well disassemble and learn what you can. You can keep the valve springs and keepers to save money if you need to but again they too have tolerances.

Once the heads are off you should check the block for visually sleeve slippage warpage. Check the block for warping. If it’s warped ya done. If it’s good then I would do remove the front cover to inspect the gears, timing chain, and oil pump. But mostly the reason for it is to get the oil pan off and inspect for walked cam bearings and visually assess lower end damage.

if she got no lower end damage I would assess replacing timing chain and gears and oil pump. Do you have too? Maybe not but if you can swing it I would.

Top end rebuild. New heads, new intake and exhaust valves, guides, seals, springs (optional pending inspection) and have them done by a professional to ensure they are going to be a tight perfect fit.

Rebuild the rocker arms. New lifters, pushrods, and camshaft. Install the head gasket with confidence knowing everything is gonna be good.

Adjust for the preload of the new cam, lifters, and push rods. You have to measure and shim them to ensure the intake and exhaust are within their tolerances to ensure their isnt torque on the arms causing valve lash and the valves are optimized open and close when they should be. There shouldnt be much if the heads are true and minimal has been shaved off and used rockers. You may not need to shim but I would check anyway.

Reassemble. Rotella T4, inline tstat mod, oil pressure gauge, case of beer, and you’re sitting pretty.

Estimated cost off the top of my head 1,000k. Take 3 of Rover V8s.

Option 2. Cometic Gaskets. Adjustable pushrods from TWS. Adjust the rocker arms accordingly. Bolt it back up and pray. Maybe like 800-900 bucks?

Option 3. Get an angle grinder and start cutting bolts. Disassemble, pray the block is all right, and strip the rest for parts. Scorch and burn.

Take some time and chill brah. You sound like you could use some R and R.

 

Couple questions.

First - you said it ran great for 5 or 10 minutes and started making noise again. Did you do a break in procedure on the new lifters?

Second - what's causing the engine to get hot? If your oil is getting "hot enough to boil" then your noise is probably rod knock because the hot oil doesn't have enough surface tension. Is your cooling system in good order?

Rocker preload is not your issue, I'd bet a significant sum of money. I would not be buying new heads or adjustable rockers until I was sure that was the problem.

Slipped sleeve test - I used to be against this, but suffice to say with greater experience my mind has changed. Warm the engine up till it's making the noise. Take a water hose and spray the sides of the block, one side at a time. If the noise goes away, slipped sleeve.

A video with the noise would probably help quite a bit. First order of business is going to be getting the overheating issue sorted though, and that's not a head/cam/lifter issue. Do you have an OBD2 scanner or any other means of reading the engine temperature from the computer? Instrument cluster gauge is useless.

 

I am nodding in agreement with this fella. Sort one issue at a time in an order that makes sense. My intention was to show support and let you know there are options. Coolant overheating is a good place to start.

EDIT: Throw money at your mental health by having a nice cold brew and a good sit, not heads and top end parts until you have taken a step back.

 

Agreed. A cold beer or two can help put life in perspective.

 

First off, thanks you guys for the empathy and kind vibes. I REALLY needed that. It's been an emotional rollercoaster as this car has a ton of sentimental value and a lot of effort has been put into him. I'll try to be brief, but y'alls nice comments just opened a box of worms.

"Henry" was my daughter's first car. I bought him out of the salvage yard as I wanted her to have a cheap, but decent car that would also "win" in any accident she might find herself in as a new driver - lol. So after saving him from the compactor for $1500 and about another $1000 in parts, in just a few months of learning all about the D2, then replacing the thermostat and head gaskets not to mention door locks, headliner, sun roof, etc, I got him running pretty good. Henry was pretty reliable and kept my daughter safe all the way to college. I drove him after that, until he started the odd tapping noise, with overheating about a year ago. He's sat at my moms for about a year now.

Well I had planned for Henry to be my younger daughter's car next. She turned 15 last month, so that's why I've been working on him now. I'm not desperate for a vehicle, but I may be in a year or so when she'll be driving alone. Worst case, I'll let her drive my old beat up 2001 Buick Regal and I'll pull my other love of my life (my 2001 Isuzu Vehicross) out of storage and drive that if I have to, although I'll be anxious as hell driving her around as she's rather rare and would be hard to fix if in an accident.

So to answer your question, I'm not in huge distress yet for a vehicle but Henry has a lot of sentimental value and my youngest was looking forward to him as her first car like her big sister.

Anyway, at the time of the original tapping and overheating I felt for certain was a failing lifter or lack of oil issue as the noise was only in the passenger head and I thought the friction was burning the oil. I don't remember why I discounted the water pump, I think it was because the temperature gauge didn't show much overheating on the dash. Also, lots of pressurized water when you open the release valve. When I said overheating, I meant it in the sense that the tapping got so loud and bad I would pull over and open the oil cap and smoke would billow out. But since I knew the chuffing definitely was related to a failed gasket, I decided to pull it apart again and see what there was to see since I needed to address that anyway. I was fully expecting to see damaged or bent rods where I was hearing the tapping, etc, but nothing except the blown gasket. There wasn't any wear evidence on the rockers or anywhere else.

So I rebuilt everything I could think of on the top end that could have had oil flow or friction issues. The first time I rebuilt the heads I was waaaay less enthusiastic. All I did was resurface them and reuse all the original equipment except for new gaskets. I didn't touch or check the valve seals, lifters, tolerances etc. I was very careful however to put things back in the order they came out cause yeah I knew they would all be "married" to each other.

This time however, I spent months cleaning and relapping all the old valves to near ZERO bleed down with brand new seals, I didn't check or replace the springs however. I made sure the resurfaced heads and main block were flat and level. Soaked, cleaned and blew out the rocker arms (it didn't take them completely apart, just rotated and positioned the rockers so the interior holes lined up and I could blow air through the small oil port in the rod cups. Then let them soak in gasoline, then drained them and put them back to soak in oil until I put them back on the heads.

I knew that the resurfacing was pretty out of spec and I may have a preload issue with the valves not closing all the way end ruining my perfect lapping. So I figured the old lifters would have to be replaced as they were probably locked in solid and unable to compensate for the new change in length. So I bought and presoaked new lifters and dropped them in with the original rods. I think I misjudged though how much a lifters can initially "adjust" though and in retrospect should have tested the gap between the retaining clip and the cup after getting everything bolted on. So no, I didn't do a preload test to see if I needed shims, I just was willing to risk it thinking I might just get some compression loss, but I never expected them to actually be so tight as to force the valves to hit the piston (which I'm STILL not sure is what has happened).

I did check the cylinder sleeves and didn't see any issues visually, in fact I couldn't even see the thin line break between the head and sleeve at all. There wasn't any leaks elsewhere I could see in the head gaskets, nor was there any "steamed cleaned" areas in the heads or piston heads.

Didn't do more than a cursory inspection of what I could see on the cam shaft but it looked clean and polished , but didn't rotate it or the crank shaft at all.

So I just bolted everything back together and figured a few turns of the engine would get the lifters settled into place and if there was any chance the valves would hit the piston I would know during my break-in procedure for the new lifters. As to that, this is what I did from what I read and was told. I posted here in another post asking for more advice but no one replied, so I just went with what I knew. Please tell me if I missed something important:

After reassembling the engine, I left the spark plugs out and pulled out the fuel pump relay. Filled the new oil filter with oil to pre-prep the pump quicker, and changed the oil. Refilled the radiator. So here we go...

I spun the engine for 15 secs, then waited about 2 minutes to cool down the starter and let things settle. Then repeated this two more times. Next, I put the plugs back in and did the same three spin ups again. I reason I did this once without the plugs and once with, was to get a higher RPM the first time and hopefully the oil pressure up to feed the lifters, and the second time which would put it all under compression to see if the starter had issues spinning the engine if the heads were so low as to have compression issues.

But both rounds of spinning up showed NO tapping noise and the starter didn't sound like it was struggling at all, so I waited about another 15 minutes, put the fuel relay back in and wished for the best. He started almost immediately with no tapping and I was overjoyed, Then after about 5 minutes it started tapping again. It didn't get louder unless you raved it, so I left it run for another 5 minutes hoping the lifter(s) were still just adjusting. Oh, and the temperature gauge looked normal and the oil pressure light wasn't on the whole time.

So, I revved it and man it got faster and much louder. Backed back to idle and sound was just a hair louder. Cut off the engine. Waited about another 5 minutes and ran it again at idle. Same tapping, a bit louder for about 5 minutes. Revved it again thinking I was going to increase the pressure on the lifter to help press down and that's when he engine finally went THUNK and locked up.

So that's the whole sad story

Appreciate the advice to step back and let it sit and move on to other things as it's not an emergency to get it running. Will definitely try to put this all out of my mind for now, but I'm still constantly thinking of WHAT THE FRICK actually happened and what I might have missed. It's just my personality. I don't like unknowns but for my own sanity I agree I need to let this go for now.

Thanks again
Mike

 

Good to know you've got some time on this. I can certainly appreciate wanting your kid in a safe vehicle.

Based on your account of the first few minutes of run time, I am concerned about your cam/lifters. New lifters require a 15-30 minute (depending on who you ask) break in period. You'd only want to spin the motor over 20-30 seconds prior to starting it. You really want it to start fast and clean. Immediately bring it up to 3000 rpm and for roughly the next 20 minutes you rev it up and down between 2000 and 3000 rpm. That keeps oil on the cam and lifters and allows them to seat together without eating each other. At idle and while cranking, the cam and lifters see virtually zero oil which is why you want to minimize your cranking time prior to first start. 20-30 seconds just to get the oil pump to catch oil.

Your next step is going to be to drain the oil. Check and see how much metal is in the oil. I highly expect you are going to be looking at new cam/lifters. Following draining the oil, pull the valve covers and see if there are rockers/push rods with excessive play, particularly when the lifter is on the base circle of its cam lobe.

Since you only idled it, your prognosis is good because the oil pressure would not have gotten high enough to activate the oil filter bypass. Drop the oil pan and clean out as much debris as possible. New high quality filter. Mobil1 or Wix. New cam and lifters with proper break in. Immediate oil change with another quality filter. 500 miles and one more oil change with a good filter. That should clear out about all the debris in the motor and you'll be back trucking.

Finally, and extremely important. Get an ultragauge or some kind of OBD2 scanner so you can monitor actual engine temps. The factory gauge does not move at all from the middle until 230-240. @Extinct likely knows the exact temp, but by then it's already overheated. Get an in-line thermostat kit installed while it's apart again. Overheating kills these things quicker than anything. If yours has seen the temp

 

What color is Henry? This will be long read and the read is really only for the OP but there is a purpose to it in the end. I promise. EDIT: Really long read of how I ended up with my D2. Sorry!

I own an 04’ D2 in Zambezi Silver with 112kish miles on it. This vehicle saved my life. It was a replacement vehicle as a result of being a victim of auto theft. The vehicle that was stolen was what the LR community calls a Full Fat Range Rover. It was a 2008 in White and I really liked it. It was my first car I bought upon seeing it at the local Shady Euro Used Car Dealer. My plan was to do all the service and upgrade it the way we all do with the D2 and D1s.

However, I was naive and did not do my research prior to purchasing the vehicle. It was my first Land Rover so I assumed it would have aftermarket kits for bumpers, lights, etc all the cool jazz. Whilst it does have some of a market for offroading it is nothing like what the Disco community has to offer. I was a little bummed about that but I obviously had a loan on it and couldn't just give up half way through. It’s still a bad *** car. So I started turning wrenches with no guidance, under it, parked on gravel on an incline to start with oil changes. I learned how to get into the workshop manuals and started understanding LR Manuals. With the help of a retired county School Bus mechanic I was bossed around into doing the basic Brakes job and as well trouble shoot a nicked cooling system hose that left me with a hot smokey engine off of I-794 in Milwaukee. My first true experience with coolant and the important of properly bleeding the cooling system.

Life goes on, it was doing fine and I was doing okay, cut to an engagement, new house, got a border collie (2nd dog), sister abanndoned her cat at my house, and on went the continued existence with the normal trials and tribulations of the modern day couple in Midwest America. After solo trip to Phoenix from Wisconsin and back to pick up my three sheets in the wind husk of a man alcoholic Father who at the time was inching to his rock bottom and a vacation trip to Yellowstone with my wife I started to overlook the routine required maintenance and the Range Rover was not driving like it used too like when I originally got it. A few lights pops on here and there, the brake lights, maybe a check engine, I don’t recall, however right when it started to really be in potential random failure mode. I wish I could say it wasn’t bad but it was, I neglected her and with all the things life throws at one I was unable to manage being a proactive car owner. May be a bit harsh but it was true I was out of my element, no tools, no knowledge, a millennial with a Land Rover Range Rover with a 20k note. I was not going to sell it and eventually knew the big maintenance event would happen whether planned or not and we would swing it however possible but I knew it was coming.

Cut to the tail end of Winter in January I am working night shift at a world class German Pharmaceutical Company manufacturing highly potent active pharmaceutical ingredients by moonlight in America’s finest gulag. Real grimy time. Year 5 of my 10 year Professional Career. Learning the tubes, just making it along, promoted to Equipment Team Lead, learning and fixing equipment, making drugs by night the way the Dark Lord prefers. It was a Thursday afternoon and that was my “Friday” for the work week as I worked 40 hours Monday to Thursday. Laying around on the couch snoozing after sleeping off the morning night time beers I am awoken to my lady. She looks extremely confused after just arriving home from getting her hair and proceeds to say in a tone that I will never forget, “Oh! Your’e home?”

I immediately knew what she went and why she asked it like that. My heart sank into my gut as I waltz through the front door to be greeted by an empty driveway spot where the Range Rover was parked the previous Morning.

The city of Madison, Wisconsin is the bluest county in the state, which isn’t saying much these days as Wisconsin is as purple as Barney’s **** at the moment, but the reason why this pertains to this situation is that, the DA and the police in Dane County have taken an, “alternate approach/Progressive stance,” on Juvenile Crime in the city. Meaning they don’t harshly enforce the law the way they used too. Specifically, one of the highest Juvenile Crimes has been automobile theft and identify theft via credit card theft. It has quieted down in Madison now however about 4-5 years ago when this occurred automobile theft was rampant.

Because I recently just moved in to the neighborhood I was unaware of the perception others may have of our neighborhood. It’s totally Midwest Middle Class nothing fancy, hidden away, my wife and I to this day may still be the youngest couple here. However, the majority of my neighborhood is elderly, retired, and well you know… been doing life for almost 60-80 years now? They've raised families, they are empty nesters with too many stairs in homes they built over the course of a lifetime. So it’s one of those shades of red in this purple landscape in Madison. That’s why it matters. I had no idea that a neighborhood could be targeted like that. I grew up poor rural small town kid who then moved to inner city Milwaukee.

I should have known better. Range Rover stolen. Find one of two sets of keys. Did not locate the other set. For insurance purposes and because I didn’t get to talk to the perps I actually don’t know how they got the keys or if they even used the keys. But a young man working third shift who is a bit of a scatter brain and has a messy center console at times you can assume what happened. These kids go to neighborhoods and simple pop handles until they find an open car. Heck if it’s open most people have their garage door opener hanging from the visor, click the garage door open, pop in the garage door snap a wallet and a set of keys bingo bango you’re on your way to a life of crime. I didn't have a garage door opener at the time and I don't know if the doors required to get in were locked so yeah… the keys that I misplaced, I did not know they were in the vehicle.

Called the cops, called my insurance company, made a claim, signed an affidavit, and did not go to work. I started to look for a new vehicle and get drunk with rage and beer. A baddy black haired thick lady Cop showed up 4 hours later and I was told that they were aware the vehicle has been stolen, and they have been performing a litany of petty crimes across the city with a group of minors for a time more than 16 hours. They robbed a gas station, a walgreens of wine and snacks, and has been driving so recklessly that multiple people around the city were aware of it’s presence such that the police were advising folks to avoid them at all cost. It made the news. People knew the vehicle and knew it was mine. I received many phone calls asking why I was driving like a maniac.

Because it was so prevalent and happening so frequently the Police to ensure the safety of everyone involved do not chase these vehicles when they are stolen by juveniles. That’s how kids, police, bystanders, and property get damage severely. The risk is not worth it. They wait it out. Fine, thank you for stopping by uniformed baddy Lady Cop double finger guns, double horse tongue click, and a wink. She gave me a case number and off she went to start her 12 hour nightshift.

At that point I was experiencing what I can only describe as simple old timey wrath rage. I owned something and it was taken from me. At that moment I thought my anger had reached a limit, there was nothing more for me to do but accept the hand that ol scratch dealt me. However, as a born and bred Wisconsin native you best believe I am going to my local watering hole to spin a yarn and commiserate over a couple of adult beverages.

Headed on down to my local joint where my friends will eventually meet me after work. Sit quietly and have a couple. They show up and play catch up and It dawned on me… there is only 3 ways to drive around Madison… I bet if I take the long way home and go around the east side of town theres a good chance if I was a youthful dirt bag in a stolen car I would be driving there. I did not understand how upset I would be if I did see it but I would not recommend it. Madison is a located on isthmus surrounded by lakes on all sides so theres two ways out of downtown East or West until you get to the point where you circle the lakes. So East or West until you can go North or South. Northside is where I am at so you gotta go east then up. Because Madison isn’t really gridded out the roadways are more like… rural city meets country roads real quick. So you can buzz fast and theres no real way for the cops to wait and pull you over. That’s what those kids do they bounce between the west side and east side utiilzing county back roads and popping on the interstate for speed and to hide.

I closed my tab because it was time to go home and I take the long road. Literally, the first location past where it was residential and at stop light I see the distinct headlight pattern of my vehicle approach me oncoming in the other direction. They were coming in hot! So hot that they decided to blow the red light as no one was there but me and bang a U turn right in from my face. As it approached at 80 mphs they screeched the brakes to execute this turn, and as I see them pull off quite the u turn I see all 4 of my brake rotors glowly red, stinkin to high hell. Welp that triggered me for sure and I chased them through the neighborhood and called the police ignorantly as it’s dumb to chase your car. I was rage filled and I tweaked seeing the rotors. It was bad. I long horned them for like 15 minutes straight. they were kids so they had to be tweaking. To add to the tweaking effect, I was so close to my vehicle that during me screaming at the Police Operator to do their job, the bluetooth from my phone switched over to the Range Rover and it clipped out for about a minute. The woman came back and went, “Did the bluetooth just switch to the car that youre chasing?” I gave her a hearty YUP! And she laughed and said Sir, if they doesn't scare them to stop what their doing I dont know what will. She informed them that they were on the phone with the Dane County Sheriffs Office and to cease what they are doing, immediately stop the vehicle and stop compromising the safety of the city and people of Madison. I apologized for yelling and she understood but told me to go home for which I obviously at that point had enough. I lost them anyway. So I pull back to the main drag to go home. Waiting at the stop sign they whiz past me and signal they are going to be pulling into the local sketchy gas station. Without thinking I followed which I am glad I did because I followed them through the skirt and around the pumps. If I would have just parker my wifed Mazda in the skirt it would have blocked the way out and really man… I would have caught a charge. I was so angry and the only thing I had on my was my leather belt and miller high life belt buckle… I am a grown *** man of 6’3” 245lbs. They were two teenage kids. If for whatever reason I got them out of the vehicle that would have been bad. Real bad. It’s not a good look a grown *** 28 year old man whooping two children with a belt and a belt buckle. Not really excusable or explainable to a court…

I thank my lucky stars my choice that day to find them, see the glowing rotors, and allowing cooler heads to prevail because it lead me to my D2.

Vehicle was abandoned on the opposite side of town with the tail light smash and hazards on. It was found two days later. Jumped it in a snow storm, and drove it for the last time home in a blizzard with grinding brakes and every dash light on in a youthful bluntly aroma. They filled up my gas tank for me. They left it with more gas then it originally had, ignored the thousand dollars with of hockey gear, Gucci sunglasses, and personal stuff all worth money.

Insurance came out the next day and totaled it. Had 11k left on the note, didn’t have gap, and they bought it for 11k minus the taxes payed so about 9.8k after no gap and tax value.

Grabbed the mats out it as tokens for my life and it was flat-bedded the next day.

I suffered damage to property yes, but the world somehow granted me a do over. When it was originally stolen I was excited to think that insurance would fix the issues observed as a result of the joyride as I reset and clear the codes all the time. If they wanted to prove I neglected it and the issues were present before the incident they couldn’t. So papa was delusional and thrilled at the prowess for maintenance redemption.

Nope, totaled. Thats the way she goes. So back at square one. No loan. I don’t have any ties to a car that required expensive neglected maintenance anymore, I can find a vehicle that will cost less per month, and I can possible get one that insurance will cost less. And the best part is that after my experience of not researching which Land Rover to buy originally I essentially get a do over if I want for any vehicle.

To quote fictional character Forrest Gump as depicted by Tom Hanks in the 1994 cinematography class Forrest Gump, “I may am not a smart man, but I do know what love is…”

I found a 2004 Land Rover Discovery 2 in Zambezi Silver with 86k for sale in North Caroline that had been spit shined and had a 3” lift with big tyres already installed with a snorkel and full sized safari to boot. My folks were nice enough to go test drive it for me with no knowledge of it. The original price was 16,900 for it? But seeing how this was going to be a redo I asked them to install an ARB front bumper with lights, pop a hi lift jack on the top. All in the loan came out to 20k, the monthly payment was less, and the insurance was slashed immensely by almost 200 bucks.

The condition of getting this Land Rover to my wife was that I swore to myself that I would never put us in a position again with an automobile where it would cost thousands of dollars as a result of negligence. I was determined to learn how to fix this vehicle and take care of it properly.

Without vanity and ego I can humbly claim that I have honored that vow. Covid happened and my “covid hobby” was the D2. It helped because the world was shut down but really I would have been doing it anyway. Immediately, I latched on to this vehicle. As so many of us have, it’s really a great thing. Has it caused strife in my life absolutely. Has it taught me more valuable lessons that I cannot stat currently, more than you know. I was so serious about not pushing it that I elected to riding my bike to work 26 miles round trip whilst the LR awaits disassembled in my garage. Sometimes I had to because a 20 minute job turned into a 3 week job from a broken bolt. It’s the way she goes sometimes. I have a garage full of tools, and all the stuff to tend to automobiles. My hands, my hands have been put to work and I haven't and wont stop until the work is done. I am the loudest neighbor in the neighborhood. People come to me to ask for help now. I have debated shifting gears as a result of these vehicles.

All of this is to say currently in my life, I own an 04’ D2 with 112k miles and as well a D1 with 86k ish miles on it and at the moment the plan for my family was to get both operating to my satisfaction and sell one or both of them. Hell, maybe keep them but currently the plan is to get them running and spec’d out the way I want them to be and drive them for a bit and make a decision eventually.

It is kind of strange how you described that you want to provide a safe awesome vehicle for daughter and maybe one day your son. When I started this process I recalled that as a 16 year old about to drive my mother being the mother she is took me to - a Land Rover Dealership in 2006 to check out the inventory. Just looking ya know? She knew that I loved them ever since watching Ginger Baker of Cream cross africa in a weird movie my friends brother showed me. Unfortunately, at the time the D2s were phasing out, highly sought after, and were not within our look at price range. She was so sweet she took me to go look without knowing anything about them and I remember the look on her face when she saw the D2 price. It took her 50 years to get her 1998 volvo s7 at the price of 40k. Remember this was also the end of analog and a new phase for Jaguar LR. That day we looked at a used not taken care of Freelander… and if you know that vibe it is not comparable to the D2. It has always been my dream car.

When the discussion surrounding selling one of the vehicles commenced the preferred person to sell it would be a family looking to provide a safe vehicle for the family to be used by the family to eventually be a vehicle for a college car that is essentially ready to do it all, and would show the value of previous maintenance, allow the kids to have the most bitchin badass vehicle in the city, and really ultimately sell it to a family that will cherish it and love it. Could I calculate every bolt, nut, upgrade, and mod on it to ensure that I have earned my money back. Yes, I could but I don’t want to do that. I want to find a middle group of finding a buyer who knows the value and will care for it for many years to come. Any parent that wants to get their child a Land Rover Discovery 2 and takes genuine steps effort to do so is incredible. Land Rover people are the only people who would appreciate that. I wish I had a dad like that. I will be a father like that. And if I can do that for someone else I absolutely without a doubt will so.

I know how hard your journey has been. I have been under the vehicle bashing knuckles just like you. You have kids, I am in a different earlier phase in my life.

It’s long winded but heres the situation for both of them. If you want to hear out what is going on with my vehicles and if it fits your families needs and timeline then I would be very agreeable to selling either to you if you are interested. Hear me out at least. You can cut your loses, keep it as a project for yourself or increase the timeline for your son later on. You are a preferred buyer for me and if we both have time thats even better for both of us. So just hear me out and let it settle, and maybe just maybe it could work out. No pressure though.

D2: Currently, I am awaiting to do finish the head gasket job this weekend. Heads were decked valves were reported to be in great condition and I am going to bolt those babies up this weekend with ARP studs. I did not replace the cam, lifters, or rods. Front cover, water pump, and oil pan gasket will all be redone as well. The lifters got a cleaning I ensured they were smooth before I soak em and put them in. Meaning, after the head gasket this vehicle if everything goes well should be good until the next warpage event occurs hopefully never but we cant say never. I have been at 230F once and it might of done it but I suspect there has always been a small leak and I caught the external leak before it got bad. There also has been evidence that the heads have never been shaved before so this may of been it’s first shave.

So for D2 It’s easier for me to tell you what I have not done to it. I have not touched the wheel bearings, speed sensors, front ball joints, brake booster, steering column, heater core radiator, ac system, blower motors, evap system, and fuel system. The frame is in great shape but rust prevention needs to be addressed in the next 3 years. Meaning everything is solid but if it goes 3 more Winters I would say the conditon would decline. Engine top end and lower end components have not been replaced.

The last suspension upgrade would be castor correcting trailing arms and a cranked watts linkage with bushings. My plan was to upgrade after I ensure the engine holds post head gasket job. The shock towers and rear mounts could be done but thats a non issue.

The interiors clean. Has jumper seats. Black leather. Dog guard. In line mod, pcv mod, sai filter, non corrugsted sai tubes, a lot of new bolts everywhere, brake lines, brake booster seals, wabco shutter valve is new, double cardon drive shafts front rear, no rubber coupling, arb front bumper, stainless rear bumper, rock sliders with bars, new engine mounts including transmission and tcase, all fluids have been religiously changed, transmission filter has been replaced, the tcase shifter plate bolts have been changed to screws, cdl works, slotted ebc disc brakes, new calipers, new brake hardware, brake mudshields, adjustable pan hard, heavy duty track and drag link, castor correcting radius arms with poly bushes, quick disconnecrs for the front sway bars, and there is more for sure but I wont keep going.

I run the inline mod with green coolant and the rig comes with coolant pressure and temperature gauges as well oil pressure gauges.

The 99’ D1 is everything opposite of the D2 it will have all of the suspension upgrades and more however it’s currently on jacks with the axles off so I can grind and rust proof the frames and axle with aviation por15 and goop. fuel tanks off, everything needed to get to the frame

It will have all new drive train components, wheel bearings stub axles, swivel ball houses will be rebuild. All axle seals and diff seals will be done. With upgraded suspension mounts and articulation . Drive shafts. Really the only thing that wont be done in the drive train will be the half shafts in the axles. The mounts will be done. New cats, plugs, wires, exhaust upgrade with muffler delete, new cats, aluminum coolant tank, pcv mod, and probable ticky tack things here and there. Upgraded steering components with all new bushings on everything and upgraded sway bars and as well a return to center steering damper. Bumpers and sliders with lights and winch.

OH YEAH, so we put a jungle cat floral headliner on the headboard. It’s girly and awesome. It’s got elephants, ceetahs, gazelles, and flowers on it like monstera plants all in a pattern on canvas material. The interior is super clean and it is going to be a sweet rig.

Ultimately, the D2 is going to be driveable and is priority at the moment. I get the heads on bingo bango.

The D1 will take probably to the end of the year.

Either or I thought I would let you know that at least the D2 is potentially going up to market.

 

Your tapping sound may be a slipped sleeve. When "Winston" blew a head gasket I tore everything down. I discovered that my #4 cylinder sleeve had slipped up by about 2mm above the block. Using dry ice and a steel plate with lots of washers and the old head bolts, I was able to push the sleeve back flush with the block ( check my posts about the project). I had a tick for a long long time before hand, the HG breach was on the drivers side. I still have the tick, gets bad at times leading me to believe that my ticking may emanate from the bottom the engine, Just have not had time to look into. I did my HG's etc. 50k miles ago FWIW.

 

Wow man what a story! Thanks for the offer, but I'm waaaaay down in Louisiana and shipping to here from Wisconsin would be crazy expensive. Also, my budget is EXTREMELY low being this is a first car for my youngest. Of course, I'm looking for the proverbial unicorn. A halfway decent looking, reliable tank of a vehicle under $3500. Almost undoubtedly gonna have to be a fixer-upper that will need some loving care.