Back in June my wife announced that she did not like our SUV (Porsche Cayenne) and wanted to sell it. She wanted a Land Rover discovery. I have long been fans of Disco's but have owned one. So I set out to research what years to look at. After weeks of learking around this site and other like it we decided on the 04 as the starting point. It took another month to find a the right truck and work out the details. We picked up a 04, grey with all the options we wanted except the heated front windshield. The truck is wired for it just, some one replaced the windshield with no/heat. One week four days after purchasing the truck I started getting a fail code for the #6 cylinder. So I did the tune up stuff, plugs, Magnecor wires, that was a fun install I had to ask my wife to do part of the job because my hands would not fit, great design. These however were only temporary fixes. The the P306 fault code would come back. It was time for expert help. I took the truck to a local Rover mechanic, not a dealer but a a Rover only shop. It took them a day to say that the number 6 cylinder had a slipping sleeve. Now things were getting fun! They wanted 8K to 10K to replace the engine with a used motor that had over 100K on it. Yea, no chance!
I took the truck back with out much thought and started looking at ways to rebuild the one I had. Replacing sleeves can be done but seemed quite costly for reinstalling the same weak point in the engine. I also could not find a machine shop that wanted to get anywhere near this job. Finally a different local Rover mechanic told me about Turner Engineering in the UK. After talking to Fida a Turner (family owned company) I decided this is the way to go. I blindly ordered a engine over the phone and email from a company half way around the world. Three days later it was in my garage. Yep, shipping to Seattle from the UK in under three days and no extra cost! The engine showed up nicely packed in a box bolted to wood. The next step was the install. Promptly the weather went to crap. It got cold and rained nonstop. This makes laying on the concrete floor of the garage great fun.
I was surprised at how straight forward the Rover was built. Plenty of room to work with and much better designs then the coil packs.

More to come!

 

The motor came out quick and easy. The new one also went in just as fast. I learned that the flex plate bolts can be a pain and just how much extra crap has to come out to pull a Rover motor. Overall it was not that bad a job. The hardest part of the swap has been the oil pan. One would think with the engine out on a stand it would be easy to have it seal and not leak. Wrong! I have now replaced the gasket twice after the engine was back in the truck and it still leaks. I guess it had to be something to keep my working on it!
Now for the funnest part. After I had done the full install and have the truck running and driving, I started looking at the old motor. Maybe its me but I could not find any clue that the #6 sleeve had been slipping in the first place. There is some slight discoloration of the #6 cylinder but that is about it. I called the shop that did the first diagnosis and asked how they came to their conclusion. They said they pulled the pan and could tell. That I now believe to be BS. If I only knew then what I know now! I should have had another shop pressure test the engine in the truck. What is that old saying about hind sight? Needless to say I have the old engine at a quality Rover shop 60 miles from my house. They are pressure testing the engine as best as they can. It is my understanding that engine should be hot to do this correctly. It's hard to make it hot out of a truck and there is no way in hell I am putting it back in.

So in the end I may have a truck with a rebuild engine that now has 2K on it and a back up engine with 73K. I have also learned a lot about my Rover. Despite the rocky beginning I still really like this truck and plan to have it a long time. Partly because it will take a long time to get my moneys worth out of it!

If you want to learn something from my challenges, it is get a second opinion, ask people that are wiser then you lost of questions then jump in and do it anyway. It's only money, you don't need food.

 

good job, but I have to ask..how much did the engine cost if they shipped it from UK in 3 days at no extra cost!

 

I'm pretty sure there is a lip at the bottom of the cylinder that the sleeve is seated against and therefore I don't see how they could diag a "slipped sleeve" by dropping the pan. I would bet a head gasket, and although a big job it's gravy for a shop to do.

 

So it looks like you reused the upper/lower manifold and heads. I'm curious how much did it set you back with the full project including engine and shipping? It looks really nice. I hope you get 150,000 out of before head gaskets.

 

I ordered what Turner calls a stripped engine assembly. Its a compete long block. They flange the sleeves so there is no chance of them slipping again. I wanted to go compete with heads, assembled. No extra worries about head gaskets. Pug and play. Engine $3800, shipping under $400. I put a new oil pump, belts and all the little crap. All done, about 5K. After all my time is worth nothing.

http://turner-engineering.co.uk/index.html

 

Wow what an ordeal.

So for 5k you have a new rebuilt engine that doesn't seem as bad as I thought it would have been.

So does the new engine seem like a good one & worth the investment? I may be buying a rover for my son soon who knows I may need one like you did.

 

Putting in this engine was the bast choice for me. The quality of the engine seems very good. Only time will really tell. I am luck enough to have the space and equipment to do the work. This is not the first motor I have replaced so I had an idea what I was getting into. I sure wish I did not have to do the swap. I am rather upside down in this truck and I still can't fix the oil pan leak. One very small seep front right corner. Just enough to smell it when the truck is hot after a good drive.

 

That's badass. Jealous.

Except for the $5k part.

 

I have had the worst time with that one I hate oil leaks yet it seems impossible to stop a Land Rover from being a Oil Dripper.