Let the engine warm up, turn it off, take off oil fill cap, run your finger inside cap and taste it. Bitter sweet? or no real taste? If the former, not a good sign....

 

 

Plamning to take it to the shop agaim today. The latest is that now the ignition sometimes goes completely dead - as in no electrical contact at all, not even a dead battery click (the battery is fairly new, bright headlights, etc.) I have to mess with it, trying to start it up a few times before the electrical contact somehow reappears. New problem or was I dealing with an electrical problem all along? This is getting more mysterious by the day!

 

Yeah, a cylinder leak down test is probably in order. Would be nice to know exactly what the compression test results were, but anyhow. If that checks out, l'd probably check the injector harness for a bad wire or terminal.

The no start issue could a be a bad ground connection at the alternator bracket, loose terminals at the battery or bad starter.

​​​​​​​ Brian.

 

Ok guys. So, over the weekend, I took the truck to guys I've known a long time. They're not experts on LR but they have 20+ years as mechanics. Their verdict is that compression checked out low, and engine is spewing oil inside the intake. They said they can't fix it and that I need a replacement engine.
Any thoughts?

 

Would be good if we had the numbers from the compression test, also the leak source. With a proper leak down test/compression test you can tell if the leak is past the piston or valves. Also we would need to know if it is only one cylinder or multiples. If it was leaking valves or only one cylinder I would be tempted to pop the heads off and investigate. If it is leaking valves - easy fix. If it is a bad set of rings you could pull that one piston/connecting rod out and re-ring the one cylinder with the engine in the truck. I have never seen it in a LR but I had a boat engine where the top of the pistons were cracked and the valves were mushroomed from water in the fuel. A compression issue at 150k is fairly rare with a LR but not unheard of as I have actually had one but as I said I did not investigate. On the other hand I currently drive three with over 160k on them, two with over 220k and they run great. If you don't want to go through all the work on that engine you can probably buy a good used 4.0 for less than $500 from Paul Grant, Will Tillerey, Mike Sides, or one of the other LR breakers on here or on Facebook.

 

Thank you so much for all the details. So, I asked these guys about the source of the leak, etc. Apparently, it's around rings or pistons. They also said that basically 2 cylinders are showing such low compression that it's going to be a big job regardless of what route I choose.
I guess my next step is to look into used engines.
Can I ask what makes 4.0 engines such an appealing option beside how much cheaper they are. I spotted a couple of 4.6 engines at around 80,000 miles with a 6-month warranty and installation. Of course, it won't be cheap!! What's best if I want to keep my LR?

 

The 4.0's are higher quality, less trouble with slipped cylinders, walked cam bearings, etc. 4.6 has more power. Two bad cylinders, are they adjacent? If they are I would suspect a blown head gasket per the photo below. Even if they are not adjacent I would probably just pop those two pistons out and re-ring them. Guys at shops always like to make mountains out of molehills because it makes them more money, and they prefer easy jobs. I guess it depends on if you are paying for the labor or doing it yourself.

If you pull your 4.6 and replace it you could probably sell the old one on ebay for $500-700. Cost and labor for a full engine rebuild will be excessive unless you can do some labor yourself.

HG jobs are about $1500 - 3 hrs apart and 8 hrs going back. To pull two pistons out the oil pan needs to come off and one 4 additional bolts for the rod caps - maybe one additional hour both directions. So at $100/hr maybe $1700.

Used 4.0 for $400 to 500, plus 6 hrs labor to swap it gets you to $1000 ish Add a few hours for putting new hg's on the new engine.

Post up the quotes you get before you pull the trigger so we can make sure you don't get taken.

There are lots of different options/ways to fix. Think about your must and wants (I recommend you google Decision Analysis and use that technique to clarify your requirements). Once you know what you want in terms of outcome, you can then think about the best way to get there. Remember one possible option is to keep driving it while you get a second engine ready.

BTW, here is a photo of a blown hg that caused no compression on two cylinders. 2003 4.6 liter with 140k on it - no other problems. Stills runs great after hg job.

 

 

Absolutely! After hearing from you guys, I decided to slow down and weigh my options. A shop that specializes in LR quoted me $3500 for a 4.6 engine, 80,000 miles, including labor, 6 months warranty.
The thing is, my original mechanic had charged me a lot of money to replace a host of parts that wound up not being the issue. To his credit, he offered to deduct some of it and is checking with his machine shop about rebuilding my engine. He says that'll be a lot cheaper than replacing it. So, I'm waiting to get estimates.