So, I've had my 03 disco for about a year now. She taps away but otherwise has been an amazing car. The tapping is past the point of driving me insane, so the first thing I considered was selling it and buying a Jeep Commander... As time goes on, I haven't been getting too many bites on the car (which i listed online) because of the A) low population of my area and B) tapping noise which I assume scares people away

The truck does have a decent amount of rust, but I'm at the point where I want to just say screw it - I'll fix the tap and drive it until it falls apart.

The truck doesn't burn coolant very fast, and has no oil leaks. Despite the frame rust, the truck runs smooth as butter and hasn't thrown any check engine / what have you lights.

If I were to go about fixing the tap, what is the first step that I should take? At this point in time I'm not looking into buying a totally remanufactured engine, so what long-term fix could I apply to fix at least the tapping? Thanks

 

First thing what type of oil do you use? Lot of threads and info on here about type of oil and weight. Next, consider adding a quart of stabilizer as well. This probably won't fix any ticks but you are going in the right direction. This is where I am currently at on a 2003 that I bought a couple months ago. Now, I'm going to drain a bit of the oil and add half a quart or so of "Marvel Mystery Oil" I believe its called. Just picked it up and my brother says that it will quiet lifters if that is indeed what it is. Your tick could be a number of things so find out if its coming from the top, bottom of engine or what have you. People have serviced their steering pump and quieted a tick. I have read on here where a guy took off his cracked flex plate, put a new one on and resolved the tick. It just depends on what your problem is. Very possible that it has something to do with a cracked oil pump which Abran can tell you all about. Get the essentials squared away if you must and re-assess.

 

These 'tapping' noises can be a real bitch to figure out! I have an '03 also and mine was a cam bearing that fell out of the block and was smacking around on top of the cam. I noticed it when I had the valley pan gasket out. I pulled it out through one of the spaces in the lifter valley. That was about... I don't know how many years ago now... I honestly can't remember. I posted a picture of it on this forum years ago when it happened.

 

I use Rotella 15w40 in the winter, and a mixture of Rotella 15w40 and 20w50 in the summer. I've used Mystery Oil

Oil gauge readings are fantastic, so no problems with the oil pump.

Steering pump works fine, whines when moving to the right a little but only intermittently. Otherwise, no problems with that.

Have not done a block pressure test, so that might point towards a slipped piston sleeve, but maybe I'll just have to get the valve covers pulled.

PS: This is the exact noise that I have: It sounds slightly different when warming up and tapping, but once the engine is totally warmed up it sounds more or less like this to a T.

 

In my other post I showed a video of my tap. Thank you for letting me know about this possibility!

 

Im pretty sure that is exactly the same tap that I have. my oil was changed last week and is topped-off (whatever slight oil leaks that I had seem to have subsided with use of recommended Disco products) so I wasn't able to add as much Mystery Oil as I would have liked but I just now put a little in the crankcase. I'm going to make a 40-mile drive home tonight and then do my commute to work tomorrow and I will post back with results tomorrow night. Everybody that has heard my engine thinks lifters sticking moreso than cylinder sleeve slipping but you don't know 'til you know. Now my damn purge valve is clacking too so now I have 2 engine ticks....DOHH!

 

If your tap is exactly the same as the video, your problem is probably not lifters. I've had the lifters done for about $1200 on my truck about 4 months ago with Land Rover genuine OEM lifters. Tapped away directly after the repair (exact same noise as above). I also had lash caps installed to pick up the slack if a lifter sticks, and that didn't help either.

When I first got my 03 last year, I had many of the same hopes as you, that additives will do the trick. None of them worked for me. Just like you, every mechanic I've taken it to thought it was a lifter problem (and/or a valve issue), but were baffled when I told them the lifters were brand new.

Another thing that it could be is maybe the cam lobes are worn off the camshaft but I'm not sure the process I should go through to diagnose for sure. I don't want to drop another $1200 and have it not fix the problem anyways.

 

My 04' just got a tick out of nowhere. Took it to master land rover tech, he diagnosed immediately stuck lifter. He added a little(1/2 cup approx) ATF to the oil and the tick starting to go away at higher revs, but returned at idle. He said if the tap followed the revs it was a lifter(if not a liner) and if the tap went away at higher RPM it was an oil delivery problem.

I poured in an engine cleanse and literally by the time the last drop was in, the tap was gone. Ran for 10 minutes, then drained the oil and refilled. All is good.

Your's sounds even louder at the lower end, so I am not sure it is that.

Good luck.

 

The best thing to do is just ignore it and run regular oil in it. These engines are highly defective. No amount of BS additives are going to fix the tick, regardless of what the bottle (or the internet) says. For some reason many of these ticking problems get worse with thicker oil.

 

The video was not my truck. However, when I rev the car in neutral, the tick does not go away at higher revs.

One other thing to note is that when I'm driving and am staying at a constant speed, I can hear the tap (very faintly at higher speeds, clearly at 20-30mph) but when I'm accelerating, the tap disappears until the speed levels out.

Any thoughts? I'm assuming it's pointing more towards a liner. Thanks for the help man.