2004 Land Rover Discovery II, 170,000 miles

It's going to kill me, but I think I may have to put her down. This is my last ditch effort to see if life support is worth it. You guys have provided great advice in the past, so here goes:

1. Engine "knock" going on about 6 months now. Due to the high mileage, etc. LR mechanic just said to let it go and eventually the engine will just call it a day. He said it's not a safety issue, but just a PIA.

2. It has been driving great, but for the loud knock.

3. This week: when idling at a stop light, both green S/M lights started blinking. Next stop light, when idling, stalled. Started right back up first try.

4. Stalled once since, both lights flashing. Took longer to start up.

5. Starting (new starter) now, intermittently, takes quite some time. And, it's a strong rev while I'm starting, but it just keeps going. After a couple minutes, it starts right up.

6. The kicker. When stopped, twice this week, it randomly accelerates. I've had my foot on the brake (both times sitting still). It's more of a lurch than a long acceleration. When driving, it kind of jerks once ever so often, and accelerates a tad.

Do I call the time of death? Thanks!

 

Stalling in an intersection can kill you or others. So can random unintended acceleration. You may want to call it quits unless you are willing to swap in another engine or do a rebuild. If not you are taking one hell of a risk IMHO.

 

So you've ruled out the CPS?

210,000 miles and still going.

 

These are tough old motors. They will drive for a while with rod knock but you are doing damage with each RPM. And it's such an easy fix. You order an oil pan gasket for $10. You order a rod bearing package of 8 new bearings for $38 on eBay.

You drain the oil. You drop the oil pan. Easy. You look up into the bottom of the motor where the oil pan used to be and there they are...8 beautiful rod caps, each with 2 little bolts holding them on.

You unbolt 2 that hold on one rod cap. You remove the 2 halves of the rod bearing inside (one half will be in the rod cap end that you just pulled off, the other half will be on top of the crank that you can now reach with your fingers).

You smear a drop of clean oil on the inside of your new rod bearing halves. You put the new halves back where you just pulled out the old halves.

You bolt the rod cap end back on with those two little bolts. You repeat this for the other 7 rod bearings.

You put on the new oil pan gasket. You bolt back on your oil pan. You fill your motor with new oil.

Now you drive without rod knock!



The other issue with random dying/stalling is likely your crank sensor. 2 little screws for your crank sensor cover and what, maybe two little bolts holding on your crank sensor?



None of those problems require anything costly.

None require tons of effort to repair.

None require precision tools such as what is needed for machining heads or smoothing crank.



Now, that being said, please let me know which junk yard you are retiring your Rover to.

 

Me personally... I'd get rid of it.
Sell it to a guy I know in Smyrna, GA named JUKE179r for $200.

 

Ha....so there may still be hope? I'm so hesitant to take it to the dealer given that they were the ones who told me I should just let it die. I am a complete novice but love doing the tiny fixes I've learned on here (nothing to write home about / too embarrassing to type).

 

So you make this sound very easy....for a complete truck idiot like myself, could I realistically make these repairs? I hate taking it to the local dealer b/c I feel like I need a bath afterward.

 

You are debating scrapping your Disco at a junkyard. How much worse can you make it?!

"Junkers aren't for Dealers" means that you don't take a two decade old beater truck to a pristine dealership service department for a repair.

You find a shade tree mechanic...or else you do the work yourself. Or you could just scrap the truck.

Everything on your Disco bolts on/off, or screws on/off, or snaps on/off. Some parts require more unbolting to replace than others. Who knows how much patience, skill, confidence, and/or tenacity that you are motivated to put into your old beater truck?

There are already videos online to watch of people like yourself doing the job on your Disco that you are contemplating doing. If you are motivated to search those videos out then you might be a candidate for doing the job yourself. Otherwise...shadetree mech or junkyard.

 

I'm with No Doubt, forget The Dealer unless you bring a lot of this

 

That's actually exactly what I wanted to hear. Shops in my area are oddly limited, but I'll give it a try or do it myself. I'm highly motivated, but my job is less motivated in permitting me the time to do it! Thanks so much