Background info: bought this '99 DII w/SLS & ACE a couple of months ago as my first LR (woot-woot) with the intentions of 1. being awesome (thats a given), and 2. turning my office hands into man hands (long way to go here).

Started with 13 codes: all o2 sensor and cylinder misfire related.
Currently 5 codes: all o2 sensor

Started off with a HG job in which I had the heads checked & resurfaced and a valve job done while it was stripped down as I'm intending to keep this rig long term. Since then, I've been going through Mike's major service checklist and can nearly see the finish line. (not sure where people get the $1000 estimate for this, but I'll add my actual costs up soon to report)

I thought I'd give some updates and share some "noob" mistakes since you don't see many of those on these boards...either because everyone else knows better or pride. I'm hoping the latter.

1st mistake: blindly showering my MAF sensor with cleaner. It was quite obvious (in hindsight) right afterwards upon start up and taking for a short drive. That was the reason for my immediate power hesitations and cylinder misfire codes. Got a new LR MAF and not a problem since.

2nd mistake: attempting to bolt up the trans pan with new gasket in place by myself. It took me forever to get the gasket (apparently) squarely in place AND to get the 1st couple bolts back in place to hold securely. And as you'd expect, after hand pumping the new ATF in, it leaked as if I forgot to replace the drain plug. I pulled it back down the next day and my bro-in-law helped me get it on properly and not a single drip since.

3rd mistake: after replacing the passenger side post-cat o2 sensor, I put the wire seemingly out of the way from the driveshaft (it was hanging right next to it when I found it!). I'm not sure where it was clipped into place at one point, but apparently I didn't secure it properly and by the next day the driveshaft had ripped the wire right out from the sensor (which still sits in the y-pipe). See picture of what is left.

Also o2 related, when replacing the front 2 sensors I noticed that 2 out of 3 nuts on the drivers side where missing that secure the bolts in place that connect the exhaust manifold to the y-pipe. And also 1 bolt and 1 nut from the passenger side. I believe the probable gap between the exhaust manifold and y-pipe is the reason why I've still been getting the "no activity" codes for the front o2's. I bought some replacement nuts and bolt and will let you know if that takes care of it!


Thanks for reading, and for everyone's help!

Picture #1: the underneath view of where the manifold & y-pipe connect. As you can see (or not see) I'm missing the left and bottom nuts and the bolts are flush with the pipe.

Picture #2: what's left of my passenger post-cat o2 sensor after the driveshaft ate it.

 

Good stuff! I am about to be in the same boat and will learn from your mistakes! Keep posting them!
BTW, how much did the HG job cost, and are you over/under the $1000 for the major service?

 

If all that work is done by a local shop, including the wires, you will be looking at $1200 and up, by the dealer up to $1500.

 

glad you are tackling as much as you can on your own. its the only way to own one of these rigs without having bottomless pockets.

 

Mike your dealer estimate is on the extreme low end, i knew someone who went and got an estimate from Land Rover of Larchmont for $3200 on a D2

 

Well, I was REALLY fortunate with the timing of my purchase, because I found a local guy that had worked at 2 different LR dealerships for 7 years and is soon to open up his own Indy LR shop. So without ANY overhead and using his friends shop he charged me $400 for all the labor. I provided all the parts (gaskets, t/stat, serp belt, plugs, wires). He wanted the work and word of mouth to spread amongst our little growing LR clan here in central FL. It's worked out for him, because we keep him busy. I shopped around and provided all the parts & fluids!

Calling around and word of mouth really paid off for me, but I definitely would NOT look for any cheap mechanic, only a LR specific one with good experience. He was tearing down his own Disco to do the same thing when I dropped mine off, so I felt even more confident.

 

After finding that the right sized bolts & nuts for securing the exhaust to y-pipe, I'm wondering if I should PB blast the remaining 3 of 6 bolts to take them out and put in all new ones. This would seem quite logical and probably obvious since I'm going to be spending time down there anyways.

Actually, as you can probably see from the attached picture - it doesn't look like my manifold and y-pipe are lined up properly, and trying to force the bolt through must be a bad idea...

Anything I should look out for or know before I crank out the old rusted bolts and re-align?
I see I should grab a pack of washers too. Is it just metal to metal there?

Thanks in advance.

Picture - showing the exhaust manifold & y-pipe (from underneath) not aligned properly with a bolt trying to come down from above.

 

EXHAUST MANIFOLD to Y-PIPE gaskets, studs, and nuts PROJECT

Parts included in this job:
2 gaskets - $13 from Advance Auto (they bought direct and shipped to my store a day later)
6 studs - 3 for each side. $3/ea at most LR parts places
6 nuts - 3 for each side. $3/ea as well. ACE hardware = $3 total

Reason for project: I've been unable to rid my rig of the remaining (6) o2 sensor codes, and while replacing the sensors I noticed I was missing most of my studs and nuts that were supposed to be holding my manifold and y-pipe together.

I brought the rig over to the same LR mechanic that did my HG job, at his buddy's shop since I'm severly lacking in the tool department, and he said he had the STUDS and nuts I'd need...which is good, since I'm an idiot and didn't realize they were studs and not bolts in the first place.

Ended up being a worst case scenario. Only 1 stud on each side was properly in place, 2 studs were missing, and 2 were broken off in the manifold. We ended up having to drop the y-pipe to attempt to drill the old studs to back them out...still didn't work.

After going through a couple of drill bits and frustration, we decided to just take out the manifold so we could more aggressively tackle these 2 studs. After torching the studs, PB blasting them, and drilling them, and much more, (actually 1 came out with relative ease after heating up, drilling, and backing out), we finally chiseled around the edges and banged it out, stripping the threads of course. Luckily we had a larger Range Rover stud and nut, and just drilled it out and used a tap to make new threads. We then also drilled out the larger hold in the y-pipe to accommodate the larger stud.

By the end of it, with a slightly RangeRover modified stud/nut combo, we got it back together with new gaskets in place. Old gaskets were paper thin and not even seated properly. I've driven it some now and will check to see if any of the 6 o2 codes have come back later today and will report my MPG as well after I run through a tank...I was at 8.6 mpg before this!

Thanks for reading, and hopefully my experiences can help someone else!

P.S. I forgot to bring my camera, so sorry for no pictures this time.

 

You are right, I ment to say $2500 and up for a job that flat rates for 11 hours, are they getting rich or what?

 

well they have to charge a lot so they can pay retirement benefits to their retired service managers