What are symptoms of a failed oil pump?
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Camel Trophy
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 3,884
Likes: 954
From: Charlotte
What are symptoms of a failed oil pump?
What are symptoms of oil pump failure in the Rover V8?
It’s well known that oil pump gears are prone to failure in the Land Rover V8, but I don’t recall seeing anything on this or other forums about the symptoms that indicate cracked gears. Is it simply a drop in oil pressure? Or are there other symptoms?
My ’99 now has 179,000 miles. It’s running great; very smoothly. I’m not inclined to dive in to dealing with the front cover given there are no symptoms, but if there is a consensus that the gears are already cracked and a bigger failure (requiring a new front cover) is inevitable I’d rather tackle it now than in a crisis situation.
It’s well known that oil pump gears are prone to failure in the Land Rover V8, but I don’t recall seeing anything on this or other forums about the symptoms that indicate cracked gears. Is it simply a drop in oil pressure? Or are there other symptoms?
My ’99 now has 179,000 miles. It’s running great; very smoothly. I’m not inclined to dive in to dealing with the front cover given there are no symptoms, but if there is a consensus that the gears are already cracked and a bigger failure (requiring a new front cover) is inevitable I’d rather tackle it now than in a crisis situation.
Rock Crawling
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 436
Likes: 141
From: Birmingham, AL
This is not something that I have knowledge on other than reading forums for years, but “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” applies here. I don’t think the failure is inevitable at all.
I believe in most cases a failing oil pump would cause low oil pressure at idle and then eventually a catastrophic failure in the case of the cracked gear.
I certainly wouldn’t assume that it needs to be replaced unless you’ve measured oil pressure and are seeing lower than expected numbers. Just my $0.02!
I’ve been the guy who replaces parts well ahead of failure on Discos in the past, and more often than not the human error that is possible during the work is more likely to cause issues than the likelihood of the part actually failing.
I believe in most cases a failing oil pump would cause low oil pressure at idle and then eventually a catastrophic failure in the case of the cracked gear.
I certainly wouldn’t assume that it needs to be replaced unless you’ve measured oil pressure and are seeing lower than expected numbers. Just my $0.02!
I’ve been the guy who replaces parts well ahead of failure on Discos in the past, and more often than not the human error that is possible during the work is more likely to cause issues than the likelihood of the part actually failing.
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Camel Trophy
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 3,884
Likes: 954
From: Charlotte
Here are responses from Best4x4, sent to me via PM.
“My 02 Kalahari has 243K on it and it's never had the engine torn down. I am going to do a HG job on it finally after 243K of faithful service, but I'm not tearing into anything else. All the LR's I've bought have been well maintained by the previous owners so oil pump issues haven't been a thing in 22+ LR's I've owned.”
So given all that, plus the fact that I have owned and maintained the truck 20+ years, I plan to just keep driving it (and changing the oil regularly). One more thing crossed off the list. Many thanks to Best4x4.
“You'd have a loss of oil pressure for sure, and if the oil pump gears were indeed cracked/broken you could have an odd grinding sound, or I've even seen an oil pump gear shoot out from the timing cover or crack it.”
“I have only replaced one front cover due to a previous owner telling me that was the issue with the truck. Turned out to be a crappy generic oil pressure switch if you can believe that and not the actual oil pump/front cover. Otherwise no, I haven't replaced an oil pump as preventive maintenance.”
“My 02 Kalahari has 243K on it and it's never had the engine torn down. I am going to do a HG job on it finally after 243K of faithful service, but I'm not tearing into anything else. All the LR's I've bought have been well maintained by the previous owners so oil pump issues haven't been a thing in 22+ LR's I've owned.”
So given all that, plus the fact that I have owned and maintained the truck 20+ years, I plan to just keep driving it (and changing the oil regularly). One more thing crossed off the list. Many thanks to Best4x4.
Last edited by mln01; Nov 15, 2022 at 06:21 AM.
Recovery Vehicle
Joined: Oct 2013
Posts: 962
Likes: 90
From: Southern OR
The only Rover V8 I've tore down so far... had 220k on it, and already had one head gasket job (I believe). I was doing head gaskets due to a leak, and while I was in there, I decided to look at the timing chain and oil pump, glad I did, because timing chain was REAL sloppy and the oil pump gear was cracked. With higher miles I would definitely look at those items. I will be doing the heads my 179k rover motor soon, and I will be looking at the oil pump etc...
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