I've done the oil pan gasket this past winter. If you have a 2" lift = much easier. A tip is to number your oil pan with a Sharpy marker in the order your torque the bolts, refer to the RAVE. An air ratchet for removal is very helpful. Search Oil pan and check out my videos for cleaning it. Simple Green is your friend.

I would have to agree, jack the body as high as you can get it without the tires coming off the ground. The oil pump pick-up sits down inside of the well which had a windage tray in it, so basically you have to come straight down for about 4-6-inches to clear the windage tray and then you can twist the pan to get it off.

I must be the lucky one then, my bottom end is like new at 162K.

You don't seem to get how this works. You aren't "the" lucky one.

A model with a poor service history is one that has a catastrophic failure rate of 10% or so. That's probably about where Discovery 2's are. The vast majority of people do nothing more than have head gaskets replaced around 100k.

The fact that you are on a forum where nearly everyone is/has been working on their trucks is a confirmation bias that makes people think that every last one has major problems, and that's simply not the case.

As with all model specific forums I've been on, 3/4 of the people aren't there for model specific advice because <insert forums topic> is the first car they've ever done any real work on, and what they really need is basic mechanical knowledge and troubleshooting procedures. They tend to walk away with the idea that every <insert forum topic here> is a ticking time bomb because they have neither the experience or depth of vehicle knowledge to know any better.

Thanks for all the replys! oljohnboy I will call you when I start tearing into it,thanks
I really dont think iits a lifter issue, the noise comes from too low in the engine.

Also now that I think about it, I think the RAVE was incorrect on the bolt count?
I think it says 14 bolts on the pan and 3 nuts on the timing cover, I think there were 16 bolts that held the pan on. I think there are two in the rear that hold the pan to the bellhousing that do not show up on the RAVE.

That's correct. The two lower bell housing bolts actually go through the flange on the motor and into the pan. You can actually see the bolts going through from beneath.

drove me friggin crazy, I counted those bolts a half dozen times.
I read the RAVE a half dozen time more to see what I missed,
then I found the other two hidden up top.