Help me understand.. I am wanting to join the club, but am having trouble understanding why this common problem pops up so often.. Is it because of lack of certain maintenance steps? Is it due to allowing the aluminum engine to overheat? Is it a manufacturer design flaw?

Any help is appreciated..

 

flawed engine design.

 

Soo.. Anyway to prevent it? If not, and it's only a matter of time, how long typically?

 

4.0s have less of an issue than 4.6s from what I've heard... maybe get a 99-02?

 

The factual reason is that land rover was indecisive on who's engine design they were going to use during that time. So they went the cheap route and did not re-tool there equipment when it was supposed to be & because of that you get slipped sleeves or deteriorating cylinder walls.

 

I spoke with a classic Rover specialist over the phone for an hour regarding these engines, and here's what I got out of it: Because these engines are made of aluminum, they prone to failure as they age. As these engines see many heat cycles they expand and contract, over time the sleeves and other components become lose and warp and ultimately engine failure. There is really nothing we can do to prevent this failure. GM tried to troubleshoot the issue with the expanding/contracting but gave up and eventually sold the rights to Rover - additional components were added to improve the engine, but the fact is its a aluminum engine.
The specialist went on to say that buying a rebuilt/remanufatured engine does not resolve the problem because the engine has already been through heat cycles. He advised purchasing a new Rover engine that has never been used.....

Personally I would prefer switching out for a better built engine, but that takes alot of time and money. For now we just deal with it and continue to love our Rovers. Change your oil frequently, keep the cooling system up to date and flushed and buy a after market thermastat and or Ultragauge - and you will be fine for awhile.

 

Can you be more specific? Since the Rover V8 was used by several manufacturers in many different cars, is it really only the Land Rover that has these problems or does every crowd with a Rover V8 suffer the same problem?

 

I spoke with 'the' rover mechanic in my city before buying mine which he re sleeved. He said they typically happen on the rear of the engine (cylinder 7 I believe). He said poor design with bad heat exchange in rear of the engine causes it. I cut off my cats because they were clogged and am hoping this in return (besides freer flowing exhaust) makes the rear of the engine bay a little cooler to help slow the process.

 

Land Rover didn't care about quality when they made it. The Discovery was and is a quality vehicle when brand new, but it's designed to fail after 100,000 miles. I mean not purposefully but it's not designed to last really. Flaws in the drive shaft and high operating temperature are the main troubles with the truck. However I do believe the 4.6 and 4.0 are good motors and the good thing now is that owners are actually able to prolonge the life of these engines.

Pinning the sleeves will solve the slipped sleeve issue, ARP Studs and quality gaskets are also available. A 180 thermostat will keep your temps down and hopefully serve as a preventative measure. It's a GM motor, that while doesn't seem to have a lot of power, it does have good torque and it is mechanically tough. It just gets a little overworked and Rover half assed a wee bit. The Discovery II would be epic if it came with the LR3 motors though.

 

It is not just because it is aluminum the "poor tooling" is what causes the failures and it bei.g cylinder number 7 is not necessarily true either it happens on all cylinders.