I own a Rover Discovery II, but had a Russian/American wrecking yard owner tell me that Rover engines are junk; never to buy one. Further, if I owned one, to get rid of it immediately!

Wow, I was surprised by his emotion. Anyway, when I inquired why he felt so strongly about it, he went on to tell me the horrible negative experiences that he had with the engine in a Freelander! Well, dahhhh!

Even I am still surprised when I see a running Freelander in America, surprised that it is still running and on road with the rest of us! Sorry, to you Freelander owners. I like the vehicle, but have to say that the engines are worthless, based on what I have learned about them through the years.

 

Your post suddenly reminds me of a morning conversation with a Russian guy on the telephone.
Russians and Poles often as non native English speakers tend to come over as abrupt or irascible people. This conversation was typical and it went something like this:-
Ring Ring --Hello!
Hello I am Yuri--have Landrover repair shop. -----Yes (inquisitive voice )

Tell me why Landrover Discovery overheat? I reply what type of Landrover? I ask!
Discovery Two years 2002 !
OK, I start to go over some of the well know issues--he interrupts we know all this we buy new engine--still overheating!
Then I mention the cooling system.--again interrupted all NEW NEW stupid English car still overheating.

What about the thermostat?--rudely he replies I said ALL NEW--Do you understand all new!
Now! How do you have it connected?
If the top mounted hoses are cross connected it will overheat!--silence --then are you serious? Yes I reply. Do you still have the car there? I ask!
Yes well go check!

Then a pause but I could hear over the telephone Russians shouting, then crashing of metal--another pause and he come back to the phone.
Are you sure of this?
Yes positive--He screams "Then Vladimir is DEAD I am going to kill him-- very dead ! He is dead man!--- phone gets slammed down!

For a few weeks I was expecting to see at any moment poor old Vlad crucified to the back of a D2 running through town!
T/V

 

I picked up a Freelander KV6 long block from a Russian gentleman in Chicago a while back. He wanted to include a TD4 in the deal. I asked him where he got it. From Freelander! No, I mean what country is it from? England! All from England! Eventually I gave up, as his translation skills were not helping either of us, although his English speaking ability was infinitely better than my Russian.

With all that said, I still find the KV6 a great engine, but it will not suffer fools or overheating.

 

"With all that said, I still find the KV6 a great engine, but it will not suffer fools or overheating."

Bingo, you hit the nail on the head; I couldn't agree more, but the same can be said for the GM/Rover V8 as well. Clearly, many of them are damaged and/or destroyed, by people doing foolish things to them, including overheating, as high on the list.

 

Echo that. I think the 4.6 and 4.0 are the two smoothest V-8s ever made. I picked up my 03 deer killer disco with a misfire code for cheap. Turned out to be a burned valve using crap gas.

I port matched the heads and cleaned up below the valves a bit when I put it back together. Good power and silky smooth. Best in the RR with the chain drive transfer case and the wonderful gear whine. I suppose my rant suggests I like my Rovers.

 

That V6 engine has its roots with Kia.
It came out in a similar version for one years production sequence mounted in the Kia Carnival.
The unit was then changed out or a SOHC 3 litre unit due to the disastrous years introduction in other world markets.

Of course Cosworth has had a hand in it especially with the variable intake runners as in MG versions; it even came with variable valve timing.
If you look at it closely it has Kia written all over it!.
T/V

 

Being of Russian decent, and fixing my D2 4.6 V8 for at least 7 years myself, I'd say there are Russians, and, well, russians. There are some reputable shops and some other shops (not necessarily Russian - I had one here in CA with Walmart oil filer put/charged as OEM and tightened to like 100 nm by some weird filter grip), you just have to find one, good one.

I would not say LR Buick engine is crap, but it is definitely old, which makes it easy to fix, you just need time and patience, like taking intake manifold out to reach spark plug wires...

P.S. If you need reputable shop in NYC, I can PM you one.

 

KIA licensed the rights to build it from ROVER, but they had issues with the casting process and I believe purchased the original machining from Rover that gave them such poor consistency originally. There is a great article on the relationship that was written by one of the original engineers. He also did a video on the through bolt design you can see on YouTube.

Although it doesn't have variable valve timing, it does have variable intake runner length that peaks the torque curve. I usually clean up the exhaust ports and bowls when I replace the HGs since the heads must be skimmed a bit to seal the gaskets, and as such requires that the valves come out. All that said I don't know if there's much more to squeeze out for horse power.

 

"KIA licensed the rights to build it from ROVER,"
____________________________________
That doesn't surprise me. Many years ago, in the early 1970s, a Rover specialist in Portland Oregon, originally from Scotland, had to show me something when I was talking with him about Rovers, Rover 2000 sedans and Land Rovers. He, Scottie, was very upset, and had to show me why: He had found that the Rover timing chain tensioner had been copied by the Japanese, Nissan. He showed me the Rover one, and the Nissan one, both exactly the same type and size, when measured with micrometer. He was furious that they could do such a thing.

 

I've heard from people about the freelander and lr2 being kind of.. well... crap. But that would explain why I've only seen 4 or 5 on the road in the past few years. 1 was on the side of the road, the other on a flatbed.

Do they have similar issues lime the disco2? Or is it like any other rover.. they love to eat up the maintenance. Lol

I've never owned one, I'd like an LR2 for the girlfriend when she is done with her sonata. I think it's a good looking little scooter for her.