Actually,

Is there anyone who could do this for me in
South Florida? It's worth it to try to fix before
making a brash decision.

Please advise me ASAP.

Thanks.

DirectFreak@hotmail.com

 

I've done a ton of work to my now 212K '04 4.6 (new head gaskets, oil pump, cam, lifters, push rods, rockers, timing gear, radiator, water pump, crank and rod bearings, etc,) and successfully kept the dreaded tick at bay for a couple of years. Runs great! Good oil pressure and compression on all cylinders. No coolant leaks. Biggest bang for the buck in keeping the tick quiet was the in-line 180 degree t-stat. Temps run anywhere from 180 to 194. Tick came back a couple of weeks ago. Cannot stand it - I'm pinning it!

Most likely going to pull the motor, disassemble, deck and hot tank, and replace the cam bearings (just about the only thing I haven't done).

Just sent the OP of this excellent post a PM to see if his pin job is still holding 5 years later - be nice to know...

 

OP just got back to me - still running!

Thanks, Tim!

T

 

My 03 Disco 2 was clacking so bad it was embarrassing to drive it. I took my motor out and disassembled it for sending off for new topped sleeves. Reading this changed my mind completely. I have the bare block on an engine stand in my garage now and will drill and pin this weekend, saving me thousands.

Thanks to everyone involved.
I will report the success.

 

Sounds good. I had the tick, however, and it wasn't the sleeves. When I did my rebuild I lapped the valves and replaced the valve stem seals.

While replacing those valve stem seals I noticed that one of the springs was rubbing against metal in the head. There were even small head shavings at the base of the spring from where the rubbing had caused flakes.

So I ground away the errant metal such that the spring would not rub the head.

Put it all back together and no tick.



Also, my rockers were making a lot of noise. After the rebuild I had much higher oil pressure and I also added Turbo Maxx to my oil. Result: quiet rockers.




Here's a pic of the metal area in the head where the spring was rubbing and the small bits of flakes were being shaved by one of the valve springs:

 

@2Guinness

I did my Disco but after time the pins slipped and it began to knock again. Keep in mind if you have a slipped liner you are anchoring the pin in an aluminum block which will eventually fail and leak oil.

I got "lucky" and my disco got totaled at the curb by a drunk driver right before I was going to top hat my sleeves. If you've pulled the motor you might as well go the extra step and fix it for good.

 

@dakirkpa
If you use high temperature loctite on the screws buddy they'll never move or leak oil. Mine never have

 

And lock wire them together, then they cannot back out.

 

Good idea if you can, absolutely.
I never bothered on mine as drilling holes in the heads stainless steel socket head screws is a real pain in the ****

 

Safety wiring them is in the original thread.
My Dad's a retired engineer, so he drilled all the bolt heads...which gave me the easy part, lol.