I wonder if the issue is the change in gasket designs.

 

The gaskets with the "things" on then, "Fits LR3 4.4 V8 PETROL UP TO VIN 5A348162"
The ones with no bump things are for "LR3 / Discovery 3 V8 4.4L | 05 - 09 | From VIN 5A348163"

 

That’d be the issue. I’m pretty sure it’s and older VIN. I’ll put in the old ones and see what happens

 

I smoked tested it and had leaks from each side on the bottom. When I pulled it, the lower gaskets were shot and leaking for sure. When things calm down (busy family stuff) I’ll post photos.

 

I tend to not reuse old gaskets. You can get the sets with bumps for around $20 on PartsGeek, I think.

 

Normally I wouldn’t but I need to make sure it fires up first. And I’ve got to use it.

Although balancing that on the chance of something old and brittle breaking is a thing too.

 

It works!

Using the old upper manifold gaskets with the weird cube things worked.

It fired right up and spun like a top. Then I turned it off to report back here and get ready for bed.

THANK YOU for everyone’s input. I’ll do a better write up when I’m not half asleep.


New seal without cubes for VIN’s newer than mine apparently. Note the big gap below the seal (which is really the top)



New seal without cubes for VIN’s newer than mine apparently. Note the big gap below the seal (which is really the top)

 

Glad you figured it out! Good info on the intake seals.

 

(also posted in my other, really long thread)

Alright, I got it working last night. As mentioned somewhere, I replaced the new upper manifold gaskets with the old ones I took out. The truck was hard reset and then I also reset the adaptation values.

Important note on the upper gaskets - they are VIN specific in that there is a cutoff as DakotaTraveler noted.

So I went for a nice drive this morning and it ran great. As I was joking with my wife last night, I told her the engine light would come back... and it did after an ignition cycle. So the light and same lean codes are back and I get to order the right gaskets and do this a 3rd time. I''ll do another smoke test and see what I see although that should be after all the new gaskets are in.

Here's a PDF log from this morning's drive. Where the levels top out in the 20's for long and short term it's when I was stopped at a light, or in park idling and watching.

This is very interesting and has motivated me further to track this down.

 

Wow yeah, those gaskets would not have worked at all. Major leakage indeed.