Hi all! I definitely need advice. I have read previous posts but all from at least 4 years ago. I have had LR3 and LR4 models, 4 in all, for 18 years. My current 2016 LR4 seized on the highway going 75 mph without ANY warning lights EVER. I had it towed to the nearest dealership 60 miles away.
After the dealership checked it, they said I had no oil and that is why the engine seized and I need a new engine. At No point EVER did she oil light come on, or did the temperature sensor go up. I had my husband and 3 children with me, it was raining on a major highway going 75mph. Thank goodness for my husband’s excellent driving skills as we could have been seriously injured.
Land Rover dealership is currently getting me a quote for a new engine. I am so angry as this could have been avoided or mitigated if I had any warning.
I purchased an extension warranty which expired at 100k miles. It expired in March (4 months ago) and I have 113k miles on it currently.
Have filed an incident report with Lane Rover Customer Relations and a claim with my insurance company.
What recourse do I have? I feel an oil light sensor should not be something that is Land Rover’s fault as it is a serious safety and standard of care.
Thanks for any advice! Soooo angry

 

Wow, that is very unfortunate. How often did you do oil changes and how often did you check oil between changes? The oil light probably did come on, but all too often - with almost any car - its too late once you see it at those speeds (high RPM) unless you shutdown incredibly fast and coast to a stop. Low oil does not automatically mean higher operating temps, for that to happen you would have to have low oil pressure for long enough to cause friction issues and the cooling system can compensate for short while. Is there a chance something suddenly blew out or a maybe you hight something that caused a rupture? The only other thing I can think of is to have the oil pressure sensor examined to make sure it was not tampered with - if it was by the seller, then maybe by some stretch you have something you can go back on? Ultimately I am wondering where they oil went. I know in my LR3 I occasionally add oil between changes - I think if I did not I would end up dangerously low on oil by the time the next change was due.

And I hate to say it, but saying the sensor would be an LR fault is a stretch. You are responsible for maintenance which includes verifying the dash lights work and that oil levels are checked. So unless you were under a maintenance agreement with LR and they preformed all work/checks OR if this is a widely reported issue, there really is nothing to go on. Standard of care falls on you. Like I said though, I wonder where they oil went. It either dumped out suddenly or the engine consumes oil and the levels were not checked.

 

Moved to correct section.

 

DakotaTraveler,
Thanks so much for your thoughtful and prompt response. I will keep you posted on the outcome. But I do ask… how would I know if sensors are not working? I did have my last recommended major mileage check quite awhile ago. But to me this is such a serious sensor/light/indicator. For instance, without a gas level, you don’t know exactly when you will run out but how do you know if it’s faulty suddenly? You run out of gas which it seems most people would agree is unacceptable.
Thanks!

 

Also NO light ever came on trust me. Any light makes me paranoid and I call the dealer immediately.

 

Well the lights, warnings should be easy to check at any startup as they illuminate. The LR4 I think actually has an oil level reader too for showing the approx level since there is no dip stick. This is displayed on the cluster, right? I am an LR3 guy... But those warning should be easy to check. The sensors themselves to check is a bit more involved, but certainly can be with meters, etc. Probably a tech article in the workshop manual for how to do so. There is also a proper procedure for doing an oil change to reset the oil level reading if I recall.

But that is why I ask where the oil went? If it was a sudden loss, then there should be obvious signs of a leak/damage. If it was gradual, then not sure why the warnings would not have come up. Until you determine the cause for the oil loss then its all guesses.

 

DakotaTraveler,
Thanks again! Well I’m still waiting for the dealership to get as n exact diagnosis. Definitely no oil on my garage floor ever so not sure what happened. I’ll be sure to update you.
As for sensors, I’m definitely not the type to be checking them myself….I am a professional female who unfortunately is not well versed in more complicated car mechanics.
Unfortunately, I don’t trust Land Rover to diagnose anything that may be their fault. Not sure how to negotiate.
Thank you again.

 

Hi @Kadreslin this REALLY sucks and I'm so sorry to hear this happened to you and your family. I'm glad to hear that you and your family are safe. That could have been a very bad day (more than it already is.). Honestly this is the one scenario risk that I'm wary of as these engines have the well-known crossover pipe failure which ends in the same result - a seized engine in under 60 seconds at speed.

As noted in some other posts, the only way to know if warning lights are functional is verifying that during a regular inspection. Warning lights (and sensors) can and do die and that's the worst situation - because the thing that's supposed to save you is the thing that's broken. You'll definitely need to do a full diagnosis, find out if the sensors and/or lights are functional and obviously figure out where the hell the mystery oil dropped out. I'd suggest that you will be better off doing that at a reputable independent mechanic, vs. the LR dealer.There are many threads about this on this forum and others - refurbished engines are going to probably be $10K-$15K, new ones are like $25K.

This has been beaten to death in this forum but many of us consider 7500 miles as an ideal oil change interval. During that oil change (hopefully by your trusted independent mechanic) they should be doing all the usual system checks including warning lights.

I can't imagine how angry you are at this situation. With your extended warranty having expired 13K miles ago, I'd say you have little to no recourse to go after anybody for this (obviously that shouldn't stop you from trying.)

I hope you'll keep us updated and I wish you the best in finding a resolution to this nightmare.

 

O/P disappeared never to return

So we'll never know what happened, maybe we didn't give the answers they wanted to hear.

 

Kadreslin,
Not sure about the end result of your situation, but if it makes you feel better the engine died on my RR Sport with only 62K miles AND I had purchased the warranty, but I'm being told by independent repair shops that the warranty company will not pay and call it negligence. No warning light. The service manager at my dealership admitted that the oil warning light only comes on when the oil is "VERY low" (like when the engine is DOA!) Also being told by independent repair shops that it is "relatively" common for Range Rover engines to die, to the point that you can't buy new replacement engines without 6 month lead time. My only option is look for used engines and all the unknowns that come with them. Even with a used engine the total cost of repair is probably about the book value of my car and it's only 5 years old. I just purchased it at the end of my lease 15 months ago for $42K + sales tax and another $4,300 for the warranty. I did this because of the low inventory and long wait for new vehicles during the pandemic and because I liked the car so much. Now that money is gone and I'm looking for a junkyard to pick up my vehicle. Dealer is making statements to me that contribute to the narrative that maintenance was ignored but nothing could be further from the truth.

I'm angry with the dealer because they sold me the warranty and told me that it was "exactly the same as the manufacturer's warranty" that I operated with up to 50K miles. I started to get suspicious when I had problems with the coolant system shortly thereafter. The repair cost $2100 and the warranty only paid $900. Plus the repair didn't solve the problem.

At least I wasn't driving at high speed when it happened. Thankfully you and family are OK. I'd be interested in hearing how your situation resolved.