Amazing!

This feels like it should be out of your hands now and your insurance Compnay and JLR (corporate) should work out a plan. If your insurance company is paying for it, then JLR should be pleased and get on with it!

 

If you or your insurance company is buying a new motor then the old motor belongs to the owner of the vehicle.

 

Unless the new engine pricing includes a core charge that you’re not paying due to the old one being exchanged....

 

Find a good Euro indy mechanic who knows JLR and diesels, get a crate motor from Ford, and have them install that. Let your insurance company complete their investigation on your motor and sue the pants off JLR and the dealership.

You can use your existing turbo and most other accessories, I think the HPFP or injectors are slightly higher pressure, but I can't imagine that someone who knows what they are doing couldn't make this work for a helluva lot less than that a$$much of a dealer is going to rake your insurance company over the coals with. Most of your parts will be reusable and you could probably start with a new long block at only $3,460.



https://parts.ford.com/shop/en/us/en...assy-8975401-1

 

I stand to be corrected but as far as I know the 3.0 SCV6 is not a Ford motor.
It was designed by JLR and construction is sub contracted to Ford however it is dressed with many Ford accessories.
It is not a “Ford motor”.

 

This is a pretty over the top story but I'm not at all surprised that the dealer has taken this position, having worked for a few high end dealers back in the day. The only thing that will come from your ins co's rep looking at the old engine is that it will expose the dealer's culpability in this and they don't want that. A lawsuit involving a $30k engine swap/repair would certainly be the end result. That said, I'm not sure what your ins co's rep thinks they will see by "looking" at the engine. It will need to be disassembled. At which point any lawyer worth their salt could most likely make the case that if the engine grenaded due to a loss of coolant which was caused by a punctured radiator, and yet the engine never got above 208°, then there is a warranty claim at hand because the net effect of a loss of coolant is an overheated engine and your situation does not fit this scenario.

You need a competent mechanic to ask questions and determine the current condition of the engine. Simply saying it's "blown" is not enough info to determine anything with regard to the best way forward. Your ins co should be aware of this but I'm beginning to wonder. Perhaps they do know more detail and haven't communicated it to you because it's not relevant to your discussions with them, but it needs to be determined if it's headgaskets, cracked block, seized pistons, warped head, etc. These are all the results of an overheat. Or is there a different problem? There is no way in my mind to connect the dots between an engine that never got above 208° and the situation you're in now. There is more info out there and the dealer is obfuscating it for their own interests. My advice is to get that vehicle out of that dealership and into the hands of a qualified third party who can ascertain the current state of affairs with regard to the engine so that an accurate cause can be determined. Take it to a dealer/mechanic out of state if need be, you're talking about a couple hundred dollars in towing against a $30k repair bill. I would think your ins co would support this since they're seemingly bought in and are footing the bill for the work. At this point the current LR dealer is nothing more than a hindrance and offers no value to the process. I suspect there is a lawsuit coming one way or the other here so you should be acting proactively instead of re-actively, The more time they have with the vehicle the more of an advantage they will have.

If it were me, I would send a flatbed to get the truck and not even tell the dealer. Let the driver walk in the door and ask for the keys, instructing them to either hand them over or call you/your lawyer. If they refuse, call the police. It's your property and the last thing the dealer wants is a dust up with a bunch of police cars on their lot. This is a bit extreme, but at this point the dealer drew the up the rules of engagement. Let the truck sit in your driveway if you haven't sorted out where to have it worked on but leaving it with the dealer only exposes you to more of the their shenanigans. Then contact JLR of NA once you get the truck safely back in your possession and start the discussion with them. They probably aren't going to like this potential PR time bomb being out in the world with no control over it. Can you imagine that conversation? Yep, your idiot dealer has gotten us to this point, I've taken the truck back and it's now in the hands of my attorney ... This farcical story about the rock and the engine being blown, and more importantly how their dealer is handling it, will likely raise a few eyebrows. I wouldn't be surprised if you heard from an ombudsman in less than 24h.

 

OP what an awful situation sorry you are going through this. Any update at this point ?

 

All - its been about 7 weeks since I last posted. In that time, my insurance company agreed to replace the engine in my Discovery. The (original, shady) dealership did the work. The first time I drove the car upon repair I was sitting at a red light after driving about 4 miles from my house and when the light turned green, I pressed the gas peddle and the RPM revved but the car didn't move. I tried several more times and got a message on the screen that read AUTONOMOUS EMERGENCY BRAKING NOT AVAILABLE. I turned the car off. Tried several more times to move and finally the 3rd try, I was able to drive. I called the dealership, they came and got the car and replaced the rear camera saying that there was a short circuit found in the image processing module. They returned the car to me. Upon the return of the car to me, I went got about 6 miles from my home and suddenly I heard a "zap" of sorts and the screens on the dash went blank. I pulled over. Turned the car off and on several times and finally was able to restore the screen on the driver side but, nothin in the media/phone/etc screen. They came and took the car again. Repaired it, saying there was "software corruption in SOTA". They replace the software and returned the car a few days later. UPON the return of the car for the 3rd time in 8 days, I drove about 1/2 mile from my house and got another message on the dash saying something about the Autonomous Emergency Braking and that there was a GEAR BOX FAULT. I drove about 2 more miles and decided to pull over to restart the car and clear the message but, when I did, the car was stuck in PARK and would not drive. They sent a tow truck and took the car again. About a week later they returned the car to me and said that, ALL ALONG, the problem was the GROUND STRAP. It was not properly secured and so the ELECTRICAL SYSTEM of the car was going haywire. NOW MY QUESTION IS THIS: Those of you who have (blessedly) followed my plight through this ordeal will remember that I was driving along, perfectly calm and quiet, no issues, no bells, no warning messages, no nothing. Suddenly, I see the flash of a message that says "check engine coolant", and hear a rhythmic knock. I pull into driveway within 30 seconds and the car was DEAD. MOTOR DEAD. NO warning. No nothing. Do you not agree that all of this makes sense now? THE REASON THERE WAS NO WARNING IS FOR THE SAME REASON THERE WAS FALSE WARNINGS ABOUT AUTONOMOUS BRAKING SYSTEMS AND NO DASH SCREENS AND GEAR BOX FAULTS. None of those components actually had a problem. The electrical messages were just going haywire because of the faulty ground strap. So yes, a rock hit my AUXILIARY RADIATOR (not the radiator), my car leaked ALL of the radiator fluid, and THEN ALL OF THE AUXILIARY Radiators fluid, killing the motor with no warning or indication of trouble.

It doesn't matter now - as my insurance covered the new motor. The problem is I DO NOT WANT THIS VEHICLE. Yes - everything on it is new. But, I feel like I want Land Rover to buy it back and I want to walk away. Anyone have any thoughts on faulty GROUND STRAP symptoms? I'm writing my letter to Land Rover Headquarters now. Thanks for all your thoughts over the past few months. Each of you were very helpful. Looking forward to hearing from anyone who has any opinion - agree or otherwise. Thanks!

 

It doesn't matter what I think... but... i think you lost coolant due to the rock... and corrosion set in from antifreeze and buggered up the ground strap or they messed with it during the replacement radiator job... it happened to start and they drove 4.3 miles fine, then parked and still had ground issues... that reared up when you arrived to drive it home... i am curious if the motor actually was toast... guessing that we will never know... and even if stated in paperwork can we trust the dealers writeup on it? So now they replace the motor, move all kinds of things in and out of the way. Assemble it back... and the ground strap continued to give you issues in components. They played "swap-nostics" instead of doing actual diagnostics work on it... if you have this many issues with crap on the can bus... guess what... it's not likely each individual component.
Liking Rovers or not, I can understand you not wanting one due to the dealers that you have available in your area. MY CONDOLENCES.

 

This could happen to any make or dealership - and it does. If you like the vehicle stay with LR but try a new dealership.

I had a non-LR make that was bought back after owning 10 from that make. I have never gone back after the buy back. I have had a LR bought back but have bought 2 more from them since - both LRJ and dealership were great in the whole process.

With all that being said, I do not blame you fro running away screaming...