New Engine Advice

[roverzfan]

Back round -
I've been watching these boards since they started. We bought our Disco 1 brand new in 98. It's been a great vehicle and this is a great site.

I'm just a parts replacer. Alternator goes out no prob. Add Rovertym 2 inch lift yep. New bumpers - no problem. But I'm no engine guy and electrical kills me if it's beyond a new stereo. The wife wants to make this her daily driver again but the engine is burning coolant as fast as I dump it in so at 180k I'm thinking it's done for. I've got a good local rover mechanic who will obviously do the work as well as give me advice but I wanted to throw it out to this group as well.

I don't want to do any conversion - no chevy's, no diesels. I want to be able to drop this off at a stealership when my mechanic eventually retires. Yes - we'll be keeping this truck till were in the grave.

It seems like the engines have enough issues that other have improved on that just hauling it down to the local engine rebuild shop isn't the best plan.

I could look at Atlantic British reman engine blocks - seems to address some shortfall - but they seem pricey.

Turner seems to get a lot of comments on the board but couldn't find anyone that actually is running one.

I also see D&D with some support but their site is pretty sparse so I'll be calling them.

To be honest I'm not even sure what I should be asking when you look at doing something like this so pointers are welcome.

Thanks!

 

[discostew]

Well first off what makes you so sure the stealership want's to deal with a 18 year old truck. Just to help you out with that,they don't. Not trying to be a dick, just trying to bring a little reality to your plan of "dropping it off at a dealership when your guy retires". Just find another guy. I think working on a 18 year old truck is better left to a guy in a shop who has some rover experience.
Second,maybe the coolant loss isn't a death sentence like your thinking. Get your guy to look at it first. Putting an expensive engine in an old truck like this and thinking that in itself will make it run till the end of time is kind of silly. A lot more to that truck than just an engine.

 

[jymmiejamz]

I've had great luck with D&D.

 

[rovercanus]

I've had great luck with D&D.

Me too.

 

[roverzfan]

For the folks that have used D&D - how did you use them? Did they supply a drop in, short block, long block? What did you like about em?

 

[WILL.TILLERY]

What exactly are you in search of? More power? Same power just rebuild? Etc

 

[roverzfan]

What exactly are you in search of? More power? Same power just rebuild? Etc

Good question - #1 priority - something easy to maintain and work on - meaning if I need to go looking for parts it's easy enough identify what I need. In the event it's more than replacing a part something easy enough for the next mechanic to work on without having to figure out what the heck I've got in there.

More power is always nice but not at the expense of good drivability since we are making it a daily driver for the wife. Granted she will only put about 8k on the car annually but she's stepping out of her BMW X1 to go back to the Rover she knows, loves and understands isn't as "peppy". Are there good power upgrades that don't make the engine less reliable - I.E. I've read in the past things like Superchargers are a big no for this engine.

 

[roverzfan]

Well first off what makes you so sure the stealership want's to deal with a 18 year old truck. Just to help you out with that,they don't. Not trying to be a dick, just trying to bring a little reality to your plan of "dropping it off at a dealership when your guy retires". Just find another guy. I think working on a 18 year old truck is better left to a guy in a shop who has some rover experience.
Second,maybe the coolant loss isn't a death sentence like your thinking. Get your guy to look at it first. Putting an expensive engine in an old truck like this and thinking that in itself will make it run till the end of time is kind of silly. A lot more to that truck than just an engine.

Fair enough - probably should have put it more like - so the next mechanic isn't figuring out what the heck is going on in the engine bay and electronics because its some frankenstein conversion.

My current mechanic has been setting the tone that the engine is going down the path of slipped sleeves so I'm prepared. I get it this technically isn't worth the money I'm talking about putting into it but I'm not ready to drop $60k to pick up a similarly aged Defender and we don't like any of the new Land Rovers. We know it will become a money pit to keep it forever but we are OK with that - it's got character unlike so many other vehicles on the road.

 

[discostew]

The slipping sleeve issue really didn't happen on the Gems units like you own. Kind of a problem that sarted when they started out sourcing for engines because production was starting to increase or what ever reason they had. Other people around here know more about that whole slipping sleeve stuff. But I also think if I was going to do something with a replacement, D&D would be my first choice. I would buy a short block and have your heads done at a local machine shop.
Your going to find really good and honest mechanics in dealerships and also in little shops around the country. You also going to find hacks in both places. But I was being honest when I told you the dealership is not a good option when your truck is 18 yrs old. I know them as well as anybody and I hate seeing them at work. I'm not allowed to sell you the used parts I either own or can find, and original parts are getting harder to find even while the price of them goes thru the roof.
The term stealership grinds my gears because I think we in dealerships are held to a higher standard and while the labor rate has doubled in the last decade mechanics pay has gone up a crappy 20% at best. So vote with your dollars and find a dealership mechanic who is willing to work on it outside of work. Your going to get the best of both worlds and not be paying for a marble bathroom and fancy decor in the showroom.
And if I get fired for saying something like that I'm going to open a small shop as close to my dealership as I can afford to rent. Like walking distance.

 

[robertf]

see if you can find out where the coolant is going. if its cylinder 3,4,5 or 6 its new block time. the others could just be head gasket or intake gasket leak.

I know you dont want to mess with swaps, but a 4.6 rotating assembly makes these things so much more driveable and its the same amount of work and parts cost for a 4.0 replacement. and the dealership would be oblivious to it unless they drop the oil pan and look at the crankshaft

 

[KyleT]

Find a 96-98 4.6 Range Rover for $500 and rebuild the motor from that.

 

[discostew]

see if you can find out where the coolant is going. if its cylinder 3,4,5 or 6 its new block time. the others could just be head gasket or intake gasket leak.

I know you dont want to mess with swaps, but a 4.6 rotating assembly makes these things so much more driveable and its the same amount of work and parts cost for a 4.0 replacement. and the dealership would be oblivious to it unless they drop the oil pan and look at the crankshaft

Your right that the dealer would never know what rotating assembly is in it. Or care for that matter unless they had to fix some weird ass drivability issue.But the crank is stamped on the front if memory serves me correctly. Pulling the balancer bolt and looking at the front of the crank will ID the crank.

 

[roverzfan]

see if you can find out where the coolant is going. if its cylinder 3,4,5 or 6 its new block time. the others could just be head gasket or intake gasket leak.

I know you dont want to mess with swaps, but a 4.6 rotating assembly makes these things so much more driveable and its the same amount of work and parts cost for a 4.0 replacement. and the dealership would be oblivious to it unless they drop the oil pan and look at the crankshaft

So what's the best way to troubleshoot this?

Everything I had been reading up on indicated this slipped sleeve as the most likely culprit but now based on what Discostew says - it's probably not??? I know I replaced the radiator and hoses because I had noticed a small leak. I looped back the heater core to test that it wasn't leaking out somehwere there. At this point I consistently smell coolant if I take the truck out for even a short trip and need to top it off consistently.

 

[robertf]

pull spark plugs and look for a really clean one. then do a compression test

I dont believe in slipped liners, but a cracked block is a real possibility if its been overheated


is there a lot of smoke out the exhaust?

 

[roverzfan]

pull spark plugs and look for a really clean one. then do a compression test

I dont believe in slipped liners, but a cracked block is a real possibility if its been overheated


is there a lot of smoke out the exhaust?

I wouldn't say a lot of smoke - but I'll pull the plugs and do the compression test.

Thanks.

 

[discostew]

If your loosing coolant and its not leaking out onto the ground, its either being burned and white smoke should be seen, or its going into the crank case and the oil level is over full. I would start with a pressure test.

 

[roverzfan]

If your loosing coolant and its not leaking out onto the ground, its either being burned and white smoke should be seen, or its going into the crank case and the oil level is over full. I would start with a pressure test.

Yeah - it's not going into the crank case that's the first thing I did check. So if it's burning up - what's the general diagnosis?

 

[rovercanus]

For the folks that have used D&D - how did you use them? Did they supply a drop in, short block, long block? What did you like about em?

I actually called Mark several time for parts and advice. Great guy to deal with and very knowledgeable and he is very willing to share that knowledge.
I bought a block from one of the vendors here on this site with the intentions of rebuilding it.
Rebuilding the engine isn't hard. If you can change head gaskets, you can rebuild an engine.

 

[discostew]

I actually called Mark several time for parts and advice. Great guy to deal with and very knowledgeable and he is very willing to share that knowledge.
I bought a block from one of the vendors here on this site with the intentions of rebuilding it.
Rebuilding the engine isn't hard. If you can change head gaskets, you can rebuild an engine.

Say what?

 

[number9]

Say what?

Bulletin boards, YouTube and Harbor Freight sometimes give wannabes near instant grandiose DIY skills.
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