Rocker Arm Pics - '00 Land Rover Discovery 4.0L V8

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I bought this vehicle at auction for $2,500 a couple months ago. No service history, but it was in reasonably good condition. Exterior and interior are in great shape for its age. 106k on the ODO when I bought it. I'm up to 111k now, problem free, other than a few annoyances such as leaking valve cover gaskets and leaking differential pinion seals. They say on a Land Rover, if there's no fluid underneath it, there's none IN it.

This British made engine is an old dinosaur based on the 50-60's era aluminum Buick 215 V8. Not much has changed other than an overbore and modern fuel metering, emissions, etc. fitted to it. They're not known to be the cleanest engines, especially when maintained at manufacturer recommended intervals. Knowing this, I was still surprised at the amount of gunk that has accumulated in only 100k! I've seen engines at 200k look much cleaner than this.

I changed the oil when I first bought it to Blain's Farm and Fleet brand (Citgo rebrand?) of 5w-40 Synthetic Blend diesel oil (CI-4+ rated) and have run it for about 5k before I pulled the covers. Once I do the gaskets and a bunch of other maintenance (including oil change), I'm switching to Castrol Edge 5w-50 for the summer months. Winter will probably see either a high-zinc (flat tappet lifters) high-mileage type motor, or a 10w-30 diesel CJ-4 oil. Filters will be AC Delco Ultraguard Gold for the foreseeable future.

Let me know what you think. I invite any suggestions / tips / etc. on how to clean this beast up. I hope with a little TLC I can coax it to 200k. It really is a joy to drive, and the all-weather / off-road performance is like nothing I've ever been in.

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Only thing Imo you could do is a good synthetic at 5000 intervals...... im not a fan of flushes and its not so bad that its damaging anything.
 
This sounds like a good deal to me, and I personally know of a few folks who have gotten these cars, and the similar lr3, lr2's up to 200k

If you have not done so, I would change the plugs and the coolant and the thermostat. I would check the radiator and hoses and change trans fluid.

Even in Colorado, the engine does not know the difference between winted and summer. I would move to a 5W 40 or 0W 40 oil, and stick with it. If you do a few 4-5k oil changes, you have done what you can to clean out the engine without risk. Regular oil changes will maybe clean the engine up a little, but the varnish you are looking at will never give you a moment's problem with driveability. When you look at the super clean pics of 200K civics, you are dealing with a different animal, more modern engine, and very likely reliable, regular synthetic oil back to mile 1.

You will never go wrong with Mobil 1 products,

That said, these LR engines actually last forever. The bugaboos with these cars are electronics and hydraulic systems, all long since addressed on this car no doubt.

Good luck -- I think this vehicle is a very smart öff the beaten path choice.
 
Recommend some Mobil 1 HM, probably a 10w-40 to help clean that up. Do a couple short OCI's with that oil and pull the valve covers and see how much cleaner it is. Cheers
 
Thats pretty dirty, as others have said, use a good cleaning synthetic at short OCI's for a while to clean that gunk up. M1 0w40 would be my recommendation.
 
Originally Posted By: TomYoung
If you have not done so, I would change the plugs and the coolant and the thermostat. I would check the radiator and hoses and change trans fluid.


Doing this as I speak. The cramped engine bay necessitates doing all hard-to-reach maintenance items while the upper intake is off. That includes VC gaskets, plugs, wires, which are almost impossible to do otherwise. In getting the plenum off, a bunch of hard plastic hoses broke ([censored] Europeans, why can't they use flexible rubber??), so the cooling system will get a mostly-refresh with new hoses, etc.

"Changed" the trans fluid and filter by removing the pan, though in doing so, I only got 4 quarts replaced. No dipstick on this thing, so you have to check the level much like a manual tranny where you fill to the bottom of the fill plug. Except on an auto, you do it with the truck running (in park), oil up to temp, and cats (right above where you're working) hotter than a [censored] house on nickel night. Not much fun, though I'll do it one more time to get another 4 quarts changed.

Quote:
Even in Colorado, the engine does not know the difference between winted and summer.


I believe this to be mostly factual-- Yes, like most vehicles with oil to coolant heat exchangers, oil temp on this vehicle will be fairly well regulated. But it will spent more time with cooler oil temps in winter, and vice versa. On a hot summer day sitting in traffic, or putting around trails up in the mountains, it will see higher temps.

It's widely known that Land Rover stretched tolerances to the limits in order to avoid re-tooling, most of which came about in the late 60's. Having to color code blocks by minimum wall thickness, oil pumps self-destructing on later models (due to alignment issues), are all examples of tolerances being stretched to the limits. Personally, I think a 50w oil is well suited for this application, but I'm no expert. It's not quite the motor one would expect from a late model Civic or Ford Modular.

Very appreciative of your input, as well as that from the others. Suggestions noted; keep it coming!
 
Neat car. I purchased an 03 D2 with the 4.6 V8 in it when they first came out. Spent lots of time off-roading it in the Northeast.

It's been years since I have been involved in the LR community, but if you haven't had a chance, spend some time on Discoweb. Lots of good technical information and a strong off-road community. Atlantic British, Rovers North, and Great Basin Rovers were good for parts, especially on D1/D2 models.

Many LR owners (of that engine era) were fond of Shell Rotella T for oil changes.

Enjoy!
 
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