Thread: TDV6 crank and crank bearing failures

Terry, consider the number of TDV6 engines produced versus the number of those with your specific failure - or potential failure (ie the bottom end bolts not torqued properly).

The comparative number does not make it a common failure. The oil pump issue comes up much more frequently and thankfully it's something we can mitigate.

Even the number of crank failures of all types is not enough to call it a common failure, and there are a few different types that seem to occur:
-bearing caps not torqued properly
-seizure of bearings
-snapping of crank around the 2nd main bearing.

It's definitely a known issue but it's a stretch to call it common here and in UK when you think of the thousands of registered members on both sites. It does seem to occur more in Africa though, it'd be good to understand if it has a lot to do with servicing or whether it's just a manufacturing problem (ie your case).

EDIT AFTER READING GARRY's POST: I wonder if LRA would accept that as evidence of a known problem if one of us were to present to them with a dead vehicle? You would think with the threat of some legal action, with that service bulletin out there, they'd have nowhere to hide?

It all depends on if the vehicle is in-warranty or ourt of warranty.

I can confirm that LRA is very cooperative when TDV6 engines seize when in-warranty. It is merely a time issue to get the new crate engine to the dealer for replacement. No arguments and no complaints.

As it should be for a car under warranty.

Rich, not sure you have a handle on this. Usually the only time these engines get pulled apart to see what has gone wrong is after there has been massive component failure. How would LR or anyone know exactly what has caused those issues after the parts are wrecked? Having looked inside plenty of wrecked race engines after they have blown up unless you can see something like the cam timing is out or the oil pump failed or something that is obvious and usually away from the wrecked parts then its near impossible to diagnose in many cases what caused the blow up.

Mine was a case where the engine was pulled apart for other non related issues and they found the lose bearing caps at that time, as I said this would be very rear that a engine was pulled apart prior to it blowing up. So who is to say that lose bearing cap bolts (for what ever reason) aren't the reason why in many of these cases that the other components failed?

Plus only a small fraction of Disco owners in Australia are members of Aulro, so who knows, apart from LR, how many TDV6's have had this bearing/crank failure. When my engine was eventually replaced the workshop told me LR had nine long engine TDV6's in stock in Australia, that is a lot if your not expecting a reasonable number of them to fail in any one parts delivery cycle.

The reports from LR clearly show that this is a common problem otherwise they would not have said anything, in fact for years they tried to deny they had a problem. As I said you don't hear of it often now, but maybe that is because the majority of the various engines that had the problems ticking away inside have already failed and have been replaced, who knows!

Originally Posted by Lotz-A-Landies

It all depends on if the vehicle is in-warranty or ourt of warranty.

Given the LR advice was published in May 2014 and covers D3 vehicles some of which would have been out of warranty by up to 6 years, to me it applies irrespective of whether the vehicle is in or out of warranty - I would assume some sort of check re servicing etc would be needed though.

Originally Posted by garrycol

Given the LR advice was published in May 2014 and covers D3 vehicles some of which would have been out of warranty by up to 6 years, to me it applies irrespective of whether the vehicle is in or out of warranty - I would assume some sort of check re servicing etc would be needed though.

Agreed.

Originally Posted by garrycol

Given the LR advice was published in May 2014 and covers D3 vehicles some of which would have been out of warranty by up to 6 years, to me it applies irrespective of whether the vehicle is in or out of warranty - I would assume some sort of check re servicing etc would be needed though.

This LR advice is just for the 'fix'. LR technical don't really care if it's a warranty issue or not as who pays for it is not their concern.


Any 'out of warranty' failures will need to be considered on a case by case basis.




I wonder if the Territory is having similar problems. I did hear a rumour that the old stocks of original spec 2.7s were passed onto Ford for the then new diesel Territory.

Originally Posted by TerryO

Rich, not sure you have a handle on this. Usually the only time these engines get pulled apart to see what has gone wrong is after there has been massive component failure....

...Plus only a small fraction of Disco owners in Australia are members of Aulro, so who knows, apart from LR, how many TDV6's have had this bearing/crank failure. When my engine was eventually replaced the workshop told me LR had nine long engine TDV6's in stock in Australia, that is a lot if your not expecting a reasonable number of them to fail in any one parts delivery cycle.

...Who knows!

Nine TDV6 engines in stock may sound a lot, however LRA manage Land Rover sales and warranties across South-East Asia and the South West Pacific/Oceaniana.

In which case nine long engines may not be so many, particularly when there are 2.7TDV6, 3.0TDV6 and 3.0SDV6 and a number of other model changes.

Diana

It wasn't nine LR diesel long engines in stock it was nine 2.7 TDV6's. Scott may know but chances are a surface freight delivered shipment would arrive every four to six weeks. So its reasonable to expect that LRA felt like they needed a certain number of engines in stock to cover what they could reasonably expect might be needed for replacements in any one delivery cycle.

The other thing is at the time the workshop asked they said they had nine, who knows how many they usually have in stock at anyone time and how run down their stock was?

I'm not bagging the engine, I reckon it is a excellent bit of gear, but early on quite a few failed and LR recently acknowledged that.