Thread: Would you buy a discovery 4 with a rebuilt engine?

Originally Posted by CALSTED

Hi, following some great advice in my other post. I have steered away from looking at high km Discovery 4s with patchy service history.
I am now looking at another 2015 disco 4 that has a 185,000 km SDV6. It had an engine rebuild in July 2024 with new crank, pistons, injectors, machined cylinder at a mechanic that looks to get very good reviews.
The car is running good and everything works.
My question is, considering the car has had a rebuilt engine. Is that something that should be considered a positive and worth consideration ?
Also anything else I should check for ?

Too many unknowns for anyone to offer remote advice. I'd be asking about the nature of the failure and what ancillary damage was done. Then I'd want to know details about the rebuild, particularly whether the rebuilder was aware of the block shift issue and paid particular attention to line boring. How was the engine reassembled? Was the time taken to balance each component? This requires multiple assembly/disassembly cycles and is time consuming and costly. This would not normally be done on an engine rebuild as it's effectively blueprinting the engine. When you consider that new engines have failed and factory rebuilds have failed, it is anybody's guess what your engine is like.
I'd be concerned that the previous owner, after having the engine rebuilt, is now selling the car. Was the engine just rebuilt so the car would sell for a reasonable price instead of for scrap?
As I advised in your other post. Do an engine oil pressure test on any TD/SDV6 engine you are considering buying.

Personally i wouldn't unless i knew the company/person that did the rebuild and was aware of their work.

Rebuilt engine - probably no (unless I knew where all the components were sourced from, who did the work, and assurance it had a new crank sourced direct from JLR or Ford).

New engine - maybe yes. But need to confirm it is sourced from JLR - which many say cannot be done.

Genuine crate engine,would be fine.

But rebuild,or second hand engine,no way,move on.

Originally Posted by scarry

Genuine crate engine,would be fine.

Does such a thing exist?

Originally Posted by Tins

Does such a thing exist?

Maybe not,i have a feeling Ford stopped making them,or they are extremely difficult to get hold of.

Apparently the Ranger engine TDV6 3.0L is made elsewhere,and not really compatible.

There is a 2012 D4 for sale in NSW on CarSales that states it has a new engine supplied by JLR.

The ad says it is a 2.7 but the photo shows a 3.0.

Originally Posted by scarry

Maybe not,i have a feeling Ford stopped making them,or they are extremely difficult to get hold of.

Apparently the Ranger engine TDV6 3.0L is made elsewhere,and not really compatible.

Seems like the engine in the Super Duty is a highly modified version of the Lion V6. Heavier crankshaft etc. Whether it is in any way compatible is unclear to me, but I doubt it, at least not easily.
I don’t believe that a new engine from LR is possible. AI suggests that a NOS engine could be available. Yeah, right. They will have been used up years ago. I watch with interest whatshisname from LR Time and his search for parts like cranks for them. And he’s in Europe.
Such a shame, because the D4 was a brilliant design generally. I see a number of people have bobbed up putting the V8 into them. LR should have done that in the first place. The RR Sport is not half the car the Disco is. A V8 D4 would be nearly perfect.
Aplology to Tombie here. Don’t want to get on his wrong side