Last year I noticed some noise on the RHS which was particularly obvious when you were against a wall. I sounded like an exhaust leak or valve train noise which increased in frequency with RPM. I did some searching on the internet and although I found a couple of people complaining of similar noises no one had diagnosed it. When it was in for a service I asked my regular mechanic (a LR specialist) to check it out. They thought it was coming from the RHS exhaust or catalytic converter but did no further checking.

I wasn't convinced with this and got another mechanic that services my wife's car and is a friend to check it out, he thought it was valve train noise and definitely not exhaust related. I did a lot more internet research and decided although I have done a few engine rebuilds on older car engines and a lot of bikes, even with the assistance of my very mechanically minded mate I didn't want to be pulling this engine down, the sheer complexity, requirement for special tools and expense if things went wrong being the deciding factors.

I talked to some other Landrover specialists and mainly asked if they had done timing chains on the AJ V8 used in my car and whether they had the required tools. This was important as I had watched a couple of u-tube videos and seen what happens when the timing is out or when you try to pull the injectors.

I finally settled on Graeme Cooper Automotive after speaking to Ward. They had done timing chains before and Ward gave me confidence they could do the job. They were a little reticent as pulling these engines down is a big expensive job.

At first when I took the car in they thought it could be exhaust noise but soon eliminated this. Next they asked what oil I was running which is the LR recommended Castrol 0-20w, I buy this in 20l drums and change myself every second service and supply to my mechanic for the other service. The oil and filter are changed every 10K. They wanted to change to 5-20w as they have had experience with this quietening engine noise. The oil made no difference.

Now the only thing to do was to pull it apart and search for the problem.

The supercharger, coolant lines, fuel lines and injectors were removed to access the rocker cover on the RHS bank, once the rocker cover was removed the valve clearances were checked and #5 cylinder valve clearance was found to be excessive. At least they had found the source of the noise.

Timing covers, guides and chains then were removed to access the cam which was removed to access the follower bucket which is sized to adjust the valve clearance. With the follower bucket removed the problem was obvious, the hard casing on the valve tip had disintegrated and the valve tip had mushroomed damaging the follower bucket in the process. Now the head had to come off.

I had decided if we were going this far I wanted to change out all the plastic coolant lines, the water pump and service the supercharger. Ward (for warranty reasons) didn't want to put old timing chain and guides back in either and both heads had to be inspected as if this had happened to one valve it may be occurring on others. Removing the injectors resulted in 5 damaged injectors as they jam in the heads (DI remember) and can be easily damaged using the slide hammer removal tool.

Both heads were removed and sent to a head specialist. It was determined that the intake valves were fine but some of the exhaust valves were suspicious. It was decided to replace all the exhaust valves (16) and collets.

LRA didn't have valves or injectors and LR UK didn't have valves in stock, GC Automotive had to chase around suppliers in the UK to gather enough valves. This turned out to be a good thing as the cost of valves and injectors was significantly higher from LRA.

I supplied a new supercharger coupling and snout bearings from the US as well as oil I bought in Australia which is used in the LSA Holden motor.

It took a while for all the parts to arrive and for the heads to be serviced and reassembled but finally I heard that all the parts were in and reassembly would start this week. I was especially anxious for this as school holidays started this week and I wanted to take my daughter away in our 2.9t caravan.

I picked the car up yesterday after 2 months and paid the very substantial bill, it was cheaper than Ward estimated though and better than I suspected. The engine is nice and quiet again and is performing as expected.

I hadn't been driving the RRS much since last October while I spent some time researching and deciding what to do, I was tempted to sell it and move on but decided I wanted it resolved. Luckily I bought my wife a new car earlier in the year and had a spare for the duration. The RRS was at GC Automotive for 2 months and I'm very happy with the work they did and the information they fed back to me. I'll probably keep going back to GC Automotive for servicing in the future but St Peters is a pain for me.

Anyway I'm hooking up the caravan today to escape Sydney and head bush. Luckily I don't live or work in one of the LGAs which aren't allowed out of Sydney metro but I want to escape while I can.


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