TD5 Oil Pump Bolt

[MickS]

Hi everyone

On the 6/1/05 I posted a message re. a possible piston problem in my 1999 TD5 Disco. My mechanic has had a bit of a look at it, and he thinks it may be the big end bearing seizing as a result of the oil pump bolt failing. Apparently, Landrover failed to put Loctite on the bolt on some of the '99 models, resulting in the bolt stripping.

I found this website http://www.landyonline.co.za/issues/td5_oilpump.htm which states that Landrover UK are aware of the problem and have settled claims in the UK.

I'm wondering if anyone here has had a similar problem, and tried to make a claim against Landrover Australia. My guy is talking up to $10K to fix it. I've already forked out a thousand to get it towed back to Sydney.

Tried ringing Landrover in Sydney, but they didn't seem too interested, as I am the second owner and the car has done about 157,000 klms. But the way I see it, if they knew about a specific problem and not bothered about a recall????

Any comments appreciated.
Regards
Mick

[barryj]

Sorry to hear about the bolt. I found out about the issue after I bought my discovery Td5. So far mine has been OK. 105,000km on the clock so it's a bit young. I asked Southside Land Rover, where I bought it second owner, about the bolt and they said they had one that went. The service guy would not say who paid for it or anything else about it. I considered getting them to remove the sump and replace mine. It was going to cost just under $300 to do and I was short of cash at the time. From what I have researched it seems to be the early series 2 discovery that has the problem, maybe it is more a higher km problem, I don't know. Keep hounding Rover as you might get somewhere.

barryj

[MickS]

Thanks Barry will do.

[DiscoCam]

Hi MickS,

Not much help but I remember reading a long thread on one of the UK forums about this. One guy was actually referring people to his own web site to form some sort of class action against LR UK.

I thought it was either on Land Rover Owner Internation (www.lro.com) or Land Rover Enthusiast (www.landroverenthusiast.com). A search on the first one revealed nothing and the forum on the second seems to have moved somewhere?

Anyway for that sort of price tag it is certainly worth researching what Land Rover have done in other parts of the world and writing a very succinct letter to your local dealer and Land Rover Aust stating why they need to reimburse you/fix the problem.

Edit - just did a search and found this http://www.amanet.co.uk/td5oilpumpfailure.htm - this is the guy I was thinking of.

Good luck
Cam

=<insert witty tag line here>

[MickS]

Thanks guys. I'll chase it up with Purnell Motors on Wednesday.

We'll never forget NYD, the 01/01/06....broken down on the Princes Highway "Who The Hell Knows Where We Are" (turns out we were about 20k's north of Cobargo, 200 k's from our campsite, 45 degree heat, more flies than at a maggots convention, mobile phone battery fading fast and going from no network coverage to emergency calls only.....2 kids getting very upset, my son saying "Dad are we going to die?", the missus even more upset....anyway, I can tell you, the only people on the main street of Cobargo at 7pm on the 01/01/06 were the 4 of us. Finally made it back to the tent, only to find the campsite had been flattened by the southerly that busted through that evening.

This will probably make for a good yarn down the track, but for now, I'm broken hearted that my pride and joy may be too costly to repair. This, after having spent $800 on new tyres and another $700 on a dual battery, and $1000 towing it home. Might have to auction one of my kidneys on ebay! Gotta go, the tears are shorting out the keyboard!!
Mick :x

[LandyAndy]

Hi Guys
Isnt this exactly what happened to Sith just the other week 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O 8O
How hard is it to loctite this bolt yourself just to be sure.
I cant afford a $14500 crate motor like Sith scored under warranty
Andrew

[sheff]

Really sorry to hear a tale like that.
I read with interest the UK gorum thread on the subject, and from that and pics. shown one can only say that the engineering on that item is very P poor.
If I had a td5 (very happy with the 300 thanks) I would have the sump off and a change of fixing for the pump sprocket. No oil for only 10secs. at 2500 rpm means big disaster.
Very poor, Mr. Landrover.
sheff

[MickS]

Update on this problem.

LRA has asked that I have the vehicle towed to an authorised dealer, and they will pay for the costs of the initial diagnosis. From there they are not prepared to say.

My mechanic has sourced a second hand TD5 from a Defender. Does anyone know if the Defender TD5 will replace the TD5 from my disco without too many problems? He says there is about a 20 kilowatt drop in power, not sure how this relates to actual kph?

Mick

[barryj]

MickS,

At least Land Rover is willing to have a look at it. It will be very interesting to hear what they say and do.

Hope you have success, sounds like you have had the raw end of the prawn this year so far

barryj

[MickS]

I know mate, and the year is only 11 days old!

I had only taken delivery of a brand new 7x4 gal off road trailer with all the trimmings in November, so we could cart all our camping gear around. It towed beautifully to our campsite by the sea, our first family holiday together in 2 years. Then disaster struck and we ended up bringing it home on the back of an uncle's '94 Patrol. Luckily the unc lived near to where we were camped. Now I'm looking at selling the trailer to try and recoup some money if LR don't come to the party. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year.....bah humbug!!