2009 Range Rover Sport 3.6-litre V8 turbo-diesel Engine Blown Up!

[MUMSRIG]

Hi all,

After some advise.

My sister has a 2009 Range Rover Sport 3.6-litre V8 turbo-diesel and the engine now has a hole in the side of the block. The vehicle is approx 18months old and has just clicked over 14000klm's.

I have not personally seen the damage as yet as i work away and the vehicle is at the dealers. My sister (who has no mechanical aptitude and is not expected to) said that she was driving in a remote area but on a major arterial road and travelled 166klm's when smoke emitted from under the bonnet and the vehicle ground to a halt on the side of the road leaving a trail of oil and leaving her stranded in the middle of no where with no mobile reception. And YES the fluid levels were checked prior to setting off. Fortunately a passer by was kind enough to give her a lift to the nearest phone and the Roadside Assistance was called. The vehicle was towed to a holding yard before then being sent to a dealer almost a week later for assesment.

1 item of note is that the vehicle is overdue for it's first scheduled service now by approx 2000 klm's and anything up to 9 months. This service was due to happen on her next break and she had arranged for time off to bring it to the city which is an approximate 2400klm round trip, hence the reason for the delay in the time it has taken to get the vehicle serviced, coupled with the fact that the Regional Dealership no longer exists. Makes it a bit hard when you spend upwards of $130g's on a vehicle that you can't get serviced by a dealer locally, (YES, even the local servo wouldn't dare to touch it) especially when you were assured that there would be a regional dealer to service your new pride and joy when purchasing the vehicle in the first instance!

The first question I have is: Can anyone tell me when the Karratha Land Rover Dealership closed down?

Secondly: Has anyone experienced any issues with this motor before?

Thirdly: The initial assesment has come back that the motor will need replacement and could cost anything up to $30000 with Land Rover Dealer stating that they may not honour the warranty at this stage. Does anyone have contact details for the WA Regional Service Manager?

Obviously my sister is devistated by this news, nothing is confirmed as yet as to what will occur next as she works in a remote area no where near where the car is now. She will now have to arrange flights or a hire car to get to where her vehicle is and also to get home at a later date. More expense!

I know the decision would ultimately be Land Rover Australia's as to whether the warranty is honoured but I also know how much pull a dealer has in the way they report their findings to the higher authority as I am a mechanic myself and have worked in dealerships.

Alot of conclusions may be made here as a result of what I have posted, but the fact remains that this vehicle is not much more than a year old, has never been driven offroad except for graded gravel roads and it is now sitting in a state of disrepair requiring major attention with no promise of 'said attention' from the Dealer.

Thank you

[scarry]

Geez,that is bad,i hope things only get better

LR & there dealerships in remote areas,& their trying to push all these new model defenders for country areas ,they gotta be joking.
As for the vehicle,2k over for a service isnt too bad,i would presume would be OK,if they push the time,9months,there could be a problem there.

More than likely if they can prove the motor failed due to a lack of servicing,well there could be a problem there as well.


Good news is i have always found LR very good with warranty claims.

Never heard of a failure with that motor,but others may have.

[Scouse]

As long as the engine did not run out of oil through neglect, then I'm sure LR will honour this repair. They might ask a few questions and the dealership will need to do a bit extra paperwork for such an unusual problem but that's nothing to do with your sister.

[Slunnie]

As long as the engine did not run out of oil through neglect, then I'm sure LR will honour this repair. They might ask a few questions and the dealership will need to do a bit extra paperwork for such an unusual problem but that's nothing to do with your sister.

I'd bet they wont commit to anything until they have checked the motor.

[Scouse]

I'd bet they wont commit to anything until they have checked the motor.

Hence the extra 'paperwork' comment. The dealer will have to take photos & submit a report to LR but they usually act pretty quickly in cases like this.

I'd like to know the cause though, these engines have been extremely good from what I've seen.

[midal]

MUMSRIG
In answer to your first question, the Karratha LR dealership closed down about 18 mos-2 yrs ago. The LR spares etc were all picked up by Moxham Motors in Karratha but I'm unsure whether or not they picked up the actual dealership responsibilities for servicing etc.
Cheers
Mick

[MUMSRIG]

MUMSRIG
In answer to your first question, the Karratha LR dealership closed down about 18 mos-2 yrs ago. The LR spares etc were all picked up by Moxham Motors in Karratha but I'm unsure whether or not they picked up the actual dealership responsibilities for servicing etc.
Cheers
Mick

Excellent, thanks Mick.. Thats the info that I'm after.

It goes to show that dealers will push for a sale even though what they tell you may not be quite right!

That timing sounds about right as there was a 3 or 4 month wait for the Rangie from when the deposit was given to when it arrived at the dealer. They basically sold the car to my sister on the pretence that she would have a local servicing agent that she could rely on to service her new Rangie as they new full well where the vehicle was going to reside.

My father has a V6 TD Disco 3 and lives in Newcastle (biggest regional city in Aus) and L R have even closed that one down.

Pretty sad. I can understand them closing dealers for financial reasons but they need to be able to provide an alternative for all their loyal L R owners out in these areas. Maybe something like a registered repairer type scheme as there are usually L R privateer's out there that are even ex L R mechanics with a small business, maybe they could look at authorising these guys for repairs and maintenance?

[midal]

Excellent, thanks Mick.. Thats the info that I'm after.

It goes to show that dealers will push for a sale even though what they tell you may not be quite right!

That timing sounds about right as there was a 3 or 4 month wait for the Rangie from when the deposit was given to when it arrived at the dealer. They basically sold the car to my sister on the pretence that she would have a local servicing agent that she could rely on to service her new Rangie as they new full well where the vehicle was going to reside.

My father has a V6 TD Disco 3 and lives in Newcastle (biggest regional city in Aus) and L R have even closed that one down.

Pretty sad. I can understand them closing dealers for financial reasons but they need to be able to provide an alternative for all their loyal L R owners out in these areas. Maybe something like a registered repairer type scheme as there are usually L R privateer's out there that are even ex L R mechanics with a small business, maybe they could look at authorising these guys for repairs and maintenance?

MUMSRIG
Due to the amount of money involved for a new engine, it may be in your best interests to contact Moxham Motor Karratha to clarify the dealership responsibilities issue.
I spoke with the previous principal dealer after the closure and he informed me that it was not LR's decision to close down, it was his. He said that business was going very well at the time. He owned a large parcel of land where the dealership was situated and it was at the time when the resource boom was going right off, companies were desparately fighting for room in the area and someone made him an offer that was way above the value so he took it. It all happened so quickly that it took a lot of people by surprise, myself included. It may have been helped by the fact that the head mechanic who had worked there for over 10 yrs had just left as well, but that is only supposition on my behalf.....no bad rumours intended. Good luck with the issue, hope it works out to your satisfaction.

Cheers
Mick

[inside]

It would be interesting to know what the dealer's findings are. Sure a car can have problems but you would think modern engines today have a certain amount of self preservation built in. Better to shut the engine down than put a hole in the block.

Please let us know the outcome.

[Blknight.aus]

heres the out that they are likely to use.

Due to the fact that the last service is overdue by more than the allowed 10% of time and kilometers we will not honour warrenty in this case. Had the service been completed on schedule a service tech would have identified a fault from the condition of the oil/particulate in the filter.