Discovery 2001 TD5 oil pump bolt
Hi, we have a 2001 Landrover Discovery TD5 which has suddenly caused us some problems. Fuel (LOTS!) suddenly started to spray out of the car en route to work and my car had to be towed to the repairers.
The bolt on the oil pump had come loose, resulting in no oil pressure. The car now makes a horrible noise when running and blows smoke (we can’t drive it). The mechanic reported metal filings in the sump oil. He advises us to ditch the car asap or to replace the engine.
My gripe is that our car is 6 years old - we bought it new and have maintained it well. We haven't even taken it off road yet! When I rang Landrover they did not want to know about it. I asked if anyone else had reported a similar problem, as surely this would not be a common occurrence in a car with only 137,000km on it? I was told that they did not record that sort of data. Basically the lady at the other end of the phone said the car is out of warranty, it wasn't their problem, and why was I telling her about it?
I have gone online in an attempt to understand what has happened and am reading about the exact same problem in models from '98, '99' 2000 and 2001. Apparently the bolt failure causes no oil pressure which in turn causes the engine to seize. To top it off, it could be prevented by replacing the faulty bolt and fixing the replacement on properly with loc-tight (which articles indicate may not have been done originally and is the cause of the problem), which would have saved us the drama and expense of now possibly having to get a new engine in our car. Regular servicing hasn't prevented the problem as apparently (I have read) that this all happens on a non serviceable part.
Not happy! Has anyone else encountered this problem and did they find Landrover more helpful? Surely they must have more to say than 'bad luck', especially since they must be aware of the potential problem? Today I have read of the same problems being addressed in South Africa and the UK – and I have only being reading for a few hours!
Cheers, Pat.