Thread: TD5 BIG-END BEARING FAILURE

Andrew what was the history of the car did you just buy it or have you had it from new?

Hi Djam1,
I bought the Disco 2 in January.
It is a 2003 / 2004 with auto transmission, and I am the 4th owner, I think.
179,000 km when I bought it.
There is a bit more info in Post #1 of this thread.
I had the vehicle inspected by a LR specialist soon after buying it, and attended to everything that they pointed out. Only exception was that I did not get the head gasket replaced, despite dire warnings about the likelihood of it failing, because a teekay test showed that there was no exhaust gas getting into coolant. I was not willing to spend $6,000 on having it replaced solely as a precaution.
I spent 5 months doing work on the car, and $5,500 on other things before I set off from Perth for the Gibb River Road trip. New radiator hoses, coolant, water pump, water-level monitor, fuel pump, fuel filter, oil filters, air filter, auto trans filter and oil, rear flexible drive-shaft coupling.
Regards, Andrew

Andrew I don't have to ask who was doing the work when I see what you have written.
It tends to be his standard advice and cost to anyone with a TD5.

Just curious why the previous owner sold it

Andrew, was the car using water and if so how much?
Regards Philip A

I would be glad I hadn't spent $6000 on this one after the bottom end failure

Originally Posted by PhilipA

Andrew, was the car using water and if so how much?
Regards Philip A

Hi Philip,
In the few months before I started out for the Gibb River Road trip, I noticed a few minor coolant leaks. Having heard a lot about head-gasket failure in the TD5, I was very wary of such leaks. That is why I had the coolant "teekay" tested, and new radiator hoses, water pump, coolant, and low-coolant alarm fitted before leaving. The vehicle showed no coolant loss at all during the month or more before I left, and none right up to the big-end bearing disaster.
After that occurred, I checked and found no coolant loss, no oil in coolant, no milkiness or frothing in engine oil. The low-coolant alarm did not go off. No shortage of engine oil, no big increase in oil level.
What are you thinking?
Cheers, Andrew

What are you thinking?

Well IMHO something is /was different in the cylinder where the big end bearing died.
This could be a leaking injector seal which filled the cylinder to the extent that when started it caused either a much higher compression , that rammed into the bearing, but maybe not enough to bend the rod or cause hydraulic lock.

Maybe an alternative was that the head gasket was leaking and water entering the cylinder when shut down, but that doesn't seem to be the case from what you report.
Regards Philip A.

Originally Posted by AndrewMilne

Hi Frank,
I went back to the workshop today, to have oil & filters changed, plus re-tensioning of bolts after 1000 km since the engine re-build. They still have the old block and the bearing shells, so I got the shells and took some photos.
The pics are attached.
Mechanic who worked on the rebuild agreed with me that the con-rod of the affected piston (No.3) looks straight.
Also said the oil-pump bolt in my engine had not come loose.
He suggested that maybe the injector in that cylinder was not working properly, causing the piston not to be "loaded" properly, as he put it. This might mean he knows that, or it might just be an idea.
In reality, I now doubt that I will (or can) ever really know what the cause was. Needless to say, that's pretty unsatisfactory!


Cheers, Andrew

Andrew, I still believe that #3 con rod is out of whack, those bearings have been spinning in the big end of the rod, there are no locating tangs left on the bearings.
This is caused by a number of defects, 1 the cap bolts were not torqued correctly or have stretched, 2 big end bore not round or oval shaped, or 3 twisted rod, Regards Frank.