QuestionHow do you know if the engine is shot for sure. I don't trust the mechanics at my dealership or their workmanship. How do you find a good mechanic that can do a good job with the engine? I am shocked by all of this. I can't imagine purchasing a vehicle where the engine only last for 77,000 miles. Do you have people come from out of town for work on their Land rovers? Should the dealership still have engines available for a 2003 vehicle? Especially if they know the engines are no good in the first place. If they don't want to work on it in the first place they wont do a very good job. I want to keep it but fear that I might have other new problems like I'm hearing.
AnswerPatrice, if you don't trust the dealer, and you want to fix the truck, you are welcome to send it to us at Robison Service in Springfield, MA. We get Rovers shipped from all over for work like this.
As for the engine availability - complete replacement engines are no longer available through the Land Rover dealer parts system. The engine you have will need to be rebuilt, and to to that, the problem of the block cracks and liners needs to be solved. I've written a number of magazine articles on this issue; you can find one here:
http://robisonservice.blogspot.com/2012/09/flanged-or-top-hat-liners-in-land-rov
Here's another story on these engines:
http://robisonservice.blogspot.com/2014/02/blown-head-gaskets-on-land-rover-v8.h
The cost of a rebuild with flanged liners will typically run $11-13,000.
