Land Rover Repair: yet another oil pressure issue ..., low oil pressure, head mechanic

Question
Ok I have read a bazillion questions about oil pressure ... so you can copy and paste the answer lol ..

I have a 2003 disco, the oil pressure light comes on at 500rpm, when I go above that it goes away.

I am aware f the TSB, however my vin # is out of the range of the cars affected by this.

The rover dealership replaced the oil sensor. I put that rotella 10w40 oil in and the problem still occurs.

The dealer says that its prob my cam or main bearings. But hes not for sure since there is no knocking. This is word for word what the HEAD MECHANIC SAID at my land rover dealership. "Snip the oil sensor wires and take it to car max and sell it." .. I was like WTF, thanks for wasting 2000 of my dollars to tell me that.

I am hoping it is not my main bearings, I will be taking it to another mechanic (not dealership) to have the oil pan dropped to have a looksly as the bearings.

My main question is ... if it was a main bearing issue, would there be knocking ? The only noise I can here from the engine is like a click ... Sorta sounds like when you take a ball point pin and click it over and over and over ... but i think thats normal ???


Answer
Hi Bobby,

I'm not surprised by the dealers suggestion.  I've heard worse.

I had the main bearing fail on my wife's '06 Saturn and it does make a noise - click that would increase with speed.  Was under warranty and dealer was glad to push the bill to GMC.

As for LR dealers, if they are pricks with customers, imagine what it must be like for them to communicate with head office.  But I digress...

So you are aware of the oil pump problem that has affected many '03 Disco's.  Many '03 owners had their engines blow out and LR was obliged to replace them.  Seems that obligation has been forgotten by LR...if you are having low oil pressure and the LR dealership has told you to pass the problem along to someone else, perhaps you should escalate your dissatisfaction to LRNA head office.

I have read that some owners outside the VIN, like yourself, are having the same trouble.  From what I understand of the problem, how the 4.6 engines were machined and how the oil pump is misaligned(?), if your dealer is advising to hide the trouble, it only proves that it is the one-and-the-same problem within the VIN range.  You should be able to confront LR and have them resolve this for you.

I've seen some photos of the dowels and the recessed holes that may be the cause of the trouble.  A good mechanic may be able to compensate for this with shims but I'm not sure if that would be a long-term fix.  Hence, the reason why LR may have been swapping out those engines.  

Best of luck and let me know how things go...

Regards,
JohnMc