Land Rover Repair: 2004 Land Rover Discovery S, land rover discovery, 2004 land rover discovery

Question
recently bought this car from a trusted dealer. Took it to be state inspected at trusted service station and the mechanic heard a loud knock  when starting the engine cold. He strongly suggested this was a sign of a very serious internal engine problem due to lack of maintenance ( oil changes). Took it back to the dealer who put it up on the rack and has flushed the engine , replaced the oil twice, as well as cleaned the oil pan. Dealer says noise is now gone, and that other mechanic was mistaken because he didn't know Discovery's. Also mentioned something about the Ace Pump working harder than it should and this might have contributed to knocking noise. Based on this limited information, is it possible for you to weigh in with opinion?

Answer
Hi Skip,

if you recently bought the Disco, I suggest you try a LR mechanic with at TESTBOOK diagnostic system, either a LR dealer or independent LR shop near you.  

Was it a LR dealer that you bought it from?

Pay more and have a LR dealership or LR specialized independent shop do a complete check on your engine.  If there are faults, they'll find it (and want to repair this too!!!).  You can simple ask them to do a complete engine diagnostic and mention that a loud knock was heard...once.

IF it was serious, you'd have power loss, more noise, various dashlights (SES, ABS,...)

Once you have a LR expert analyze the engine, and iF the purchase is only recent, you may be able to get some compensation from the 'dealer' you bought the Disco from, should there be any serious repairs required.  Depends on the various 'lemon laws' that are in your area.  Could be that this problem existed BEFORE you purchased the vehicle.

I will say this, most general mechanics can do general repairs on your Disco BUT they will not know the peculiarities of LR's.  For example, I've seen experienced mechanics incorrect feed the serpentine belt - something a LR mechanic knows all too well.  Most won't go into major repairs because they have no idea on how to perform them.

As for the ACE overworking and perhaps causing such a noise, you'd see a warning light on your dash.

Hope this is helpful,

JohnMc