Member Since: 22 Feb 2016
Location: Suffolk
Posts: 271
End of the road D3 Cam chain failure
It looks as if eight years of Disco ownership are coming to an end for me. The car lost power at 70mph on the A303, I managed drive off at the nearest exit but once stopped, although it would start it wasn’t capable of moving. AA towed me to a safe spot and upon looking down the oil filler neck the camshaft bearing cap that you can see is missing a bolt. I am therefore assuming that the r/h cam chain has failed.
125,000 miles doesn’t seem very high for that sort of failure to me. The general condition of the car, an SE manual, means that I probably won’t attempt to repair it.Simon.
2008MY Dicovery 3 TDV6 SE Manual
12th Mar 2024 8:13 am
Pete K
Member Since: 15 Jan 2016
Location: GL
Posts: 10678
If you’re mechanically minded and on the tools, it’s not to difficult to whack a secondhand head in the right side.
Cam belt has to come off though.
A new chain is about £100 alone
12th Mar 2024 9:04 am
PROFSR G
Member Since: 06 Mar 2017
Location: Lost
Posts: 5043
Not unheard of but it's low mileage for a cam chain to snap, (broken sprocket??) I see you have done the oil pump upgrade so that rules that out.
As said, if it's just the cam chain and you can do it yourself the cost will be minimal. Personally, at that mileage I'd consider it worth repairing. If it is a snapped chain you'll need to do the cam chain and tensioner on the other side as well. That's tricky with the engine in place to torque the rear cam pulley for the HPFP!
Take the fan off, TB cover, and water pipes and you'll know for sure what lies in front of you.
Best of luck with it, but there's plenty of help on here if you decide to repair it yourself. yµ (idµ - eAµ) ψ=mψ
12th Mar 2024 3:05 pm
Pete K
Member Since: 15 Jan 2016
Location: GL
Posts: 10678
Personally I would just leave the left head alone.
Even getting the cam cover off is no fun at all.
12th Mar 2024 5:52 pm
Jimbob42
Member Since: 23 Mar 2022
Location: Leicester
Posts: 185
Money is on cam pulley. That side is not bad to do. Worth looking.
12th Mar 2024 10:18 pm
darrind
Member Since: 04 Jul 2008
Location: In A World of My Own!
Posts: 2889
Cheap to buy a replacement head - jag one is the same and more plentifulMust stop buying shiny toys....
12th Mar 2024 10:48 pm
jetmech
Member Since: 22 Feb 2016
Location: Suffolk
Posts: 271
I will investigate further, just because I want to know what failed. The engine wasn’t rattling, like a a Peugeot that I owned did before its chain failed.The Disco had 71280 miles on it when I bought it and I have changed the oil and filter every 10K.
It will be a week or so before I can get to it, so be patient.
I was quite impressed by the AA, they attended within 1 hour, when they realised that they couldn’t recover us from Andover to Suffolk in one go they arranged a hire car. Although this all took about 4 hours we were lucky that they had towed us to a nearby garden centre, with a cafe!
Click image to enlarge
Simon.
2008MY Dicovery 3 TDV6 SE Manual
13th Mar 2024 9:27 am
jetmech
Member Since: 22 Feb 2016
Location: Suffolk
Posts: 271
Jimbob42 wrote:
Money is on cam pulley. That side is not bad to do. Worth looking.
Quite correct! The belt is still intact and appears to still be tensioned, but that’s as far as I am going with it.
Why do the pulley’s fail? Does the camshaft seize? This engine is due a belt change and hasn’t been apart for eight years. Only 125,000 miles.
Click image to enlarge
Simon.
2008MY Dicovery 3 TDV6 SE Manual
20th Mar 2024 5:59 pm
rrhool
Member Since: 28 Aug 2014
Location: Norfolk
Posts: 4519
Wrong material choice for the pulley. Sintered powder technology, cheap and quick, but obviously not up to the job.Richard
D3 SE 2007. Triumph 2.5Pi 1973. Ferguson TEA20 1948.
Discovery 2 4.0 ES 2001- Gone
Discovery 1 300Tdi ES '95 - Gone
Range Rover Classic '79 - Gone
20th Mar 2024 6:05 pm
PROFSR G
Member Since: 06 Mar 2017
Location: Lost
Posts: 5043
jetmech wrote:
Jimbob42 wrote:
Money is on cam pulley. That side is not bad to do. Worth looking.
Quite correct! The belt is still intact and appears to still be tensioned, but that’s as far as I am going with it.
Why do the pulley’s fail? Does the camshaft seize? This engine is due a belt change and hasn’t been apart for eight years. Only 125,000 miles.
Click image to enlarge
I had a strong suspicion this would be the outcome, and new OEM pulleys are not easily come by at the moment. (Perhaps the aftermarket ones are better! As rrhool says they're cheap like most of the components on these engines.
You could try and flog it on here as a "fixerupper" alternatively you'll get around 2k from the scrapper. yµ (idµ - eAµ) ψ=mψ
20th Mar 2024 7:18 pm
Jimbob42
Member Since: 23 Mar 2022
Location: Leicester
Posts: 185
It’s not a bad job at all. Just a bit to take off to get head off, but far easier than the opposite side. I’m doing a 90k, full history one at the moment that’s failed. No idea why they fail, wondered if it’s linked to vac pump, but the other side doesn’t fail and that’s driving the hp pump which I would wager has more load on it. As it sits it’s not worth a lot, or you could get a 2nd hand good head, strip and skim then rebuild. Looking around 200 quid in parts, I’ve used genuine plus a head at 100 quid. Labour wise I’d say I’ve spent about hours but I’m very methodical and do things over the top! I’ll run this one myself before putting it up for sale.
20th Mar 2024 10:18 pm
PROFSR G
Member Since: 06 Mar 2017
Location: Lost
Posts: 5043
The other side fails too! yµ (idµ - eAµ) ψ=mψ
20th Mar 2024 10:36 pm
von Horst
Member Since: 27 Dec 2022
Location: aneby
Posts: 127
Car looks in good condition?? worth going for it surely!
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