Diagnosis not looking good for the engine.....



Driving northbound on the outside lane of the M6 this morning, in flow with traffic doing 70 MPH (+/- 20MPH lol) I noticed what I thought was wheel shake. Felt it through the steering wheel and noticed sun visor which was down shaking, running on smooth motorway tarmac. My first thought was rear wheel weight had come off and it was a tyre balance issue. As I was trying to find the tyre pressure info on the dash menu there was a violent thud, threw me a little in my seat, whilst I was looking around to see what it was I noticed I had no power and car was starting to slow. Looked down at gear selector and it had moved from sport to drive and the D was flashing. I tried to select neutral and it was locked. I did not notice any other warning messages but my priority was to get from lane 3 to hard shoulder safely. Hazards on and lorries dropped back to give me room for hard shoulder. Its as if they new I had a problem before I hit the hazards ?
I hit the hard shoulder free rolling at c50mph. I kept trying throttle but nothing. Remarkably I managed to free roll not only onto the Charnock Richards services slip road but to the end and into a caravan parking bay.

I new in my gut it was something serious, car would not even turn over, I've had two engines implode on me in the past

So a press of the recovery button and I get to compare LR customer services out in comparison to Merc and BMW.

The first bit was fantastic, LR technician turned up within 20 min. Asked me what happened, said I seemed calm, said I've seen it all before. Got his torch out and looked at engine bay, at first he thought a turbo hose may have disconnected but nothing obvious. He checked the electronic oil level, I explained serviced 1 month ago, Oil level was fine. I was then expecting a diagnostic machine to be plugged in but he emerged from his van with a 2 foot socket. He connected it to the engine good old fashioned style and said in technical terms "your engine is fooked", seized solid !

That was it in terms of diagnosis. So onto next stage, recovery. Third party AA which I had to wait an hour for, not too bad and they where very efficient (see pic above, nb rear cover removed as the technician assumed it would be backed on where I had "parked"it).

He dropped me off at work which was on way to the nearest LR dealer c5 miles from my workplace.

Now the "fun" has started. No cars available at dealership so 3rd party hire car. LR discovery ordered for 4.30pm delivered to my workplace. It will do me for a few days as I'm actually thinking of buying one next Jan when SWMBO daily is due for renewal. But I've made it clear to LR that if my car is off the road for more than a few days I expect a like for like replacement. They have confirmed as using a 3rd party hire car they will look to get me into one of their own asap. They would not confirm like for like though so that may be fun camping in the dealership until the manager hands me the keys to his L405 lol (I've done that before at mercedes when I ended up with the principles own S class).

I fear its a new engine job as my experience of these type of warranty issues is that a fairly early stage its cheaper for them to fit a new engine than diagnose/strip/rebuild and ceased engine. I've had the same with an S class after 6 months/15,000 miles and a 7 series Alpina after 13 months / 27,000 miles.

What is it with me and high end cars engines letting go doh! We run 5 L405's in all engines including a long wheelbase SV and not had any problems. I swap into a 12 month old 20,000 miles one and it goes pop in 3 months. ps the car has been in the company from new and the first user doodles around and I don't think has every revved an engine over 4,000 rpm ! Its mint in every respect so hardly abused in a previous life.

Ah well, at least I know the little emergency button actually works

ps they wanted to charge me £50 "fuel" deposit for the 3rd party hire car, erm I don't think so. I'll put in what I get it with you ain't getting a tenner out of me ! They remarkably easily agreed. Really winds me up when they try these things on but I think thats more the hire company than LR (who will get to know me feeling on that little number). So knowing "thrifty" rental pretty well I'll be taking pics of the hire car before I take the keys.

Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated

Which engine is it ?

Glad you got to safety! I would never loan you a car though, what causes so many to go bang ?

It's a 2015 3 litre diesel. I swapped it on 15,000 miles c3 months ago. Now on 24,000 c14 months old and it had its first service c5 weeks ago.

Been given an 800 mile top of range sport to abuse for the estimated 10 to 14 days repair time.

From experience I will never get told what caused it but the car will simply be returned with a new engine.

On the plus side, everyone from the JLR technician, experienced AA recovery driver to dealer ship service manager seemed genuinely surprised to get a totally seized engine.

scary story ....glad you got safely to the hard shoulder/services.. ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
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Glad you got off the motorway ok, I had a engine go on an Escort many years ago and it was quite nerve racking making it to the hard shoulder. Hope LR deal with you ok, seems like they have been fair so far. 2021 L405 Vogue D300
2016 L405 Vogue 3.0TDV6 (Sold)

What dealer is it with?

Another 3.0 demise... getting kind of regular now

Big end seized up presumably

I understood the 3.0's bearing problems were overcome at least by 2013.

Heard that it's a lack of lug on the shells which makes them spin in the cap. Caused by lack of oil change?

This is the third one I heard of other two were similar mileage too??...... if it is in fact the cause?

I dropped my L405 off at a dealer in Lancashire this morning to solve my key issue and the workshop manager told me he had 4 range rovers in and every one needed new engines due to seizing up ! one of which was a sport L494

seems to be a pattern emerging here

It's surprising that these types of failures are not picked up in the long term testing they do on them. Maybe the percentages of failures is so low it is not easy to replicate or, instead of a recall its cheaper overall to run the risk and leave them all out there and just repair the ones that do go pop. Discovery 4 HSE
1998 110 TUM HS FFR Hard Top XD WOLF
1982 Series 3 Hard Top

*Gone:L462 D5 HSE LUX, L663 Defender 110 HSE, Discovery 3 HSE, 2014MY Range Rover Sport 5.0 Supercharged AB Dynamic; L405 Exec Vogue SE 4.4, 5.0 Supercharged Autobiography, Defender TDCi XS CSW, Defender TD5 HT, Vogue SE TDV8, Vogue TD6, RRSport SC 4.2V8, Classic 3.9 Vogue Auto, Land Rover Series 3 SWB

I think if they get enough of them with the same problem then they will have no choice but to recall them but if it is just a small minority then they will just fix those ones and keep quiet .

im just a little concerned about mine now as mine is a 3.0 tdv6 on a late 2013 build but now dreading the mid - late 20 k mark

Mmmmm could be reminiscent of the infamous Porsche 996 / 997.1 engine problems and they way they are dealing with them i.e. Replace engine under warranty, leave owners high and dry after warranty

Anyhow enjoyed driving the sport today, getting to know it a little better. It's definitely sportier off the line and nimbler but no where near as cosseting or as much of an 'occasion' as the FF. I guess that's how it should be comparing a "sport" to a FF and to a large degree some of that is subjective in terms of how it makes you feel. It is sadly definatetly not as well put together as my FF, quite a few creaks and niggling noises from the trim, mainly rear wards of the driver. I actually had to check the rear seats where secured correctly and seat belts not rubbing anything, but it's a step up from the previous sport built quality lol.

Is the FF worth 50% more, probably not in lots of ways but as is usual you pay more of a premium for smaller increments as the luxury scale increases

andy2577 wrote:

I think if they get enough of them with the same problem then they will have no choice but to recall them but if it is just a small minority then they will just fix those ones and keep quiet .

They never did with the P38 & the Porous issues though sir And that was no “small issue"