Need help!!!! - Land Rover Forums : Land Rover and Range Rover Forum

03Landrover · 11-12-2012, 09:16 PM

Where to begin... Just got my 03 disco about a month ago and nothing but problems so far. I've replaced a doughnut gasket, plugs and wires and a purge valve. Now I'm down to a 3rd cylinder misfire code and the infamous ticking. What's wierd is I poured a can of restore into my crank case to clean the engine out and also cleaned the intake out by adding a can of sea foam into my break booster line and a can into my gas tank. Ran good other than the miss fire and a couple days later I had a loud tick. Not an exhaust leak. It's also trying to over heat on me while sitting in traffic and I neve noticed that before. What should I look at for with these combined symptoms. Any suggestions are much appreciated. Thanks

Bosnian Discovery · 11-13-2012, 05:35 AM

Cylinder misfire + overheating issues typically mean head gasket issues. Are you losing coolant? Is the cooling system bled properly?

Swap your ignition coils and plug wires from one side of the motor to the other, if the misfire jumps to the other bank then you know your problem is with the coil or the wires. If it stays on the same cylinder it's likely the gasket or a valvetrain issue.

Also, I HIGHLY recommend that you avoid throwing additives of any kind into the crank case. Seafoam is a good product to use in the induction system and gas tank (if you use it properly), but Restore has a spotty record. It's typically used in older, high mileage engines to extend useful life by a few thousand miles, but in newer vehicles like our trucks, all it does is clog the oil filter - this may be why you experienced the ticking. Modern engine oils have MORE than enough detergents in them to clean the engine. If the vehicle had regular oil changes using quality oil - the engine is clean.

What could have happened is that the Restore starved your head of oil, the lifter for cylinder 3 collapsed causing your misfire and tick. Switch over to a clean, quality oil (like Rotella T6) and a quality filter (Bosch or Mobil, Fram is JUNK) and see if the tick doesn't go away.

Disco Mike · 11-13-2012, 06:23 AM

Need more information, how many miles on the engine what plug wires and plugs did you use, what are the exact fault codes?
Restore is not a product to clean and engine bit one designed to improve compression by filling the rings and sleeve sctatchs to improve compression.
Tell us more about the tick, when does it happen?

03Landrover · 11-13-2012, 03:19 PM

Update... The coolant issue appears to be fixable. The coolant line that runs from my reservoir to the throttle body was bypassed and ran straight to the lower intake manifold. As for plugs I used auto lite which I am changing to champion and xact wires. I'm a little confused on the motor oil. I looked at shell Rotelli and it Said for diesel engines. What oil and plugs do I need for optimum performance? Thanks again motor has 115,000 by the way

03Landrover · 11-13-2012, 03:27 PM

Also ticking went away today. Do I need to clean oil screen?

03Landrover · 11-13-2012, 04:34 PM

I read that the shell Rotelli 15w/40 synthetic is good but is it for gas engines also? Do I need a thick oil or would 10w/30 high mileage be any good. One more question... Lol would an exhaust leak cause a miss fire if on same side as cylinder?

Disco Mike · 11-14-2012, 04:39 AM

If you are going to change plus, which is good cause auto lite don't work well in our engines, then I would change your wires also, not sure of the brand you installed but you really want to use 8 mm silicone wires like STI's or Magnacors that can withstand the heat in your engine compartment.
The T-6 oil is great to use, you might want to consider flushing your crank case to improve your oil flow.