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Decisions, Decisions please help (2004 RR HSE)

4639 Views 28 Replies 11 Participants Last post by  Weston.Brown, 
W
Hello friends,

I've enjoyed my RR very much, still a classy vehicle even though its almost 11 years old. I'm a decent good DIY er and have done valve cover gaskets, spark plugs, PCV, Alternator, drive belt, various filters and similar maintenance over the past two years of ownership. Currently at 142K mi.

Just completed a 900+ mi road trip to and back from Arkansas and have new, significant issues diagnosed by a trustworthy Land Rover only shop here in Dallas as "The valley gasket and the timing cover both need to be resealed". All this falls under $5k to complete within the next 10 days if I ok it. Attached is the work order.

Honestly, kind of mad at the rover. My 4x4 Eddie Bauer Ford Excursion has literally only had oil changes, brakes and tires and has just 10k less miles than the Rover.

The Rover is in great shape, interior and exterior, all onboard electric functions operate properly - still in really fantastic condition.
?
What would you do in my shoes? Cut losses and sell it (maybe worth 10-12k)? bite the bullet and repair it (leery of this as no suspension work has been done, tans or drivetrain work to speak of and those repairs run 3-5K, too)? Live with it ( just top off every couple of months, deal with a bit of burning oil)?

I guess technically all jobs could be done by ones self but this seems just of of reach of a DIY...

Input here is much appreciated.

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Basque1
Yes it is, what you should do is source the parts on your own. Many times depending on the part I would stay with OEM, but many times you can buy good replacements vs OEM. I don't know if you have a service manual but if you need any pictures or procedures let me know I have a CD with the Service manuals and are very clear and useful for the DIY.
Regards
Lou
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W
Hmm I didn't realize they were different - the mechanic did say they both leak. BUT if the lower are just a super, super slow leak then I guess it would make sense to do the upper gaskets, valley pan and valve covers(again) all together.

OR what if there not leaking at all, just runoff from the uppers??

I do have the rave manual PDF and have printed the related sections off. Total parts from eBay are coming in under $400 I believe.
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D
My motor was filthy. I did JUST the uppers (and valvecover gaskets). I am leak free.
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W
Thanks DDillenger! I have more hope now haha.

rph74's input has me worried - the whole timing chain job is 5-6k - should I really be worried about chain/guides at 142k?

I would really like to think you just had bad luck :(
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R
Weston.Brown said:
Thanks DDillenger! I have more hope now haha.

rph74's input has me worried - the whole timing chain job is 5-6k - should I really be worried about chain/guides at 142k?

I would really like to think you just had bad luck :(
Click to expand...
Well I most certainly had bad luck lol! Until I sold my RR a few months ago I had owned M62 engined vehicles in some fashion since 2003. For years it has been known in the BMW world that timing chain guides were a weak spot. I had never been struck by this issue before. What concerned me most was the lack of warning. I had no rattle at startup, no weird noises, and I even proactively replaced my main timing chain tensioner!

I'm not sure how many others here have been affected. But if you are going to pay to have the upper timing cover gaskets replaced, it is worth considering chain guides as well. My local Indy says to expect 150,000 miles from your timing guides on a M62 as a general rule.
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W
bummer bummer bummer a <$400 DIY or 5K indy mech job is basically what I'm up against.
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W
Just came across this: http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?1968769-M62-timing-chain-guide-lifespan

According to this form, they're pushing 200k before timing chain guides. I just did the timing chain tensioner and only have the 1 second rattle on first start up. Going to do the NRV's to see if that quiets it.
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Weston.Brown said:
Just came across this: http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?1968769-M62-timing-chain-guide-lifespan

According to this form, they're pushing 200k before timing chain guides. I just did the timing chain tensioner and only have the 1 second rattle on first start up. Going to do the NRV's to see if that quiets it.
Click to expand...
Many have stated that the pre Vanos (97-98) M62 timing chain guides last longer. Unfortunately for us, the RR had Vanos only. I hope that my case was just bad luck. I'm sure many out there have higher mileage and no problems, but failure is possible. In a way it makes me prefer timing belts for older vehicles, since they were intended to be replaced at a decent ($1000 or less) cost. I wish I had my guides replaced when the shop did my timing cover gaskets, as I would probably still have my RR.
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W
Well rph74, your advise is good but extremely frustrating :). I'm going to do the gaskets for now as a DIY and hope for the best. I'm going to drop the oil pan and see if there are any plastic bits first though.
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