L322 4.2 SC Cranks but No Start

Did someone call ??

biketeacherdave said:

Did someone call ??

Click to expand...

Sorry Dave but don't understand your last post! And I'm quite keen on the PDF of the manual as you will gather from my next post!

OK, firstly an apology for the delay in getting back onto this thread especially to those who have offered help. Well, after a bit of digging around in both the car and the industry here's my latest report ... Oh SH1T!

Let me expand on that summary. The compression tester arrived so cylinder 1, lazy start and 155 PSI ... that's OK. Cylinder 2 ... no reading. Jesus the bloody thing has broken already. Check the instructions (for the first time! ) can't see anything wrong, try again ... no reading. OK, back to cylinder 1 ... 155 PSI! Tester must be good so back to cylinder 2 ... no reading. Move to cylinder 3 ... no reading. Starting to feel confused because I'm not seeing the obvious! Cylinder 4 ... 150 PSI. Got similar readings on the left bank so now I'm thinking either someone tried a repair and just chucked the engine back with pistons missing (doubtful) or they lost a timing chain and just fitted a replacement to see if they could get it to fire and sell it as a "rough runner" ... funny, that's what it was sold as so I'm voting for the latter. So anyway it will need heads off and expect valves to be renewed and machined and timing chain replaced regardless to be safe unless it is new and lots of ancillary extras would probably make sense while the engine is opened up.

I've had a quote from my local Land Rover independent of c.£3,000 subject to "what we find" which seems reasonable compared with quotes I've seen banded around the Internet on various forums but what else might they find and that's just to repair the probable known damage. I won't know if the rest of the engine is OK until after the repair by which time it will be too late to pull out.

I have an alternative but it falls in the category of "too good to be true"! And we know what that means! I've found an reconditioned engine supplier and fitter. They claim to recondition to this spec. ...

"The following works are carried out as part of service provided:

• Engine block thoroughly cleaned & surfaces treated
• Engine block surfaces machined flat
• Tolerances checked on wearable items
• Oil pumps inspected/replaced if necessary
• Cylinder head skimmed or replaced if necessary
• New OEM oil seals installed
• New OEM valve seals installed
• Valve seats machined
• Valve lapped to ensure a tight seal
• Block cylinders inspected for cracks
• New cylinder liners fitted
• Cylinders machined to factory specification
• New upgraded gas nitride ion piston rings fitted
• Connecting rods inspected & machined if necessary
• Crank shaft crack tested, ground & polished to specifications
• New OEM big end bearings fitted
• New OEM main bearings fitted
• New OEM spec Eristic head gasket fitted
• All bolts torqued to specification in accordance with Auto data
• Assembled units oil pressure tested
• Assembled units compression tested"

Which sounds ... too good to be true!

They claim to have been remanufacturing engines for 15 years and have 8,000 sq. ft. workshop in Rainham, Essex (East London) so they are well established (www.nzengines.co.uk/). They collect your car for a reasonable transport fee, the remanufactured engine is fully fitted in exchange for your old engine and you then collect your car or they will deliver it back to you for another reasonable transport fee. The cost for the 4.2 supercharged engine is £2,995.00 plus the transport fees. It does seem like a very good deal but if you know of a competitive alternative please let me know. I can't even justify doing it myself for that cost even though biketeacherdave kindly forwarded a copy of the workshop manual to me. And should I decide to sell it in the near future I will be doing so with a full replacement engine which must up it's value! I would welcome any comments, especially if anyone knows of NZ Engines and can give any feedback on them. Thanks for reading.

firlandsfarm said:

OK, firstly an apology for the delay in getting back onto this thread especially to those who have offered help. Well, after a bit of digging around in both the car and the industry here's my latest report ... Oh SH1T!

Let me expand on that summary. The compression tester arrived so cylinder 1, lazy start and 155 PSI ... that's OK. Cylinder 2 ... no reading. Jesus the bloody thing has broken already. Check the instructions (for the first time! ) can't see anything wrong, try again ... no reading. OK, back to cylinder 1 ... 155 PSI! Tester must be good so back to cylinder 2 ... no reading. Move to cylinder 3 ... no reading. Starting to feel confused because I'm not seeing the obvious! Cylinder 4 ... 150 PSI. Got similar readings on the left bank so now I'm thinking either someone tried a repair and just chucked the engine back with pistons missing (doubtful) or they lost a timing chain and just fitted a replacement to see if they could get it to fire and sell it as a "rough runner" ... funny, that's what it was sold as so I'm voting for the latter. So anyway it will need heads off and expect valves to be renewed and machined and timing chain replaced regardless to be safe unless it is new and lots of ancillary extras would probably make sense while the engine is opened up.

I've had a quote from my local Land Rover independent of c.£3,000 subject to "what we find" which seems reasonable compared with quotes I've seen banded around the Internet on various forums but what else might they find and that's just to repair the probable known damage. I won't know if the rest of the engine is OK until after the repair by which time it will be too late to pull out.

I have an alternative but it falls in the category of "too good to be true"! And we know what that means! I've found an reconditioned engine supplier and fitter. They claim to recondition to this spec. ...

"The following works are carried out as part of service provided:

• Engine block thoroughly cleaned & surfaces treated
• Engine block surfaces machined flat
• Tolerances checked on wearable items
• Oil pumps inspected/replaced if necessary
• Cylinder head skimmed or replaced if necessary
• New OEM oil seals installed
• New OEM valve seals installed
• Valve seats machined
• Valve lapped to ensure a tight seal
• Block cylinders inspected for cracks
• New cylinder liners fitted
• Cylinders machined to factory specification
• New upgraded gas nitride ion piston rings fitted
• Connecting rods inspected & machined if necessary
• Crank shaft crack tested, ground & polished to specifications
• New OEM big end bearings fitted
• New OEM main bearings fitted
• New OEM spec Eristic head gasket fitted
• All bolts torqued to specification in accordance with Auto data
• Assembled units oil pressure tested
• Assembled units compression tested"

Which sounds ... too good to be true!

They claim to have been remanufacturing engines for 15 years and have 8,000 sq. ft. workshop in Rainham, Essex (East London) so they are well established (www.nzengines.co.uk/). They collect your car for a reasonable transport fee, the remanufactured engine is fully fitted in exchange for your old engine and you then collect your car or they will deliver it back to you for another reasonable transport fee. The cost for the 4.2 supercharged engine is £2,995.00 plus the transport fees. It does seem like a very good deal but if you know of a competitive alternative please let me know. I can't even justify doing it myself for that cost even though biketeacherdave kindly forwarded a copy of the workshop manual to me. And should I decide to sell it in the near future I will be doing so with a full replacement engine which must up it's value! I would welcome any comments, especially if anyone knows of NZ Engines and can give any feedback on them. Thanks for reading.

Click to expand...

I'd dig deeper if I was you . This bit is interesting "Incorporated on
28 February 2017"
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/10644002
There's more info out there. Just dig

Also one of the company directors was a director of another enigine company that was registered to the same address in 2017 qand then was dissolved by voluntary strike off the register, then was appointed as a directof of this new 'NZ' company!...

Thanks gold rover and Saint.V8, I didn't think of Companies House, I searched online for any forum type comments of complaint. I think I'll have a word with the AA tomorrow see if they can throw any light on them.

firlandsfarm said:

Sorry Dave but don't understand your last post! And I'm quite keen on the PDF of the manual as you will gather from my next post!

Click to expand...

Someone mentioned me in a post ??

Can I be of help ?? Iv read you latest post I would seriously do a lot more digging on your engine first and avoid that company you have found for an exchange engine

biketeacherdave said:

Someone mentioned me in a post ??

Can I be of help ?? Iv read you latest post I would seriously do a lot more digging on your engine first and avoid that company you have found for an exchange engine

Click to expand...

Hi Dave, what are you suggesting I dig for on the engine? I know it has serious compression problems on 4 cylinders and I would need to remove the heads to dig deeper but if I do that I may as well do the job myself. I am quite capable if I can find a manual to guide me and gain access to the special tools needed. Unless I'm not reading it right the manual you kindly sent me a copy of doesn't really help, it doesn't give "how to" instructions like the Haynes manuals it just confirms "should be like" details. I've looked at RAVE but can't find my engine (2005). The RAVE documents I've seen (in another forum) apply to 2007+. I found a guy on Youtube who did a couple of vids on removing the heads and bookmarked them but when I went back to have another look they were marked as "Private" and not accessible! I have no idea why that should happen.

As I said I will dig deeper into the engine remanufacturer but why do you say "avoid" them? Have you heard bad reports about them? They are only 50 miles/1 hour from me so am thinking of paying them a visit.

Iv defo not forwarded a copy of a manual must have been some one else.
Your compression readings seem to point to a head gasket failure.
I have a Id scan tool I can plug in for you to pull up some codes if that helps

gold rover said:

I'd dig deeper if I was you . This bit is interesting "Incorporated on
28 February 2017"
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/10644002
There's more info out there. Just dig

Click to expand...

Saint.V8 said:

Also one of the company directors was a director of another enigine company that was registered to the same address in 2017 qand then was dissolved by voluntary strike off the register, then was appointed as a directof of this new 'NZ' company!...

Click to expand...

Apparently what happened is that the owner of the older business died and the mechanics that were working for him formed their own business as the deceased did not leave anyone to continue to run it.

I can't find anything factually against the business and there has been no pressure applied to me to do the deal in fact quite the reverse with them claiming they couldn't do it for 3 or 4 weeks. I have also now found another closer to home who have a remanufactured supercharged 4.2 from a 2009 car with a warranted 64,825 miles and comes with an unlimited mileage 12 month warranty. I have asked for more details on the donor car.

biketeacherdave said:

Iv defo not forwarded a copy of a manual must have been some one else.
Your compression readings seem to point to a head gasket failure.
I have a Id scan tool I can plug in for you to pull up some codes if that helps

Click to expand...

Sorry Dave, looks like I was confused by you and ukadamwest (member: 83816) having the same icon pic!

And I apologise but I used a bit of (failing) memory when I brought the compression readings into the thread ... my actual recorded compression readings were ...

F R O N T

LEFT cylinders RIGHT
160 5 - 1 155
127 6 - 2 zero
zero 7 - 3 zero
130 8 - 4 zero

R E A R

Yes it could be head gaskets (both and for one to affect 3 cylinders totally would be unlikely in my mind!). That would mean the previous guy possibly ran with one blown (which got worse) and then the other blew (I don't buy they both blew at the same time). Because the trouble is on both banks I thought timing chain failure would be more likely but I now see each bank has it's own timing chain so having both of them faulty at the same time would be very unlikely (unless it's possible that one actually broke and caused the other to jump) But some cylinders have compression so their valves must be opening and closing! Maybe now I'm thinking that the left bank head gasket could have blown around cylinder 7 and wasn't noticed and then the timing chain for the right bank failed causing loss of compression in cylinders 2, 3 and 4 in the right bank. It's possible! But, then why repair failed timing and not touch the heads! Can't see why someone would do that. Anyway I've ordered a endoscope so I can have a look inside to try and aid diagnoses.

I listed the codes it reported in the OP, nothing seemed to be directly engine related. The codes show ...
U0300(55) ... Internal control module software incompatibility ... ATCM (All Terrain Control Module) not configured ... Configure the module using the approved diagnostic system".
U2023(86) ... seems to be reporting a communication problem with the TCM (sorry but my manual is a little vague on this code).
U0073(88) ... the "Control Module Communication Bus "A" Off" and suggests "Check the control module installation/configuration. Refer to the lost communication statement at the start of the Network Communications section in the workshop manual".

... this was before fitting the new 'super battery' and my partial stripping of the engine. I tried to get revised codes now but all it would say is the fuel pump is not working ... I disconnected the relay before taking compression readings.

I'm expecting to be able to play with the endoscope the weekend after next so will report back then. Thanks for your continued interest, it's becoming like a novel!