One night last week only ten weeks after buying a late 2003 TD5 Discovery it ran away with me whilst crossing a temporary narrow bridge which ends in a T junction. Quite scary but managed to slow sufficiently to turn sharp right at the end. Eventually managed to stop the vehicle but turning ignition key off did not stop the engine - I even took out the keys and got out but engine still revving and by now belching thick grey/white smoke from exhaust. Got back in and able stop only by deliberately stalling it.
All the wise men told me that the turbo charger had blown however, after contacting a Landrover specialist repairer I was told that the cylinder head has cracked, apparently not an unknown problem to Land Rover and is caused by a wall within the head which is too thin.
Meanwhile, the car which cost several thousand pounds is in a local car repairers (mainly 4x4s) and I have been advised that the engine and sump was drained of about 5 gallons of diesel. He has attempted to start but it almost immediately stalls. Problem he has now faced me with is does he replace the cylinder head and find that other problems have occurred necessitating a costly engine strip, he said he did suspect a bent con rod, or do we seek a second hand engine which lets face it could go the same way weeks later. Unfortunately, I am going to find it hard to finance this work whatever has to be done.
uke:
