Hi everyone, new to the the landy world but got myself a 200tdi discovery, its got real character, its bright yellow, lift kit, poly bushed, winch all the usual mods, its tatty but i love it, just got a 12 monthe ticket on it aswell. She is at 214000 miles and i have put 4000 of those on it. Was driving and it began to smoke more than normal and it ran lumpy so i stopped as oil pressure light flicked on breifly when i stopped. Towed her home for closer inspection. Turbo is fine and oil and water are clean, oil is ****ing through the crank case breather at quite a rate, its smoking through the exhaust, the oil filler cap when off and the crank case breather too, it ticks like a steam train and she smell like one too, been suggested that its probably either piston ring, oil ring or a burnt piston.
Please bear in mind that the truck is only worth about 800 quid at best, I have no intention of getting rid of her either, would you advise chancing a 350 pound engine transplant with no garantees, or take the time to do a partial rebuild myself? she is my daily runner but im lucky enough to have borrowed a car for a month or so. Sorry more banging on bout my life story but im not much of a mechanic and am a bit torn as to what to. any advice welcome, Cheers guys Daz

Its one of those where only you can decide really, I had a 300 for about 5 years but went through 3 different engines and 3 heads in that time with her. I was unlucky only got a year or so out of each before they went on me. However an engine rebuild is not as easy as it sounds if you have little mechanical experience.
I work 4 days making micro chips in a factory and then 4 days usually in a mates Land Rover breakers yard, and from the yard i would say we tend to sell 300 engine within days of them arriving but unless some one is dropping a 200 lump into a series or defender the 200 engine can sit for weeks. So they tend to be very reliable engine much more so then the 300 when they have done a few miles, so engine transplant half a day or engine rebuild doing it after work an hour at a time probably just over a week.
Your choice and i don't envy you it.

ASBO

ive only heard of people replacing 300tdis regulary with poor radiator not cooling all over core surface,which is the reason why 300s overheat and 200s rarely do 200 has better rad fills and enmpties diagonally 300 on same side ,basicall the same engine,i would get second hand one ,ive fitted alot and all have been good although there will be some worn out lumps out there, if you want they are easy to rebuild and rebore would cost £120 ish 4x piston £25 -£30 ish each two sets of bearings £30 and probably £150 for sundries ie core plugs,gasket sets ,cam belt,oil pump .will make a new engine of it and bores are bored and honed to piston clearance size with all rings gapped to specific bores

Thanks guys, apreciate the advice, i have been told today by the guy who used to own the truck that its possibly head gasket, i didnt see how as the oil and water are clean but apparently the same thing happened when he had her and it turned out to be blown on the back of the head, which i prefferable in my book. Will investigate at the weekend and post more info, Thanks again Daz
KEEP ON TRUCKIN'

if the oil light came on you need to check crank bearings.

but i have to say ive stripped and rebuilt engines in the past, but now id go for fitting a used engine. itsbjust so much quicker and less agro , . try to hear it running before its removed or buy from a local scrapyard.

time is always scarce and rebuilding an engine is always more expensive than expected