Well, that sucks. The show must go on...(long story)

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Daveykid

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So, I take the LR4 (2015 3L SC) into the dealer for replacement of the timing chain and related hardware (pulleys, guides, tensioners, etc...) as the engine is approaching 80K miles and since I bought the vehicle I was getting a touch of rattle on start up and I do believe in preventative maintenance, especially in this case, and I get a text from my advisor that says "can the tech give you a call?" That's never good. I also had a very small oil leak but I figured when he was in there he could find it and fix that too. Tech tells me while he was disassembling everything he thinks he found the source of the rattle. I was writing everything down fast so I might not be 100% accurate in the recreation of his explanation but he said one of the chain guides is held in place by three bolts (upper I think?) and he said the first bolt was secure, the second bolt was stripped out and loose just sitting in the hole and the third bolt head was snapped off and the thread portion was stuck in and he would have to tap it out and rethread. He said thank God that second bolt never fell out or else you would have had catastrophic failure. He also thinks the rattle was because the chain didn't have the proper amount of tension and even perhaps that bolt might have caused that sound. I know the coolant pipes were replaced prior to my ownership and his opinion is that a ham-****** tech elsewhere (FL dealer, not mine) over-torqued the bolts and didn't really care. So, I thought good, at least it's a simple fix. Nope, still have to replace the chain and all the other components because he's afraid the chain may have stretched. On top of that I told them while they are in there to replace the water pump and the VVT's as I don't want to open the front end up again. So, he's ready to put everything back together and he discovers problem #2.

Problem #2 is he found a hairline crack in the passenger side cylinder head and remnants of RTV all around it. My assumption is the coolant pipes caused an obvious overheat issue and while it probably didn't warp the head, it actually cracked it. Over time the RTV lost its sealing properties and he said that was the source of the slight oil leak. He believes the previous owner probably didn't want to pay for the repair and had the dealer do a quick fix. That quick fix lasted about 10K miles...my ownership. The previous dealer did admit to replacing the coolant pipes but that's all they would admit to. So I find a used one with a 30 day warranty but yup, you guessed it, the dealer can't/won't install a used part. I do get that. He said he could RTV it as well if I intended to flip the truck. My third option is to buy a new head from JLR and they would sell it to me at their cost. Of course everything is all apart right now so it made no sense to have him button everything back up, buy the used head and have an indy shop do it for me only for me to incur all those labor charges a second time. I opted for #3 since I intend to keep the truck and it is otherwise in great shape. Incidentally, their cost for the head versus what they would sell it for is roughly 50%. Unreal.

This should be one doozy of a bill.
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ryanjl

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he said one of the chain guides is held in place by three bolts (upper I think?) and he said the first bolt was secure, the second bolt was stripped out and loose just sitting in the hole and the third bolt head was snapped off and the thread portion was stuck in and he would have to tap it out and rethread. He said thank God that second bolt never fell out or else you would have had catastrophic failure. He also thinks the rattle was because the chain didn't have the proper amount of tension and even perhaps that bolt might have caused that sound. I know the coolant pipes were replaced prior to my ownership and his opinion is that a ham-****** tech elsewhere (FL dealer, not mine) over-torqued the bolts and didn't really care.

They wouldn't have messed with the chain guide bolts when they replaced the coolant pipes. Coolant pipes are on the exterior of the engine; chain stuff is inside the front.
 

Daveykid

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There are some shananingans going on here it seems.
I don't disagree, however I personally know my service tech and he would not lie to me. Something happened before my ownership but I guess I'll never know.
 

Daveykid

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They wouldn't have messed with the chain guide bolts when they replaced the coolant pipes. Coolant pipes are on the exterior of the engine; chain stuff is inside the front.
The cracking of the coolant pipes would have caused overheating which in turn might have caused a warped head or even a cracked head. The previous dealer was clearly in the motor, perhaps to fix the oil leak I was experiencing as a result of the cracked head and all they did was throw some RTV on it. The other dealer clearly did a quick fix to it. Wouldn't they have to take the chain and related hardware (guides/pulleys, etc...) off in order to remove and/or fix the head?
 

ryanjl

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Maybe, that I don't know. Guess I misunderstood what you meant in my quoted portion.

Seems like the previous owner gave the previous dealer the "aint got no money" directive, and the previous dealer threw it all back together as quick as they could, quality be damned.

At least by getting all this stuff done you'll have some peace of mind.
 

avslash

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Fire up the welder.

The head is likely weldable, and on the completely stripped/floating tensioner bolt, I would want that filled and then redrilled and tapped. Not tapped oversize. The dealer might not be able to do it, but there are shops out there that can.
 

Daveykid

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Maybe, that I don't know. Guess I misunderstood what you meant in my quoted portion.

Seems like the previous owner gave the previous dealer the "aint got no money" directive, and the previous dealer threw it all back together as quick as they could, quality be damned.

At least by getting all this stuff done you'll have some peace of mind.
Agreed.
 

Daveykid

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Fire up the welder.

The head is likely weldable, and on the completely stripped/floating tensioner bolt, I would want that filled and then redrilled and tapped. Not tapped oversize. The dealer might not be able to do it, but there are shops out there that can.
I did have that conversation with them and the dealer won't weld it, let alone its aluminum. You know how dealers are. It's a new part or nothing. The problem is the car is all apart and they would have to put it all together again for me to take it to an independent shop to incur those charges to break it all down again for them to weld it. Then it has to be broken down again for the dealer to finish the work since an indy shop that might weld it isn't necessarily an LR shop. In the end it's not worth it.
 

Nechaken

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I did have that conversation with them and the dealer won't weld it, let alone its aluminum. You know how dealers are. It's a new part or nothing. The problem is the car is all apart and they would have to put it all together again for me to take it to an independent shop to incur those charges to break it all down again for them to weld it. Then it has to be broken down again for the dealer to finish the work since an indy shop that might weld it isn't necessarily an LR shop. In the end it's not worth it.

I don't have any useful input on welding vs replacing, etc, but if its a matter of just physically transporting the car somewhere else, is it not possible to put the parts in a box or two in the back, and have it flatbed'ed to another shop or welder ? I assume the body hasn't been lifted off the frame ?
 

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