I have some unfortunate news to report to the community and wanted to see what others might do. Basically, I had an unknown oil-burning situation in the engine which led to a total engine failure at 65k miles.
For backgorund I am very diligent with car care and have tons of wrenching experience, so dont consider myself a knuckle-head. I've rebuilt engines and restore cars as a hobby. Because of the complexity of the LR4 and a new dealer purchase, I did all scheduled factory service at the dealer under warranty and then switched over to 5-7k mile oil changes (instead of factory 10k interval) at about 40k miles/5 years. In the past, I had some issues with valve covers leaking, some coolant smell which led to fixed crossover and thermostat, all injectors changed before 50k. This was all fixed at the dealer. This time around, my first symptom was a valve type noise under acceleration up hills - sounded like a diesel engine, but would resolve immediately after acceleration. Then it worsened and continued as a very faintly click at idle. After a few calls, all fingers pointed at timing chain. I changed the oil just to be sure before the expensive job and found it was 4 quarts down (out of 8.5). This was at about 5-6k miles from prior change. No lights, no indicators, no blue smoke to my knowledge.. nothing. I changed the PCV valve. I should confess I'd not been religious about checking my oil on the electronic gauge. Anyways, I changed the oil and it made no difference in regards to the noise. On the 5 mile trip to the shop for timing chain, the engine made a horrible grinding sound and shut down before I could get to side of road. Towed ti to the shop. they took off the top end to find the timing chains just fine, but a ton of metal in the oil filter. Therefore, likely a blown engine due to crank bearings, con rod or something else major.
The quoted price all in for a rebuilt engine from this respected shop installed is $24k. $12k for the part, $7k for labor + some odds and ends and tax. Its a body off job.
The truck was a well maintained Texas Landmark with HD package. Best I can tell is that the going price for these is $28-30k, so we're entering the Beyond Economical Repair (BER) zone.
I feel I could do the following:
1. Repair engine
2. Sell to bone-yard for $1100
3. Part out the expensive parts on the for-sale sections
4. Sell as-is to an enthusiast who can use the parts
Just curious what others might do in this situation.
For backgorund I am very diligent with car care and have tons of wrenching experience, so dont consider myself a knuckle-head. I've rebuilt engines and restore cars as a hobby. Because of the complexity of the LR4 and a new dealer purchase, I did all scheduled factory service at the dealer under warranty and then switched over to 5-7k mile oil changes (instead of factory 10k interval) at about 40k miles/5 years. In the past, I had some issues with valve covers leaking, some coolant smell which led to fixed crossover and thermostat, all injectors changed before 50k. This was all fixed at the dealer. This time around, my first symptom was a valve type noise under acceleration up hills - sounded like a diesel engine, but would resolve immediately after acceleration. Then it worsened and continued as a very faintly click at idle. After a few calls, all fingers pointed at timing chain. I changed the oil just to be sure before the expensive job and found it was 4 quarts down (out of 8.5). This was at about 5-6k miles from prior change. No lights, no indicators, no blue smoke to my knowledge.. nothing. I changed the PCV valve. I should confess I'd not been religious about checking my oil on the electronic gauge. Anyways, I changed the oil and it made no difference in regards to the noise. On the 5 mile trip to the shop for timing chain, the engine made a horrible grinding sound and shut down before I could get to side of road. Towed ti to the shop. they took off the top end to find the timing chains just fine, but a ton of metal in the oil filter. Therefore, likely a blown engine due to crank bearings, con rod or something else major.
The quoted price all in for a rebuilt engine from this respected shop installed is $24k. $12k for the part, $7k for labor + some odds and ends and tax. Its a body off job.
The truck was a well maintained Texas Landmark with HD package. Best I can tell is that the going price for these is $28-30k, so we're entering the Beyond Economical Repair (BER) zone.
I feel I could do the following:
1. Repair engine
2. Sell to bone-yard for $1100
3. Part out the expensive parts on the for-sale sections
4. Sell as-is to an enthusiast who can use the parts
Just curious what others might do in this situation.
