Diy timing chain

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djkaosone

'11 LR4 HSE LUX 5.0L V8
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Alright... it has begun. The infamous timing chain noise was just getting louder and I've sourced all the parts and tools to do it myself. This will be an ongoing tutorial/experience from my perspective.

If you're doing this it's at you're own risk, and I'll document my experience to help you out.

Find a place to wrench, my garage is it. I wanted to depressurize the fuel system, since I know I'll have to get into the valve covers. To do that, turn off the motor, pop the hood, open the battery cover, open the fuse cover, remove fuse F1, start the vehicle (it will stall out and I did it 3x to be sure).
Disconnect the battery, all of them. I have 2.

Remove the air intake completely, including both L & R air boxes. There's 1 ring clamp around the throttle body and 1 ring clamp on each air box closest to the maf. To remove the air box, gently pull up and towards the engine bay.

Remove the fan. Unclip all hoses on the upper radiator shroud. I used a metal body panel remover for removing all the wire clips. At each end of the shroud on the bottom side, there is a push tab to separate the upper shroud. Once that's out of the way, remove the fan with the GM fan clutch tool. I attached a breaker bar to the wrench and to the piece the stops it from moving. It's reverse treaded, turn right to loosen it. Remove the accessory belt. I used a breaker bar with a 1/2 to 3/4 adapter for more leverage. The book says cut it, but thats up to you.

Remove the lower protection plates. I have a sump guard too. Its just 4 bolts. Also remove the driver's (or left side if your looking from inside) plastic cover. There's a few plastic clips.

Remove all cooling components. Start by draining it. I used a cheap 7qt oil pan to catch the coolant. The lower tube from the left (looking from inside) has a metal clip that needs to be pulled out prior to yanking the pipe off. A good amount of coolant will spray out, let gravity do its thing for 5 minutes. Then pour the coolant into a 5 gallon bucket. Then remove the upper radiator hose from the thermostat and let the coolant drain to the pan below before removing it completely. Remove the water pump. I find it easier to loosen the intake manifold and strap the front of it up with tie down straps to the hood latches. To do this remove the metal fuel line, 17mm compression fittings and 2x torx t30mm bolts. Remove the plugs and pipes to the throttle body. There are 8x 10mm bolts holding the intake manifold, then lift the front of the front of the intake manifold for clearance. Remove the 4x t30 bolts holding the water pump and the pipe to the thermostat. More coolant will spew out. Remove the thermostat. Remove all plugs and wire clips from the thermostat. Remove the lower hose first by removing the metal clip and pull down. I had trouble, but found a genius solution. I used a single paracord and tied constrictor knot around the top side of the lower tube and another constrictor knot on the other side. This leaves a loop hanging just below the bottom of the frame, and i used my breaker bar for leverage on the paracord's loop. The constrictor knots on each side evenly pulls the pipe out of the thermostat. Again, let all of the coolant drain. Remove the only t30 bolt holding the thermostat.

This is where I stopped. To be continued...
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djkaosone

'11 LR4 HSE LUX 5.0L V8
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Update:

I ended up removing the intake manifold since it was more than half way out. There are 2x t30 bolts holding the engine harness that needs to be removed. I separated the throttle body from the intake manifold, because I didn't I was too lazy to separate the tube on the TB from the back of the motor. So, I left it in tact. With age and heat the clip holding the tube to the bottom of the intake manifold is brittle and it broke. Remove the 2 wire clips and a plug on the back of the intake manifold, and it should come right out. Since it's out and my valve stems looks carbonized, I think I'll end up walnut blasting all 8 intake valve ports when I put it back together. But that's another project in its own.

Removing all the injector coils is a pita in itself. Remove the rubber shields on both sides. With the air box out of the way, its super easy to pop them outward towards the fender and slide them forward. Remove all plugs on the coils and injectors. The easy way is to remove the coil plugs is to use a small flathead between the grey clip and plug to slide gently up and towards the wire side. The injector plugs I used a long needle nose plier. Now remove the engine harness loom, there are 4 or 5 clips holding down the plastic engine harness tray. Starting from the front of the engine push down on the clip and pull the harness up at the same time. It gets harder to do towards the rear, but will eventually come out. Remove the 8x t30 bolts holding down the coils and remove the coils. If the coil rubber boot breaks or falls off, gently pull it out with needle nose pliers. Remove the fuel line connector on the right (looking from inside) with a 17mm wrench. Remove the 8x 10mm bolts holding the fuel rail.

This is where I stopped for the night, since the fuel rail wasn't budging. I might have to do my paracord leverage trick again. Once i get them out, I'll ship the injectors out for sonic cleaning and flow testing along with new o-ring replacement.

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djkaosone

'11 LR4 HSE LUX 5.0L V8
Joined
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Posts
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If you like my ingenuity, then you'll love this one. I've been yanking on the fuel rail for 5 mins straight and it doesn't budge. The angle of the injectors and rails is (guessing) about 45* from center. You cannot pull them straight up. I ended up using the same constrictor knot on each end of the fuel rail, injector 1 and 7 on bank 1 or right (looking from inside) side, injector 2 and 8 on the left side. I placed 2x4s at an angle and used a scissor jack to pull the paracord upwards. I know it doesn't make any sense, but look at the pictures. Oops I forgot to take pics of back 2 or the left side. The key to removing it was to clear the engine harness by removing the valve pipes on both valve covers, its a pinch style connector. There will be excess gas spewing out once the fuel rails pop off.

The fuel injectors are pretty tough to get out. I managed to get 1 and 3 out before the fumes got to me. So, that brings up the fact that you should work in a well ventilated area. I just need to crack open the garage door and rear door to keep air flowing.

One thing I noticed is that my injectors are carbonized and fuel spray and flow are horrible just from looking at it. I decided to replace all of them. I'm sure cleaning and flow testing will absolutely fix them, but I really don't want to do this again.

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ryanjl

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Land Rover has a special slide-hammer tool they use to remove the injectors. I saw on eBay once where someone had built a homemade version.
 

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