I just put a newer 2.4 diesel in my Land Rover after the old one started making noise and was beginning to get VERY hard to start especially in the cold. I decided to pull the old one apart and see if I could find what was wrong. I don’t have the head off yet and I expect to find a bad head gasket as this engine got pretty hot a few years ago, but I did see that the timing chain was loose enough to wear a hole through the bottom of the upper oil pan! The chain was replaced about 30k ago so I wasn’t expecting this. Could the chain tensioner have gone bad?

I didn’t realize how bad this was running until I heard the new one. Even with the noise and the hard starting, it still had almost as much power as this newer one does!

How often do you guys change these chains? The new engine has 67k on it now and I’m assuming it’s never been changed.

Thanks for any input.

Jim

It does sound like you had a bad tensioner. A MB chain should last the life of the engine, or at least 200k miles. The chain rubbing on the upper pan sounds loose to me.

__________________
'83 240D with 617.952 and 2.88
'01 VW Beetle TDI
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD
'89 Toyota 4x4, needs 2L-T
'78 280Z with L28ET - 12.86@110
Oil Burner Kartel #35

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b1...oD/bioclip.jpg

The chain should last a long time, at the very least 150k, I think some have gone 300k plus on well maintained engines. Sounds like the tensioner probably went bad for that to be happening. If you don't want that old engine I'd be willing to take it off your hands.

__________________
1985 300D Turbo ~225k
2000 F350 (Powerstroke) 4X4, SWB, CC, SRW, 6spd ~148k
1999 International 4900, DT466e (250hp/660 ft/lbs), Allison MD3060 ~73k

I'm going to keep the head and some of the smaller stuff but if you want the bottom end, it's together and going to the dump. It's in CT. Come and get it!

Let me know

jim
pbs@mohawk.net

what engine is it?

__________________
'82 300SD - 361K mi - "Blue"

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

listen, look, .........and duck.

'81 240d
616.912

bummer, I have a 617.951 Hope you find someone here who can use it!

__________________
'82 300SD - 361K mi - "Blue"

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

listen, look, .........and duck.

Did the Land Rover come from the factory with the 2.4 or was that a retrofit?

The idea of a Land Rover with with a MB diesel is tickling my fancy right about now.

OK, I am looking here:
http://mercedesrover.freeservers.com/

Did you keep a template for that adapter plate?

Edit: removed link to picture of adapter plate, host site complained about external link, sorry.

No, it's something I dreamt up a few years ago though I'm not the only one. I've heard of a couple others around here and there and I here there's one in Westchester County N.Y. that's an import from Belgium.

That engine in the Rover is perfect. Great torque and engine hold-back offroad, great fuel economy and very reliable as I need not remind you guys on this board.

That website is a freebie one that I put together a few years ago. There's another that I'm working on and should be complete before too long. Check it out: SeriesTrek

And no, I never did draw up the plans for that adapter. There are people emailing me all the time looking for plans but I've never gotten around to putting it on paper. Some day when I have the time....right?

Anyway, yes, it's a great motor in my truck. The new one runs GREAT and it reminds me why I did this in the first place!

Thanks and have fun!

jim

Thanks for those links, that is a great project. Building the Land Rover and then using it for some trips that most people only dream of.

I got a kick out of the picture of the Rover sitting on the steps on Bear Pass. I just posted a picture today a little further down on a switchback.

Getting the transmission shaft aligned with the pilot bearing is the part of the adapter plate that I am not clear on. Did you have to figure this out as you went or did you find some techniques and guidance to help you?

Yeah, it's a really fun truck and reliable to the ends of the earth.

Great shot of Black Bear. Is that you in a rental Jeep? Most of those rental agencies don't let you do Black Bear though I guess once you're in 'em, who would know. I did that trail in 2000 with that truck and tried to do it again last year in my Range Rover but there was a rock slide that year and on top of that, was covered with a foot of snow September 4th when I was there!

Getting everything lined up for that adapter wasn't as big a deal as you'd think. Both the Rover and the Benz have a plate between the engine and the transmission and using them as a template, the plate was made in one shot on a Bridgport. Both are circular and almost the same diameter at the tranny so it wasn't that bad. There was also the pilot bushing that had to be made, engine mounts and I had to do some serious mods to the oil filter housing.

Anyway, thanks for the interest.

jim

That wasn't a rental, we take a Jeep with us when we go out of town for any length of time. Many of the places we like to go have no pavement.

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It took a while but I figured out one way to fabricate an adapter plate. Make four templates. One for the engine bolt-holes with a loose hole for the shaft, one for the bell-housing bolt holes with a loose hole for the shaft ( OE plates may work ), and two that fit the shaft diameter. Fit the plate to the bell housing bolts and drop one of the shaft plates over the shaft. Ensure that the shaft is perpendicular to the plates and fasten them together. Do the same for the engine plate using a dummy shaft. Now you have two plates with bolt holes and shaft holes lined up correctly. Put the two plates together so that the shaft holes are aligned and fasten them together. Now you have one plate with all of the holes correctly aligned, use it as a template for the final adapter plate. Tada. What do I win?