Landrover Discovery 3 (4L V6) - Timing chain tensioner

[Kevin H]

Bit of a long shot, but does anyone know the location of the timing chain hydraulic tensioner on a D3 4.0L V6 (Cologne) engine? (see image of part attached)

[Thor]

Kevin that LOOKS like the one for the LH bank. I think it goes at the front of the cylinder head, from the inside of the the 'V', high up just under the gasket face for the cam cover. I hope the picture attachment works.

[Kevin H]

Originally Posted by Thor

Kevin that LOOKS like the one for the LH bank. I think it goes at the front of the cylinder head, from the inside of the the 'V', high up just under the gasket face for the cam cover.

Thanks JD, you're right! That's where it is. I was looking above the intake manifold, but it's beneath it. It looks like I only have to remove the air intake to get at it. Praying that will cure the rattle. I've already got the timing chain kit in case replacing the tensioner doesn't silence it, but that's a much bigger job!

Best regards,
Kevin

[Thor]

Good luck with that Kevin !

We've never actually seen a Land Rover with that engine here in UK as they weren't sold in Europe (only 2.7 Diesel and 4.4 here at that time).

[Kevin H]

Thor,
Just as an aside, do you know why there is some prevalence for the 3.0L diesel engines in D4 to seize?

A friend here in Melbourne had his seize recently and remarkably Landrover replaced the engine free of charge (I say remarkably because he had done 173,000 km!). He had to pay for the labour but he's very happy and relieved! He believes LR did this because he bought the car new from an authorised dealer and had it serviced by them, on time, religiously. The dealer made a "good will" claim on his behalf.

He now wants to know what he can do to avoid it happening again.

[Thor]

Strictly speaking my knowledge on this particular point is confidential, but loosely, there was a reliability problem with the way the bearing shells were located for the 2.7 and early 3.0 main bearings. The bearing shells can rotate, and then they obviously cut off the oil supply to that bearing and the adjacent crank bearing. Various fixes were tried unsuccessfully, but a revised location system was implemented about 5 years ago, and it has been implemented at the place where the remanufactured engines are done as well, so if you buy a replacement engine from the dealer, whether new or 'recon', it SHOULD have the reliable bearing arrangement. So it is highly unlikely that it will happen again.

[Thor]

If it is the RH one, the cam drive is at the back of the engine. so the tensioner is on the outside of the 'V', again high up at the back of the cylinder head, just under the face of the cam cover.

[Kevin H]

Originally Posted by Thor

If it is the RH one, the cam drive is at the back of the engine. so the tensioner is on the outside of the 'V', again high up at the back of the cylinder head, just under the face of the cam cover.

Already changed that one, very easy apart from following a YouTube video that said to remove the inner wheel arch for access. Turns out it's very easy to do from above the engine!



Thanks for the diagram of the other one. I had looked there but couldn't see it. The diagram below suggests it might be lower down on the RH side of the front of the engine.

[Thor]

Are you looking for a tensioner for the chain which drives the jack shaft ?

If not, the tensioner for the LH bank is definitely as shown in the drawing, high up on the inside of the 'V', front of engine.