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You are here: Experts > Home/Garden > Auto Repair > Land Rover Repair > Engine leaks
Expert: John McInnis - 10/31/2009
Question
I have a 2003 Land Rover Discovery SE with 89000 miles and we took it in to the Omaha,NE Land Rover dealership to have a coolant leak fixed at the throttle body. To our surprise, we were welcomed with additional information that we have 3 significant oil leaks. 1st was a transfer case leak estimated at $1325, 2nd was a pinion seal leak at $378 and 3rd was various engine leaks totaling $4800 and all of this taking a total of 37 labor hours. So for a grand total of $7000, is this worth it? Are we going to see this to be a pretty common event? Does this sound like it is a fair assumption on the labor hours?
Answer
Hi Ryan,
I couldn't say if you'd have this problem again in 90,000 miles. I've seen this problem with other '03 Disco's and the work you quoted is on the high side but not by much. I know a fellow owner who had his '03 worked on in Vermont and it except for the Tranfer case, he paid out just over $5000 and that's from an independent LR shop.
There is a great deal of work involved and it is labour intensive. You can try to find an independent LR shop to do the work and it should save you some on the labour.
As for if it is worth it...could you find another 4x4 for $7000 with the same features? 2003 Disco is selling for $12,000 to $15,000 from used car dealers. I hope that this is the last of the big $$$ repairs but ... it is a Land Rover. I once had (back-to-back) repairs of $5000 and $3000 : ruined my opinion of dealers and their service managers. But I digress...
If this is the first big repair since the warranty finished, you should be aware that other components will likely fail and they are expensive to repair - unless you do the repair yourself. Starter motor, MAF, oil pump, CV joints...all can cost over $1000 each or more.
Now's the time to look for an independent LR mechanic.
Best of luck,
JohnMc
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