4.4 V8 cold rattle

Hi, I have been asked by my Bro-in-law to see if I can help him get a decent nights sleep again. (He is not comfortable with the computer age)

He recently bought a nice '04 ex-police Range Rover 4.4 V8 with less than 40k miles on the clock (yes, we were suspicious at first too). However, he is worried about a 'tappety' type rattling from the engine on cold start up. It seems to go when the oil gets around the engine a bit.

Is this normal, or is he right to be laying awake?

Advice appreciated.

I would be most surprised if that was genuine mileage. Police forces usually release vehicles to market with very high mileages, but with comprehensive service/repair records as compensation.

Think about it, three shifts per day will drive each car 24/7, and for that to be genuine mileage - 40k divided by 6 years = 6.6k per annum, or 18 miles (18 x 365) a day. Now, by my reckoning that ain't right unless that was owned by Trumpton Constabulary.

Write to the Police Authority who sold it, they won't mind, they may even provide you with service info if yours is missing.

As far as the noise is concerned, check the engine oil/filter, replace for peace of mind and get the right oil for this time of year. My 4.6 96' with 97k miles can sometimes be a little noisy these cold mornings, but so long as the noise abates with oil pressure I wouldn't worry.

More knowledgeable members may be able to offer more advice.

most cop cars have 120k+ when sold. you may be lucky and a ex-driver training car with less on.

The police have money to burn, they probably wanted a new X5 but had to keep the old P38 until it had passed it's sell by date. They certainly sold a lot of Pan European bikes unused at a fraction of the purchase price because of alleged handling problems, then proceeded to buy more new ones.

We were pretty suspicious to say the least but the dealer had supporting service paperwork. He reckoned it was ex-royal protection! It is fairly basic by Range Rover standards and you can just make out where the decals were but no evidence of lights etc. And a bit of butchery inside. It looked like a car that had been got in and out of a fair bit, but no real evidence to show higher mileage.

I wouldn't have thought the noise was too much to worry about as it goes quite quickly. My Subaru is the same I think. We just wondered if anyone else had noticed it. I think when you've pushed yourself to the limit financialy, you start to sh*t yourself a bit about something big going bang!

He's planning an oil and filter change soon anyway, so that might improve things I guess.

VANOS rattle on start-up is very common (& non-destructive) on the M62 engine. Just try a search on any BMW forum for more info.

....and remember if it has been serviced with cheap fleet oil (probably) and if it IS a genuine low mileage car then the oil most likely won't have been changed often. Do that first and get a proper history from the previous owner.

There is of course the possibility that if it was a protection car then there would have been a lot of sitting idling or crawling around at low speeds which is never good for a top end and could encourage a rattle to develop.

See how he does with a decent oil change first.

Some good points raised there. Thanks very much.

First thing to try is change the oil and filter after you give the engine a good flushing. Flushing is the important bit to do.

Had a similar problem with a 2004 V8 that had only 32,000 on the clock - seriously doubted that there was a problem with the engine but after flushing the engine the knocking has gone.

The problem was a knocking when starting from cold that would go after about a second. Had to have been something causing a blockage somewhere it's been fine ever since.

Datatek said:

The police have money to burn, they probably wanted a new X5 but had to keep the old P38 until it had passed it's sell by date. They certainly sold a lot of Pan European bikes unused at a fraction of the purchase price because of alleged handling problems, then proceeded to buy more new ones.

Click to expand...

Don't think they were P38 in 2004, none of them had the 4.4 engine anyway. The Pan Euro bike from about the same age had a recognised handling problem at 90 mph which was the cause of many police accidents then and, correct, a lot of the model from around then were sold off with low or no mileage. Honda did sort the problem but by then Yamaha came along and sneaked in the new FJs which have become a popular choice.

hippolover said:

Don't think they were P38 in 2004, none of them had the 4.4 engine anyway. The Pan Euro bike from about the same age had a recognised handling problem at 90 mph which was the cause of many police accidents then and, correct, a lot of the model from around then were sold off with low or no mileage. Honda did sort the problem but by then Yamaha came along and sneaked in the new FJs which have become a popular choice.

Click to expand...

Yes, the problem was diagnosed as exess weight in the panniers and top box. Good idea sell the bikes unused for peanuts and buy new ones with lighter kit on the back, no problem, the taxpayer has bottomless pockets. Oh and I,ve had a Pan.