FINANCING & FAQ

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Land Rover engines can be considered efficient in the 4x4 world. Since the 200Tdi in 1990, Land Rover engines have had decent performance and reliability when compared their predecessors. The engines in later years went through a variety of redesigns due to company buyouts, regulations, and improvements; but the biggest change came with the Td5 - moving away from purely mechanical engines. Most engines in Land Rovers are diesel, due to their better pulling power at lower RPM and better reliability in wading situations. 

Engines used by the British company Land Rover in its 4×4 vehicles have included 4-cylinder petrol engines, and 4-cylinder and 5-cylinder diesel engines. Land Rover have also used various 4-cylinder, V8 engines and V6 engines developed by other companies. Initially the engines used were modified versions of standard Rover car petrol engines, but the need for dedicated in-house units was quickly realized. The first engine in the series was the 2-litre diesel of 1957, and this design was improved, expanded, and modified over several versions, culminating in the 300Tdi of 1994, which ceased production in 2006. Over 1.2 million engines in the series have been built. 

Production of these engines originally took place at Rover's satellite factory (and ex-Bristol Hercules engine plant) at Acocks Green in Birmingham whilst vehicle assembly took place at the main Rover works at Solihull. After Land Rover was created as a distinct division with British Leyland in 1979 production of Rover cars at Solihull ceased in 1982. A new engine assembly line was built in the space vacated by the car lines and engine production started at Solihull in 1983.The engine line at Solihull closed in 2007 when Land Rover began using Ford and Jaguar engines built at Dagenham (diesel engines) and Bridgend (petrol engines).

Years produced: 1998 - 2007

Engine Codes: 10P, 15P and 16P

Layout: 5 cylinder in-line

Power: 122bhp

Torque: 221 lb/ft

Fuel: Diesel

Capacity: 2495cc (2.5 litres)

The five-cylinder 2.5-litre Td5 was the sole survivor of Project Storm, which set out to develop a series of engines in a range of capacities and cylinder configurations. BMW, who purchased Land Rover at the time, favoured its own four- and six-cylinder diesels (seen in Freelander and Range Rover 3), but Discovery’s engine bay was too short for the BMW six-cylinder diesel, so the Td5 went ahead. Current diesel injection supplier, Bosch, had no five-cylinder diesel injection pump available for the new engine, and this led to a unique solution. Land Rover engineers (in conjunction with Lucas) developed their own electronic unit injector system and, unusually, their own engine ECU to manage the fuel injection. 

The new system used rocker-operated plungers in the injectors to pressurise the fuel, eliminating the need for a conventional injection pump. Only after these systems were confirmed, did engine hardware design begin. Storm was initially developed around the old Rover L-series diesel (seen in Freelander 1) using the same cylinder sizes, pistons and conrods. Using a cast iron block and an aluminium cross-flow cylinder head with fuel galleries running through to supply the injectors, the engine was a mix of old and new technologies (the unit injector system having been previously common in large truck engines).  The Td5 used a chain drive for the camshaft and oil pump, and also to drive the additional rocker shaft working the fuel injector plungers. A centrifugal oil filter supplemented the traditional full flow filter by removing fine carbon deposits. This allowed an extended replacement period of 36,000 miles for the flow filter, though the centrifugal unit still needed replacement at each oil change. As Land Rover’s last in-house diesel, and the only engine then available in Defender, it proved a great success after buyers’ initial fears of electronic engine control subsided. The armed forces were never convinced and, through special order, continued with the 300Tdi engine due to the Td5’s relatively complex electronic control and mechanical design.

Some advantages include,

• Land Rover’s best performing diesel so far
• Serious torque at low revs 
• Sounds the way a Defender engine should 
• Ability to stop/start, in gear, on the key on a steep off-road incline 
• Fabulous sound on tickover 
• Smooth and relatively quiet high-speed driving 
• Acceleration matches modern traffic 
• Reliable electronics 
• Super-high mileage is not an issue, internal wear is negligible 
• Plenty of tuning options 
• Historic – Land Rover’s last in-house diesel