Can anyone recommended a good engine reconditioner?

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Danws4

New member
Hi all,

I find myself with a paperweight F-Type at the moment, due to a low oil level now causing a bottom end rod knock.

Gutted to say the least, as it was completely unexpected, and appears to be as a combined result of the engine pushing oil past the rings on a recent track day (no smoke or visual evidence of oil burning), coupled with Jag's reluctance to install a low oil level warning! (this I have only just become acutely aware of following discussions with engine rebuilders!)

It's been 2 weeks since the failure and many calls to various engine reconditioning companies, and I'm still no nearer making a decision as to where to send the car to get the engine pulled and internally refreshed.

Knowing the rebuild costs start at £5k, and only head upwards quickly depending on who you choose, and the fact that I've never required these type of services before, I'd love to hear from any of the UK based fraternity who've had similar experience and found reliable and trusted businesses to undertake the whole project of rebuilding the engine.

I would stress that I'm after MY engine to be removed and rebuilt, and not just the lump swapped out, as I want to retain the originality of the car, and also knowing the reconditioning work is being carried out in-house gives me a greater level of confidence in their capabilities, and understanding of these complex engines.

As these specialist services are not that common, I appreciate the list may be very small, and wide ranging in locality, but 1st hand experience recommendations is what I'm really looking for rather than being solely reliant on google reviews or worse still, their own website reviews!
 
I would certainly give Tom Lenthall a call and have a. chat to Adam or Tom.

They will be able to advise on potential costs and recommend the right way to go about this.

https://www.tomlenthall.co.uk/about
 
Hi there,

Just thought i'd drop back into the chat to provide an update as to progress / resolution that I've come to in the pursuit of getting my car back on the road.

Having sent many enquiries to companies proclaiming to be specialists in reconditioning & rebuilding of JLR product engines, I collated the following information for analysis.

I received 6 quotes loosely based on or around £5k, but when interrogated, these quotes appeared to be essentially labour only, with minimal parts replaced, (as much as possible re-used in the original state, or reconditioned / swapped out for reconditioned items), and many caveats placed upon the customer such like any new parts identified / required as a result of the strip down process to be added to the 5k, customer to return vehicle to them for 500 mile oil change, and again at 1000 mile for a second oil change, and then all subsequent services to be undertaken at a VAT registered garage etc etc all to fulfil a 6k / 6 month, or at best 12k / 12 month warranty.
Also of note with all of the comapnies above, their first preference was to pull and swap the engine out rather than recondition the one that was in the car (something I specifically wished to avoid), this as far as I could tell, was only to serve their benefit as it reduced down time for their technicians.
With these companies, I have no idea if they undertook any engine refurbishment work in-house, or if it was all just farmed out somewhere else, as their websites didn't detail any machinery to undertake such refurbishment works, just lots of photos of cars on ramps with their engines pulled out
Also, all of these companies had no real trading history (the longest established was just over 2 years, the rest were between 12-18 months, and none of them had any financial collateral in the bank acording to the latest HMRC filings (if filings had ever been made!)

There were a couple of quotes around £7k, but again upon further scrutiny just showed themselves as the above sceario, just with a higher starting point cost!

I had 2 quotes at £8.5 & £9K respectively, and a couple well in excess at £12k and £13.5k!

In all honesty, I never explored the full ins & outs of the highest 2 quotes as they were well above any budget I'd got in mind, and I'd already received some very good feedback on the companies offering at £8.5k & £9k.

The £8.5k offer was from NWS Services In Whitchurch, Shropshire. Their online presence is very encouraging, and they have 150+ 5* Trustpilot reviews. They clearly specialise in the diesel models as their primary work, but also had reference to the petrol engines in the JLR range. They explicitly included for new pistons, conrods, engine bearings, oil pump, timing chain kit, head gaskets, and all engine seals.
All other items such as cams etc would be assessed and reused / reground on a primary inspection basis.
Crankshaft was specifically labelled as an additional £1k if found to be snapped / unserviceable
Their estimated turn around time was 5 weeks from receipt of vehicle, and their forward order book at the time of enquiry (Mid August) stretched 7 weeks (earliest opportunity to start was 2nd week of October)
Warranty 12 month / 30k miles. (Oil services required at 500 & 1000 miles, at a VAT registered garage)

The £9k offer was from QP Online in Maidstone. This was a company that didn't appear on any google engine reconditioning searches until pg 6 of the results, but had been recommended by a good friend who's family have spent their lives servicing and maintaining the Land Rover / Range Rover fraternity.
They don't have a website, but rely on word of mouth, and referals using their Facebook page as their primary source of advertisement .This did make me somewhat sceptical of them at first, but once I'd done a little more background reading and wading through their facebook page, it was clear they were a well established and well kitted out business. This was also verified by 2 other independant engine shops who knew of, and worked with QP, and held them in very high regard - all good things to hear to put my mind to rest somewhat.
Their offering was very similar to that of NWS, but includes a new crankshaft regardless of state on inspection.
When I got in contact with them, their planned forward orders were booking into December, but after a bit of further discussion, they offered to take it on board within a week and fit it in within their current schedule, quoting 2-3 weeks to turn around from receipt of the car.
Warranty 12 months unlimited milage (Oil service at 500 & 1000 miles, but unlike all others, they are happy for home mechanics to do the oil servicing so long as the correct fileters and JLR spec fluids are used, and evidenced to them!)

Both NWS and QP have been established 10+ years, and have strong financials to back up their businesses.

With all of the options laid out in a spreeadsheet it really came down to a straight call between NWS and QP, and whilst both offers were very similar in terms of the work planned etc, the differential time frame that QP offered swung it for me.

So, my car landed with them Thursday 11/09/25, and the strip down commenced on Monday 15/09/25!

I'll start a fresh post to detail the full rebuild as it progresses through to completion, hopefully getting the car back in my hands before the end of the month.
 
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