2003 1.8 petrol using lots of oil and smoking when pullind away

2003 1.8 petrol using lots of oil and smoking when pullind away.
Hi guys. In despair with my beloved freelander!!

About a month ago got stuck on the M1 for 4 hours crawling along in 30 degree heat. When finally got moving the car decided to give a little cough and then lost power. Only managing to get 70 down hill.

Took car to garage and after they changed a sensor, plugs they found the cat was knackerd. £650 !!! later and the car was running fine again.

However, now at random times white/grey smoke bellows from exhaust when pulling away from stationary. Also the oil needs topping up regular.

There is no power loss but the exhaust smells very rich !!!

If there is anyone who has had this fault or has any ideas where to start I would be most grateful.

Many thanks.

do you loose any water/ coolant

Burning oil is probably what knackered the cat in the first place. Manufactures advise against running an engine that is misfiring to stop excess oil/fuel contamination in the cat matrix.

Take of the oil filler can and look on the underside for white gunge. When coolant and oil mix, a white emulsion is produced.

Does the car overheat at all?

Vertuas said:

Burning oil is probably what knackered the cat in the first place. Manufactures advise against running an engine that is misfiring to stop excess oil/fuel contamination in the cat matrix.

Take of the oil filler can and look on the underside for white gunge. When coolant and oil mix, a white emulsion is produced.

Does the car overheat at all?

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not on the K series 1.8!

overheating does not show on the temp guage and coolant loss usually does not create mayonaise either..

Hi matt,

I am not loosing any water/coolant. just have to keep topping oil up.

Hi Vertuas,

I have checked the oil filler cap and the dipstick. no sign of any white stuff or a change in oil colour.
car does get hot but temp gauge never moves off half way.

See if your not loosing water and just oil I would expect it to be a blue smoke white smoke to me normally means water

If its oil tho and ur burning oil it could be rings or valve seals or possible hg

is it insured? Then drive to a green lane and burn it.

Does it leave anything on the ground over night ?

Ill be honest, i'm only seeing the smoke as i'm driving off, so could possibly be blue-ish.

How difficult is it to change piston rings ?

swingy said:

Ill be honest, i'm only seeing the smoke as i'm driving off, so could possibly be blue-ish.

How difficult is it to change piston rings ?

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You ever seen a motor rebuilt? or done one yourself?

It doesn't leave any deposits over night and no visible oil leak.

I've never rebuilt an engine but pretty competent around a car. Have a Haynes bible and a father in law who's been taking cars to bits for years.

swingy said:

I've never rebuilt an engine but pretty competent around a car. Have a Haynes bible and a father in law who's been taking cars to bits for years.

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1.8 k series is a little different to engines you may be used to ,you buy new liners and piston kits

jamesmartin said:

1.8 k series is a little different to engines you may be used to ,you buy new liners and piston kits

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Cheapest ring set I've seen recently was £90 add on the cost a a gasket kit and head bolts and its getting into the realms of a second hand engine which may or may not be better or worse than your engine. Liner and piston kit x 4 even for cheap EBay stuff is £180 -200 plus the other bits to nail it back up and shims for the liners etc time and so on, a recon engine sounds the better deal . I would guess the garage have treated the outcome(new cat) and not the cause of the problem

I have a good, low mileage K-Series for sale, if you are interested. 68k miles, and runs well. No coolant loss, or oil loss

How many miles is in the engine? Has it skipped oil changes? The K series doesn't generally suffer bore/piston wear. Is the correct grade of oilIin it? It should be quality 10/40 semi synthetic. The valve guide oil seals can harden with age/skipped oil changes. It's also worth checking the breathers are clear.

Hi Guys,

The garage just replaced the cat and said everything was ok on the diagnostics .
It may have missed a couple of oil changes but I've always used a fully synthetic oil as recommended.
I have already had a new engine after 45000, hgf ! This one has done about 65000.

Id try a new oil first. My old vw corrado was burning oil so stuck in some 15w50 and its been fine for a few years now.What about a bottle of stop smoke ?

swingy said:

Hi Guys,

The garage just replaced the cat and said everything was ok on the diagnostics .
It may have missed a couple of oil changes but I've always used a fully synthetic oil as recommended.
I have already had a new engine after 45000, hgf ! This one has done about 65000.

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If the new engine came from a reputable builder or Land Rover it's unlikely to suffer bore/ piston wear. I'd be looking at breathers blocked. How much oil does it use? All K series 4 pot engine vehicle's I've used generally go from max to min on the dip stick in 12, ,000 miles. Oddly the KV6 engines never uses any oil at all? However all engines will use a bit, more so if used at high engine speeds.
Manufacturers generally list acceptable oil consumption figures.