300tdi loosing oil

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velcro

New Member
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My 96 disco is using oil, about a litre every 150 miles and has been doing so consistantly for the last 500 miles or so (since i got it).
It still drives fine and still only smokes when pulling away at low revs or when flooring it (and even then not too badly). It is not leaking any oil on my drive, even after a full days laning.
As i only use it at the weekend for limited milage i'm just putting in cheap oil and living with it for now. EGR has been blanked.

However, I would like to try and resolve this problem but not really sure what the problem is and wondered if anyone could offer any more advise. I have only very limeted knowledge about engines but don't mind getting my hands dirty and having a go.

People i know have suggested that it could be piston rings or /and valve seals. I don;t really fancy stripping the engine down to do the piston rings due to my limeted knowledge (and limited budget if it means a rebuild) so if that is the issue I will probably go down the route of changing the engine (which I am prepared to do). However I have been told that valve seals are alot easier to change, so would it be worth trying that alone (I assume valve seals are fairly inexpensive)?

Thanks in advance for the help.
 
Have a look at the two oil cooler hoses. They go from a metal fitting to a rubber hose to another metal fitting and the crimps seem to be a tad weak! Mine both blew within a few miles of each other .. Only small drips when stood, seemed to only leak when driving, so presumably when oil pressure was up and flowing. Took me a while to find them as the oil was blow away and up the engine block and down to the gearbox bottom so it was looking like a fuel pump gasket, rocker cover or gearbox gasket failure, but I couldn't trace it! Soon as I replaced the pipes the engine cleaned up a treat, and stayed clean .. ;)
 
andyb66 said:
To be honest that sounds like a lot of oil to be just the valve guide seals.
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I agree with that aswel, take the turbo pipe off leading to the manafold and see if its full of oil, might be the turbo thats passing oil. If the rings were as bad as you say I would expect a loss of compression in a derv engine and a bit of miss-firing in the morning with a slight missfire as it starts to struggle with burning the fuel untill it warms up and white smoke.
 
I had the intercooler out recently to give it a clean and although there was a few drops of oil in the pipe, there was not much.

Noticed this morning that when i take the oil filler cap off, with the engine running, there does seem to be a bit of pressure coming out if i put my hand over it.
 
velcro said:
I had the intercooler out recently to give it a clean and although there was a few drops of oil in the pipe, there was not much.

Noticed this morning that when i take the oil filler cap off, with the engine running, there does seem to be a bit of pressure coming out if i put my hand over it.
Click to expand...

how many miles has it done ?
 
Can rings be done without removing the engine and will just changing ring/valve seals be ok without re-boring etc?
 
velcro said:
Can rings be done without removing the engine and will just changing ring/valve seals be ok without re-boring etc?
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at that age it might be as well to look at a complete strip and rebuild, you might get away with a refurb head and a new rings set but you'll just be chasing your tail

no need to have the engine out
 
rebore + oversize pistons at £60 each, seals, guides, tools, time, consumables

all mounts up to a tidy sum ........
 
I have found in the past that doing valves and a new set of rings can give good results - and it doesn't cost a lot .
A full rebuild can get expensive as well as being a lot of work .
Depends I suppose on how long you expect to keep the Disco and how much your annual mileage is .
 
dooroy said:
I have found in the past that doing valves and a new set of rings can give good results - and it doesn't cost a lot .
A full rebuild can get expensive as well as being a lot of work .
Depends I suppose on how long you expect to keep the Disco and how much your annual mileage is .
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This is my thought exactly. I only do about 3000 miles a year in the disco as it is just my off roader, not my everyday vehicle. Because it is only my off road toy (with a few battle scars) i dont really want to, and can't afford to throw much money at it.

Perhaps it's worth a gamble just replacing seals/rings. If they are cheap to do it's only really my time that i will be waisting it it does not work. And if it does work then happy days.
 
velcro said:
This is my thought exactly. I only do about 3000 miles a year in the disco as it is just my off roader, not my everyday vehicle. Because it is only my off road toy (with a few battle scars) i dont really want to, and can't afford to throw much money at it.

Perhaps it's worth a gamble just replacing seals/rings. If they are cheap to do it's only really my time that i will be waisting it it does not work. And if it does work then happy days.
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on that basis why not just bung some stop leak/magic engine restorer goo in it and put up with it's thirst for oil
 
velcro said:
This is my thought exactly. I only do about 3000 miles a year in the disco as it is just my off roader, not my everyday vehicle. Because it is only my off road toy (with a few battle scars) i dont really want to, and can't afford to throw much money at it.

Perhaps it's worth a gamble just replacing seals/rings. If they are cheap to do it's only really my time that i will be waisting it it does not work. And if it does work then happy days.
Click to expand...

Its only a few gaskets a set of rings and your time, but remember that the rings are hard as fook and most of the wear is in the bores and the pistons, and that is why there is always a ridge at the top of the bore. New rings will be a bit better springy wise but they wont compensate for the wear. Its a good job if you want to sell the motor tho, lasts for a little while whilst the guarantee runs out.

If its possible then get a set of oversize ones stick one down each of the bores and then file the ends to get the right clearance. I dont know if you can still do that though pistons used to be graded and you selected the best ones for your application. Worth a chat with one of the engine overhaul bods, but he might need a piston to try them on.
 
Sean said:
file the ends of what ?
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When you fit pistons or rings you always take a ring off and push it down the bore with the piston, check the gap in the ring where the two ends meet. There is a measurement for that gap and you then file the ends of the rings to that gap. If they are too tight then they dont sit properly.

Check em at top and bottom of bore, or in the case of worn bores just below the wear ridge. If you get a new ring and do that you can measure the gap with feeler guages and use that as a guide when you go looking for new, bigger ones so they fit nice and tight in the bore.

I dont know how much oversize they come plus 10,20,30 thou, aint done an engine now for a bit, but better than putting standard ones back in to worn bores. Need to get a good quality hone though coz more chance of breaking them in the worn bores, you can get engine build lub, dont use engine oil and they should survive untill they bed in.
 
david451 said:
When you fit pistons or rings you always take a ring off and push it down the bore with the piston, check the gap in the ring where the two ends meet. There is a measurement for that gap and you then file the ends of the rings to that gap. If they are too tight then they dont sit properly.

Check em at top and bottom of bore, or in the case of worn bores just below the wear ridge. If you get a new ring and do that you can measure the gap with feeler guages and use that as a guide when you go looking for new, bigger ones so they fit nice and tight in the bore.

I dont know how much oversize they come plus 10,20,30 thou, aint done an engine now for a bit, but better than putting standard ones back in to worn bores. Need to get a good quality hone though coz more chance of breaking them in the worn bores, you can get engine build lub, dont use engine oil and they should survive untill they bed in.
Click to expand...

thought you were suggesting filing the pistons :)
 
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