55 plate td4 freelander running problems

Hi, new to forum so hi to everybody

looking for help and advice to avoid costly unnessacery repairs!

my freelander has developed a fault with the following symptoms.
1 starting from cold - it will stall the first 3 or 4 times you try to start along and when does start there will be no throttle, so i turn off and try again ant it will start but run lumpy untill the revs pick up, this is accompied by a good cloud of blueish rich smelling smoke.
2 - engine oil level is persistantly high, i change oil (filled to just under max)the and within 2 months it is a good 20mm over the max so i have to drain and repalce again.
3 - extreme hesitation on acceleration and occasional flat spots when driving normally.
i have taken to a local diesel specilist who has not been able to 100% pinpoint the problem but suspects injectors after doing leakback test(they are still just within tolerences).there are no fault codes coming up either. the thing that worries me about just going ahead and doing the injectors is the high engine oil problem as not sure that they linked? (as i dont want to keep spending money on different things until i find fault i am tempted to just chuck a good used engine in)
any ideas gratfully appreciated

Hello and welcome.

If its not using coolant then the only way the oil can be over the top on the dip stick, it either when you are filling it up you are not allowing for the oil to fully settle, or it has to be diesel leaking into sump, given the poor starting possibly leaking back past piston rings prior to firing, but I have not seen it before. So possibly very worn piston rings hence the poor starting till it warms up and expands slightly.

hi thanks for reply, no def not coolant or overfill. i had assumed fuel in sump as oil def seems to be thinning but it just seemed such a large increase in level that it was not logical. this is why i am a tad stumped and want to 100% diagnose before shelling out on repairs, in addition i dont think the rings are worn because sometimes will start perfectly from cold . it almost feels like an electrical problem but no fault codes came up
cheers

The other thing I have in mind is a leak on taper on the high pressure pump which would allow fuel into sump, but normally you get evidence of a leak down the block, can not think of any other way you can get fuel into sump. The starting could be a different problem.

i will check for leaks on block tomorrow thanks. yes i tend to agree that there may be more than one fault, i am fairly sure that the starting hesitation flatspots and poor mpg are symptons of knackered injectors(113k on clock), it is just the oil problem that is stumping me. what would the prognosis be if it were a leak on fuel pump?
cheers

If it is the pump, then its pump out and either a rebuild your self or refurbed pump and refit, if you do a search on the site there are a few good write ups on how to do it. I sent the last pump of to be refurbed to a local specialist think it cost £140 for the pump and took a day to get back. If it is pump make sure you take warning about the sprocket retaining tool, you can not do it with out.

thats exellent thanks, just went out to look(couldnt wait till morning lol) and engine as dry as a bone. i have just been readin another forum about vw's and one had the same problem and it turned out to be a cracked head in the fuel gallery. i know totally different engines but is this a possibility on the td4?

On the end of the pump there is a taper that locates into the timing chain sprocket this sits inside the cam chain cover. There are some seals inside the pump that prevent a leak, so if the internal seals have failed it could be escaping from the taper on pump and you would not see an external leak. Having said this I have never seen it may be others may have had it as a issue. It could be in top end but with a common rail not sure how.
Hopefully you may get some feed back from others. I will await the outcome with intrest

i have just been searching the other landy forum and have found someone with the same promlem on a td5! just for intrest reasons below is what he did and found;

I inspected the old cylinder head closely, but could not see any cracks around the fuel injectors. So I fitted the fuel injectors back into the old head, filled up the fuel gallery with diesel, and using my compressor, applied 60 psi to the fuel pressure regulator, and waited, nothing.

Then after a while I saw a very slight trickle of diesel fuel coming out of the front blocking plug in the head internal fuel gallery. This slight fuel trickle flowed into the timing chain chamber and down and out of the cylinder head, and of course, into the sump if the head was still on the engine.


i think this may ber a good place for me to start
cheers for your advice and any other help greatly apprciated