Bugger Again!

Nope, not the Amigos this time....



My daughter wanted to go look at a car for sale in Rangiora today, about 30 minutes away. Everything was fine until we got to Rangiora and was sitting in some traffic only about 30 seconds and noticed some steam coming out of the bonnet. Was right by a petrol station so immediately pulled onto its forecourt and shut the old girl down.

Got out, lifted the bonnet and some steam floating around the engine bay, then noticed fluid dropping from the drip tray....



It wasn't coming from the expansion bottle. Unfortunately with the acoustic cover and drip tray its difficult to see much of the engine these days without tools, but had a good look round the engine and could not see where it was coming from. Called the AA to get us home.

There were no signs from the engine, L Series, that anything was wrong, appears to be running OK - had to drive it up onto the tow truck.

To be honest, I'm not sure what the fluid is. The bottle showed the water at the correct level. The dipstick showed that the oil might be a bit lower than I would have expected - but not necessarily convinced its that yet. When I dipped my fingers in it and smelt it, it smelt like diesel - but if something had ruptured in the fuel line (or maybe return pipe) - would diesel falling onto something hot (eg exhaust) create steam?

Would a collant (water/anti freeze mix) mixing with any oil on the drip tray smell like diesel?

First time in 5 years ownership the Freelander has broken down - other than for reasons create by me! Shall have to get the covers off and over the inspection pit at the weekend and see what's up.

Seen a few posts on here about how reliable your freebie has been... looks like someone was tempting fate a bit too much

Sorry i cant be of any help, hope its a simple fix for you!

lol yeh - was bound to happen

Well Gerald you wanted a K series so you would have more repairs to do .!!!!!

this way you can keep the diesel and still do more repairs

that puddle looks like it's below the window washer liquid thingy ma bob

digby said:

Well Gerald you wanted a K series so you would have more repairs to do .!!!!!

this way you can keep the diesel and still do more repairs

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I did rather ask for this trouble didn't I! See, the L Series is ever dependable. Always look on the bright side of life (all together now) da da, da da, da da da da da da da.

Its cooled down a lot here since you were over. The overnight temps are consistently -5. I think the coldest we've had is about -8, but inland down at Pukaki/Twizel its consistently -12 and has been -20. These cold nights though mean the days are fantastic, was up to 15 when the car broke down. I enjoy summer when it comes along, but I do love these frosty winter days

NDavies said:

that puddle looks like it's below the window washer liquid thingy ma bob

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I have had the washer bottle off the car within the last couple of weeks to get access to the ABS unit bolts, but the fluid was dripping off the undertray. The car was leaning slightly towards that side so it could have been coming from anywhere over the tray. The bottle isn't though.

I'm quite confused by it all really. I was expecting a drop in coolant, but it hadn't. Oil level is questionable - but not definitely dropped. It smells like diesel - but why would there be steam with a diesel leak.

could you have driven through something and collected it up?

I had a Freelander and the fuel return pipes split giving the symptoms you mention. Pull the cover off and look at the braided leak back fuel pipes, if they are weeping or wet then it's a simple fix.

thequeenscheese said:

could you have driven through something and collected it up?

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I couldn't have collected the fluid TQC as it was hot and steaming. I don't think I could have collected debris and it take any pipes out as the undertray was on and there doesn't look to be any damage down there.

doriz said:

I had a Freelander and the fuel return pipes split giving the symptoms you mention. Pull the cover off and look at the braided leak back fuel pipes, if they are weeping or wet then it's a simple fix.

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I'm really hoping it is this, as I intimated in my original post. Thanks for posting - it's encouraging. I'll do as you say. Won't be able to get to it until tomorrow - work's a bitch at getting in the way of fixing your Landie! Especially as I snuck off early yesterday when it broke down

Yes, the leak back fuel return pipes were shot. Lots of fuel around them. I presume the 'steam' was diesel running down onto something hot and vapourising. Anyway I replaced the pipes and took it for a drive getting it up to temp. All looks OK but there is still some steam/smoke floating around the engine bay. I presume this is the residue diesel left lying around.

To replace the hose between no 2 & 3 injectors I had to remove the plenum chamber. Its the first time I've removed it. There was a tiny amount of oil in the hose to the plenum chamber, I presume that's OK. The channel from the EGR was clear - just a little bit of dry soot lining it. However, where the plenum chamber and inlet manifold mates up was clogged/restricted by about 20% with soot - well a soot/oil mix with a consistency of thick treacle. Presumably the soot has come through the EGR and the oil from the turbo. I don't know if its ever been cleaned - its up to 100K miles now and I've put on 1/3rd of that in the last 5 years. I didn't want to do a complete cleaning job as I didn't want to remove the inlet manifold as I had no gaskets - but I didn't want to leave it as it was. So I used the side of a chisel to scrape out the plenum chamber and my fingers to hoik the gunk out of the inlet manifold. Was a bit worried about dislodging the gunk down into the valves/cylinders - but judged that it could have done that all by itself anyway. In the end the stuff stuck like glue to my fingers and I don't think much dropped down. A test drive showed a massive placebo improvement in performance!

I noticed the hose to the plenum chamber was split where the jubilee clip holds it, so I suppose I should get a replacement, some gaskets and give the manifold and plenum, a proper clean at some time.

Just an update, I took advice on any residual diesel igniting, and gave the engine a jet wash - not too bigger one though and mainly around the injectors and where it was likely to have traveled down the engine.

Its still smoking/steaming quite a bit though when up to temp. I'm still not sure if its steam or smoke.

The leak back pipes were definitely shot, but it looks like there may be another issue somewhere. Looks like I'll have to get the tray off and have a look around the bottom of the engine.