No oil!

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retneprac

retneprac

Well-Known Member
Posts
2,034
Location
Bedfordshire
So there I was cruising down the M4 last night, engine dies, management light and oil light come on.
park up on the hard shoulder.
(previously stopped at Gorgano services, could smell that hot oil wif in the air, didn't think much of it as had done an oil change the day before, thought it was just the spillage burning off.)
as the oil light was on, did a check, none on the dip stick, put some in. Crawled to reading services, did another check, topped up to the right level. made it home (100 miles or so) No further issues.

proper check under in day light today, do have an oil leak as oil on the chassis etc.

Cant see an obvious leak, did a gunk spray clean, blasted with hot water spray to. seems to be more on the back of the block driver side but nothing to obvious. 2004 TD5.

What should/could I be checking first to find the source? Head gasket? Piston rings?

I did accidently fill up on the V diesel, would that have caused a problem I wonder, other than being more expensive.
 
If you just did an oil change, worth checking the oil filter is secure (assuming you changed it). Any oil in the coolant header tank?
 
OIl is 5W 40 as Haines manual. Oil was all over the area in the attached photo, Have today gunk foam cleaned it, done about 3 miles today only, slow, nothing fast, engine is hardly hot. no sign of the leak.
 

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Filter is good and tight, header has no oil in the sample but is quite low, needs a top up, assume the oil would be on top anyway?
 
Could the oil have blown out of the dipstick tube (dipstick not pushed fully home)? As you have had the stick in and of a couple of times on your way home, you might have unknowingly sorted it?
 
How long are you letting it stand before checking the oil?
How much oil did you put in the engine initially, ie new oil with the filter?
 
My TD5 has a habit of hiding its oil occasionally. It seems to be able to make about a litre or more disappear somewhere and then t comes back a few days later. At first I was a bit concerned about the variability on the dipstick but now, unless it is severe, I don't worry. I also find it takes about 15 minutes or so for the oil to drain back into the sump after I've stopped the engine. Maybe the fact that the filter cannisters would need to fill up just after it has been serviced, plus the fact that a lot would be distributed around the engine would make it look low on the stick and be enough to activate the warning light as the pump would be pulling air rather than oil.

There are often minor oil leaks around the rocker cover and a bit of diesel dampness around the fuel pressure regulator. So if that's where it was oily, it could have been building up for months. I suppose the thing to do is carry some spare oil in the car and keep an eye on the warning light, whilst regularly checking for leaks. At least the engine is nice and clean now so you have some hope of being ale to see where it is coming from.
 
So did a few miles since last weekends oil issue, no great leaks found, only the rocker gasket is oily at the back, should I change it as a precaution?

Out of interest, are the undertrays worth having? they are good for catching the oil!
 
I'm not sure about the value of undertrays. They're made out of a fibrous plastic material that is apt to get brittle and crack. They pick up a lot of road dirt and mud and they stop you keeping an eye on the oil leaks.
 
Brown said:
I'm not sure about the value of undertrays. They're made out of a fibrous plastic material that is apt to get brittle and crack. They pick up a lot of road dirt and mud and they stop you keeping an eye on the oil leaks.
Click to expand...
One of the first things I throw away. When I drop a tool I like it to fall through onto the floor and not sit in a puddle of oil and dirt where I cant get at it. I also dont like all that plastic and foam sound deadening that surrounds modern engines. You cant see any leaks until they have been leaking for ages. My TD5 is naked for exactly that reason.
 
I didn't have much choice as my 2006 model had lost its undertray by the time I got it. When Dinitrol-ing my friends 2004 machine I took the undertrays off and found they were bowed with the weight of mud it had picked up. It didn't look like offroad mud, just grey road dirt. I didn't refit it, and now it is stashed safely in the rafters of his garage where it can do no harm. Last time I looked he hadn't refitted it. Much better.
 
After more than 20 years of Land Rover ownership I must admit an exasperated ignorance of this. Why the feck! It can only be to hide oil leaks. Pretending tratters are oil tight modern cars is a nonsense. I believe that in a perfect state they should not leak oil, but should always look damp enough underneath that they could. P.S. May have been drinking.
 
Under trays no gone.

What I have now on slightly longer journeys is that hot oil smell, you know the one, do have a couple of spots around the engine/bell housing junction, does that mean the oil might be leaking into the bell housing I wonder?
 
Comparing the last two cars I had prior to this one, both about 14 years old and both with about 120K miles, I beg to differ on the undertray.

Both were VW Golfs, one with an undertray and one without. Every single fecking nut and bolt on the one without was rusty. The one with was fine.

The undertray doesn't stop oil getting on your drive, it just rolls off the back once there enough built up. What it does do is stop water and salt spray getting in to the engine bay making everything go rusty. Mine is staying on the Freelander.
 
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