Freelander 1 TD4 oil in the air intake

Cameram said:

Hello,

The air intake (the pipe work after the MAF and through the EGR to the cylinder head) on my TD4 was heavily coated in carbon. Bypassed the EGR and cleaned it up but now it coats it all in oil to the point the engine runs lacking power until the MAF and sensor in the manifold is cleaned of oil then all good for a period. That period between cleans is reducing.

No obvious oil leaks underneath, got it serviced about 2 years ago (only done about 3000 miles since) although I had to recently changed the engine breather filter for one of these modified cyclone things as it was filthy but did not check for pressure before changing.

Any help and guidance for me on how to fix (limited mechanical experience) would be appreciated or where to look for more information to help identify the issue.

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4Bee4Bee said:

I've had a similar problem (along with some other issues). A couple of days back I took the intercooler off my TD4, (straightforward job once you tackle the rusted screws on the wheel arch covers, as the bumper needs to come off), and was able to tip a small but decent amount of oil into a pan when I tipped the exit pipe into it. I've since swished the intercooler with petrol to clean it out, and it's waiting to go back on now.

Prior to cleaning I was getting a spray of oil coming out the intercooler exit pipe when it was removed, and revved. But if I removed the the inlet pipe to the intercooler and looked at that when revving, no oil spray was present. So I'm hoping/thinking it was the collected oil in the intercooler causing the excessive oil being put into the manifold. Could be worth undoing your pre and post intercooler pipes one at a time and seeing if its originating from the intercooler. Which as others have said, could be normal through the build up over many thousands of miles.

At least it sounds like you have good boost pressure if the oil is being forced out of joints.

There is the possibility if there is lots of oil that it could be originating from the turbo seals. So it's still worth trying to understand if it's normal oil amounts present in the intake, a build up coming from the intercooler, (which can just be cleaned), or something more.

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4Bee4Bee said:

I've had a similar problem (along with some other issues). A couple of days back I took the intercooler off my TD4, (straightforward job once you tackle the rusted screws on the wheel arch covers, as the bumper needs to come off), and was able to tip a small but decent amount of oil into a pan when I tipped the exit pipe into it. I've since swished the intercooler with petrol to clean it out, and it's waiting to go back on now.
Hi, when I did my thermostat back in Nov 18 & with oil in the intake system in mind I took the turbo off to get it checked. I took the turbo over to Turbo Technics in Northampton & asked them to check it over (the car had done 147,000 miles at the time) & basically they said it was ok but I decided to get a recon one from them whilst it was all stripped down & I must admit it's made no difference to oil in the intake so all I got was piece of mind that the turbo was 'new'.
They said as long as the vehicle has regular oil/filter changes with good quality oil (fully syn if poss) they were reliable units. It's now done a tad under 172,000 miles & still never uses any oil/coolent between services, it's a cracking vehicle.

Prior to cleaning I was getting a spray of oil coming out the intercooler exit pipe when it was removed, and revved. But if I removed the the inlet pipe to the intercooler and looked at that when revving, no oil spray was present. So I'm hoping/thinking it was the collected oil in the intercooler causing the excessive oil being put into the manifold. Could be worth undoing your pre and post intercooler pipes one at a time and seeing if its originating from the intercooler. Which as others have said, could be normal through the build up over many thousands of miles.

At least it sounds like you have good boost pressure if the oil is being forced out of joints.

There is the possibility if there is lots of oil that it could be originating from the turbo seals. So it's still worth trying to understand if it's normal oil amounts present in the intake, a build up coming from the intercooler, (which can just be cleaned), or something more.

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Andy Warren said:

Hi,back in Nov 18 whilst doing my thermostat I deceided to take the turbo off to see if it had anything to do with the oil in the intake. I took the unit over to Turbo Technics in Northampton & asked them to check it over (it had done 147,000 miles at the time), they said it was perfectly serviceable but I still got a recon unit off them for peace of mind as it's a bit of a pain to get to laying on ya drive. Suffice to say it has made no difference to oil in the intake (it's now done a tad under 172,000) & still doesn't use any oil/coolant between services. I do regular services, oil/filter changes every 5,000 miles, using fully syn oil along with the usual preventative maintenance, VCU etc & I'm rewarded with a cracking vehicle.

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