Hi, I have a freelander TD4 which has had a small diesel leak for some time now. I have tried to find where it comes from but it doesn't allways leak so its really hard to find! Intermittent problems are the worst! But now it has started to make a whirring noise from the front n/s wing after you turn the engine off and throws out quite abit of white smoke! I'm starting to think that this is why my fuel consumption has gone up!
Anyone know if these problems are related? I'm going to have a propper look at the weekend, but just thought i'd ask the question first to see if anyone can point me in the right direction.
When I was last trying to find the diesel leak, I traced all the fuel lines to and from the engine and didn't find anything remotely wet.
Thanks for any help in advance, Martin.

could be your fbh leaking

Hi Martin and welcome to LandyZone.

The whirring sound and the smoke are not a concern - that is simply the fbh (Fuel Burning Heater) which is designed to get the engine coolant up to temperature when the outside temp falls to around 5degrees C. It has a little exhaust pipe under the front near-side bumper. While it is running there will also be a ticking sound from it's own dedicated fuel pump. All normal on a diesel Freelander in the wintertime/cold weather.

How are you aware you have a diesel leak? Drops visible on the ground? Front or rear of the car? Under the engine?

More info is needed to be able to help you.

Cheers,

Singvogel.

Usual suspect if its leaking from the front on the td4 is the high pressure fuel pump. normally it leaks from one of the piston caps....usually first thing in the morning or if it's cold but then seals itself after about 30-60seconds.
A seal kit can be bought for it you can do it yourself if you have a timing lockdown kit...else it's a garage job which will cost approx £350for recon pump and £200- £300 for labour.
If you do a search you'll find a thread on it by I think Andrew McIntyre (name may be spelled wrong).

Ok, thanks for the replys so far. I have found and read the posts by Andrew McIntyre, they are very interesting. The link to his topic on here is-

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f9/2005-td4-diesel-leak-any-advice-183570.html

and the link to his website (which is very usefull!) is-

index

So, I know know it is the FBH making the noise/smoke but it does it all the time even after long jurneys and when the outside temperature is way above 5degrees. Could a temp sensor of gone?

The fuel leak is coming from the front O/S of the car. I would say at the front of the engine. So it sounds to me that it could be the injection pump. But it is a very small/intermitant leak. I have never actually seen it leaking, but the patch on my tarmac drive is getting bigger an bigger!

Cheers, Martin.

..

Could be a bad temp sensor, or it could be a fecked main board in the FBH.

From what I know of the R75 temp sensors they generally fail as an open switch, so the FB never comes on, I assume that the switch on the FL is the same type. You can test it with freeze spray.

If the FBH is working it's very obvious, put your hand under the FBH exhaust port and you'll feel the hot air coming out of it at a good rate of knots, if it's not working, no hot air.

Unless you have one of the posh ones, with a timer, the FBH wont shut down until the water temperature hits the right point.

I have no idea which fuse protects the FBH on a Freelander, but with the R75 pulling the fuse for 5 or more seconds can reset the thing and will sort out a good many apparent faults, always worth a try with the R75 diesel

If the main board in the FBH is fecked Google "French Mike", he offers a very cost effective repair service for these things.

Main board failure is usually (90% plus of cases) one of several resistors going for a cr@p, there is a thread on one of the Rover 75 / MG-ZT owners forums on how to check them if you're handy with a soldering iron