I have a defender 200tdi and the other day i noticed that oil was all over the front bumper whilst tinkering under my car, upon closer inpesction there seems to be oil leaking from the pipe where it connects into my intercooler at the bottom so i removed the pipe to find a small amount of oil inside also seems to be leaking a little oil on piper coming from side of turbo now normally i would have said the turbo was on the way out but i removed the air fliter pipe which connects onto the turbo and the shaft in the turbo seems to have about 1 mm play on it (ruff guess) anyone any idears ?
i would say it is turbo but then theres no blue smoke coming from the exhaust pipe ?
Joe

oil will almost certainly be from the engine breather, the cotton braided hose that goes to the flex pipe just before the air filter
Part of how its designed is when engine switched off any residual oil then runs along the pipe down towards the air filter, whether its meant to do this or not i dont know.
Mine did the same as yours so bought a cheap oil catch tank from ebay and its been dry ever since, was 20 quid i think.


Lynall

upon closer inspection lynall and removal of the air filter, the pipe running from my air filter back up to the turbo has oil residue inside it? i don't think it is coming from the pipe you had in mind?

Yes mine also had oil in the same flexy pipe from filter to turbo and it was from the braided pipe, has been fine since catch tank fitted.
There is still a very fine misting in the same pipe but nowheres near as much as before catch tank fitted, easy cheap test, disconnect the braided pipe from the filter assy and run it for a week or twi and then recheck the flex pipe fro oil.
Remembering to block the little stub up on the filter housing.


Lynall