Evening all,
I've bough myself a 52 plate Land Rover Freelander TD4 ES auto with 163 k miles on the clock. I got it real cheap as a bit of a project to bring back up to spec. When I bought it it was a s flat as a fart with no oomph whatsoever.
Ok soooo I've done the following to the the "little pig" or "Fido" as its more affectionately called.

New cabin and air filters
New Oil and oil filter
New wheel arch fuel pump and fuel filter
New fuel tank pump
New decompression oil separator/breather
3 new tyres. All 5 tyres are now the same.
New front discs and pads
New front drivers side brake calliper
New drivers side tie rod end and tracking
power steering flush
gearbox oil flush... stage 1 that atf was really nasty so I will repeat this process again very soon. very easy to do.

I have new rear, drums, shoes, break pistons and springs to change... maybe this weekend!
New prop shaft carriers bearings and u joint couplings to change.

Ok so now the driveability of the "little pig" has been transformed. Its went from a slow gutless sower faced little pig to a spritely eager puppy "Fido" that wags its tail and is excited to fly down the road. The only problem I now have is that every now and then it slows back to gutless seems to cough and clears its throat with big clouds of greyish black blue smoke then off it goes again, no more smoke and flying down the road.
there is oil in the intercooler pipes so hoping the turbo is ok. I've also ordered some new hoses for the intercooler and airbox as the ones that are on have seen better days. Has anyone on the forum any other suggestions of what may be causing this intermittent cough and splutter then its ok once its cleared its throat. ??

Have you checked the fuel rail sensor for corrosion of the contacts, or damage to the harness? This is very common, so common that there is a replacement harness available for the rail sensor.

No I haven't got around to that part of the land rover yet. I will do now you have mentioned it. Thanks.

With 163k on it, might be worth checking the intercooler pipework to see how much oil is in there from the turbo ?

I have new intercooler pipes coming so I will check out how clean it is the EGR vacuum pipe has been removed so it looks pretty clean but with some oil in the pipework.

Undo the inter cooler feed pipe. Cover with clean rag & rev the engine. That will show if oil is getting past turbo seals.

I’m still not sure about the cyclone vs filter under the air filter. Lots of talk both ways here & bmw forums about which is better. BMW must have done it for a reason. Wife’s TD4 has the old one. Sons TD4 has the cyclone. Will check both next month.

Thanks for the replies. Plenty to look at this weekend....
I drove it to work this morning . A puff of dark grey/blue smoke and off she went. Not much more smoke from the exhaust it looked pretty clear behind me all the way to work
It was going through the gears ok. Auto box. But felt pretty gutless again... its a strange one. Sometimes it's fine then other times it's gutless.im starting to think it's getting clogged with oil then when it clears with a big puff of smoke ti's fine.
I'm thinking either a split in a pipe opening under load or oil in the intercooler from the turbo.

Any other thoughts are welcome.

pwood999 said:

Undo the inter cooler feed pipe. Cover with clean rag & rev the engine. That will show if oil is getting past turbo seals.

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Only if you disconnect the breather intake to the turbo, otherwise oil in the boost pipes could simply be from the breather, which is the usual cause. Oil in the boost pipes isn't an issue, as it helps lubrication of the valves and upper cylinders.

pwood999 said:

I’m still not sure about the cyclone vs filter under the air filter. Lots of talk both ways here & bmw forums about which is better.

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I prefer the fluffy filter myself, but opinions are very divided wherever you look.

pwood999 said:

BMW must have done it for a reason.

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I suspect to reduce warranty claim on leaking oil rectification.

Well I've had a look under the car and there is oil around the pipes where the turbo is... ill git it up on ramps tomorrow and have a hood look for splits, make sure everything is tight and clean the area around the turbo up. I'll try to pinpoint the source of the oil.

Well a bit of an update.... Injectors 1 and 3 removed cleaned and resealed with new washers as they were leaking and had a build up of black carbon around them. Then I tackled the turbo issue today. failed seals in the turbo meaning was pumping out oil into the intercooler. I have now removed the shot turbo cleaned everything up and will do the rebuild tomorrow with a new turbo. what a royal pain in the ass to remove however now its off it will be easy enough to reinstall. everything is clean and prepped ready for tomorrow.

Turbo fitted today. Not sure if i need to increase boost slightly. the car runs great with no more smoke after the initial puff on start up clearing the system. took it for an Italian tune and floored it down the duel carriageway. The Landy pulls well in all gears and Hits 70 in good time with ease.
I have notices a sucking noise which I think is coming from the inlet manifold. I think one of the orange seals must not be seated correctly. I will investigate this tomorrow. Other than that all seems well. Ill report back tomorrow to see if I can find the source of the noise. The noise comes and goes, it usually opos up at around 2500 rpm cant hear it when floored or below 2500. ???

Split or holed pipes, or loose clips holding the pipes on, particularly suspect the ones feeding in and out of the intercooler?

Well I've increased the boost via 2 full terns of the wastage adjustment rod. The sucking noise has gone and the little pig is so much more drivable, nice smooth gear changes and accelerating up to motorway speeds with little fuss from the engine and above all zero smoke.
Yippee these TD4s aint bad little motors...oh what a ball ache to change and set up the turbo though.. Anyhoo with patience and time it is doable on your drive with the right tools and a set of ramps. Ok so what shall I tackle next. My screen washer bottle wont hold any water. hopefully just a pipe fallen off, Ive the crank pully to change and the rear diff oils to replace. im taking all of the door cards off and giving a bit of tlc to the window and door mechanisms,a nice bit of lube should work wonders iv already done the passenger side... oh the joys...
I'm not happy unless I'm tinkering though. lol