I'm not looking for advice as such but I thought I would share my latest woes. I'm sure many have the same problems.

I have been noticing a lot of oil coming out of our Diesel FL2. It's not yet enough to make puddles on the ground but there's oil everywhere - and very difficult to see where it's coming from until you take the engine apart.

This week I decided to look into it and I can see multiple leeks. Oil on the starter coming from the intercooler hose to throttle connection. Oil coming from the seal on the vacuum pump leading to more oil on the starter. Oil out of the back of the valve cover which was the valve cover seals. In fact, oil misting on most breather connections.

I have found puddles of oil in the air intake pipework and I have come to the conclusion that this is not how it should be.
There is a post on here where someone has fitted an oil separator but it doesn't fix the problem, it just deals with the excess oil.

I would be interested in your thoughts as to why there is so much oil. I wondered if I am using an incorrect oil which foams and mists up, whether the PCV valve is defective, not enough vacuum to make the PCV work, a blockage/restriction somewhere so excessive pressure forces oil out of the seals or this is just how this engine works.

I pulled the air intake manifold and found the most awful mess of oil and gunk - see photos. Sorry, they are not the right way up.





I wondered if this mess was a big enough restriction to explain the leak at the throttle, whether there's a back pressure forcing oil out? But then there's oil coming out of most joints so I think it's a general crankcase problem with excessive pressure. Are the rings worn allowing combustion gasses into the crankcase?
I don't know what the cylinder pressures should be but I expect that all cylinders would be roughly the same so I don't think a compression test will tell me much, unless anyone knows what the values should be?

I have cleaned the intake manifold and will re-install it. People are talking of removing the flaps altogether (yes, there are plastic flaps under that mess) but I'd rather not. Still, that's another topic. I am interested in blocking the EGR off though. Does anyone know of any ramifications of that? Can you just block it off or does it give warnings on the dash or error codes?

I was thinking that the PCV valve was defective and thought about replacing the valve cover - since the PCV is supposed to be non servicable, or so I hear. I did manage to prise off the cover to expose the diaphragm and spring. It was a bit gunked up but no holes in the diaphragm that I can see.



I think the leaks from other seals is just a consequence of excessive pressure. I have replaced the valve cover seals. The vacuum pump will be removed and I will put some RTV sealant on it's O ring, since it appears that you can't buy the seal without a new pump!
I am hoping that a good clean out will help this engine breathe but I suspect that something deeper is wrong and, eventually, it will leak again.

Tomorrow I am removing the sump so I will see what gunk there is in there.

I would be interested to hear whether any solutions have been found for this. Not just a way of dealing with it like a catch can, but an actual solution to stop the excessive oil loss.

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Good explanation of how the breather works and why you see more oil in the air returning from the crankcase than you might expect here:

https://www.freel2.com/forum/post415442.html

Intercooler hoses leak small amounts of oil for a pastime after a while - so perhaps not surprising.

How are your oil levels overall? Any unexplained increase that may indicate leaking injectors/fuel washing through the bores and into the sump? Current driveway contents:
2021 V60 Cross Country B5
2009 FL2 dog bus and shooting wagon

On Order: 2023 Fisker Ocean Ultra - deposit paid.

All you need to know about blanking the EGR is here:

https://www.freel2.com/forum/topic25768.html?highlight=egr+blank (Now Sold). 2008 Freelander 2 (Nazca Sand) SE TD4 Auto. Statutory write off & on WOVR for hail damage but still road legal.
171037Km as of 09/05/22
Superchips Bluefin Flash
Nanocom Evo II (also sold)

Hi can you please clarify a couple of points. What is your current milage? You ask about engine oil grades what have you been using and as your vehicle is 2010 is it fitted with a DPF or not? What intervals have you been changing the oil and filter.

Last edited by AJ918 on 3rd Jan 2022 3:20 pm. Edited 1 time in total

Any fault codes showing

An amount of oil in the breather is normal, and by design.

Make sure the oil is changed in time, and the correct grade/specification.

PCV means Positive Crankcase Ventilation, which means crankcase gasses are supposed to be drawn off by intake ducting vacuum.
If the PC Valve doesn't activate correctly when the turbo is "pulling", then this can increase the crankcase pressure enough to cause leaks.

The top cover is a replaceable part, and is the likely the issue, if you have excessive crankcase pressure issues. If you have taken the top off, make sure the cover is sealed tight, or the small about of intake duct vacuum will be lost.

I wouldn't waste time removing the sump unnecessarily. 2009 Rimini Red SE TD4. Soon to be sold.
Hyundai Ioniq 5 Ultimate on order.
Gone. 2006 Tonga Green i6 HSE.

Thanks for the pointers to other threads.

If I can remember the questions...
This car has done about 137k miles, oil level is fine, not dropping too much, despite the large amount on the outside of the engine. Not increasing either so no fuel issues. No DPF. I haven't got a reader for fault codes. I have a Nanocom but a Freelander upgrade costs about £350!

I have been using a 5W30 C1 oil, I think. Can't check right now. We've had the car for just over a year and this is it's 2nd service by me, about 8k miles apart.

It's a pre '11 so I think I will do the EGR blank and see what happens. I did it on my TD5 and I can't say that I noticed any power increase but the intake must be cleaner for it. After cleaning the intake on the Freelander, I would rather not see it get back to this state again. I was surprised that it ran as well as it did, despite the restriction.

I did the sump today. It seemed to be leaking so it had to be done.

As I said previously, I suspect that it has an excessive pressure problem but I hope its actually just worn joints, gaskets and seals rather than any pressure finding weak spots to get out of. Time will tell.

I have now done the valve cover seals, intake seals, siliconed the vacuum pump O ring, sump re-sealed and tightened some joints. It had new fuel delivery pipes to the injectors a while back as they were misting fuel.

I will keep an eye on it for new leaks now that everything is clean(ish).

You were giving your engine subpar protection using a C1 oil when there is no reason for it (DPF compatibility).

Downhill wrote:

Thanks for the pointers to other threads.

If I can remember the questions...
This car has done about 137k miles, oil level is fine, not dropping too much, despite the large amount on the outside of the engine. Not increasing either so no fuel issues. No DPF. I haven't got a reader for fault codes. I have a Nanocom but a Freelander upgrade costs about £350!

I have been using a 5W30 C1 oil, I think. Can't check right now. We've had the car for just over a year and this is it's 2nd service by me, about 8k miles apart.

It's a pre '11 so I think I will do the EGR blank and see what happens. I did it on my TD5 and I can't say that I noticed any power increase but the intake must be cleaner for it. After cleaning the intake on the Freelander, I would rather not see it get back to this state again. I was surprised that it ran as well as it did, despite the restriction.

I did the sump today. It seemed to be leaking so it had to be done.

As I said previously, I suspect that it has an excessive pressure problem but I hope its actually just worn joints, gaskets and seals rather than any pressure finding weak spots to get out of. Time will tell.

I have now done the valve cover seals, intake seals, siliconed the vacuum pump O ring, sump re-sealed and tightened some joints. It had new fuel delivery pipes to the injectors a while back as they were misting fuel.

I will keep an eye on it for new leaks now that everything is clean(ish).