Sean. Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 (edited) Hello, I've got a Defender 1990, 110. It's a 2.5TD engine and is leaking oil, lots or oil! If I do a long drive for 190 miles, it will have bled out past the low marker on the dip stick. I'm doing 60 to 65 mph, not all the time. I've read the following article and others where I could find them. Things I am looking at are as follows, happy to check or try things. All suggestions and help is appreciated and welcomed 0. Rocker cover gasket replaced and that seems to be fine 1. The dip stick O ring seal looks ok, but, I will get that replaced - just in case 2. The rocker cover was one place where it’s been leaking oil, on the middle nut. I've put an O ring, washer, radiator pipe holder connection, and then a normal nut on the middle. The other two screws are domed. I can’t find the right information on what order this is put together. 3. Could be crank case pressure, was suggested to get a test kit of flea bay to check, hence pushing up and out of the engine 4. Cleaned the breather on top of the engine, to ensure it's not causing excessive pressure 5. Anything else anyone would suggest? Edited November 19, 2017 by Sean. Typo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkie Posted November 19, 2017 Share Posted November 19, 2017 Welcome to the forum. There are few things to check first and report back on. Have you been under it when the engine is running to look for leaks and can you see oil on the floor when you are parked? Give the exterior of the engine a thorough clean and degrease as that will make it so much easier to see where oil is coming from if it is leaking when you take it on the next drive. As you have hinted, these engines do have a reputation for heavy breathing. If you google this engine, you will no doubt read alot of bad press. Looking at the facts, yes it wasn't Land Rover's finest engine, many did have serious problems yours is a late build with all the modifications to help and at 27 years old it is bound to be showing some signs of age and in my opinion is worth giving a chance. Bad ones in the mid 1980s died pretty quickly and I doubt many of the early ones are left now and yours is still here. Simple checks for heavy breathing. When you've been for a run and it has warmed up take the oil filler cap off and see if it's chugging with lots of vapour coming out, is the dipstick still firmly in place. Take the airfilter canister apart and see if the airfilter is clogged with oil, these engines push oil out through the breather pipe and straight into the airfilter. It can kill the engine if you let it get so bad that the airfilter becomes an oil soaked mess. Have a good look at let us know what you find. If you do find signs of heavy breathing then further investigation is needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean. Posted November 21, 2017 Author Share Posted November 21, 2017 (edited) Hello Monkie, Thank you for the quick reply. They are not loved much, I am thinking of trying to save it and get it right. I managed to leave the breather of for 30 mins 😂. So it's a bit of an oil bath. I will wash it out again at a car wash place as I am away with work. I did check the air filter canister, that had oil under it. The filter was not clogged but had a liberal dose. It was not bad enough to change. After driving 200 miles literally, the dip stick had moved out about 2mm. It may have been bumps and road movement. The engine has lost about 1 litter of oil after driving 200 miles. I will check for leaka once it's been washed out (again). Some of that will have been caused by leaving the breather off! Edited November 21, 2017 by Sean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotts90 Posted November 22, 2017 Share Posted November 22, 2017 So, it's lost approx 1litre of oil but no signs of where it's came from? That should make one huge mess regardless of where it's coming from. Is it burning oil (blue smoke?). As the air filter is contaminated then a puff of blue is almost inevitable but at the rate of loss if you can't see visible leakage then it must be going somewhere....any signs of oil in the exhaust tail pipe? Fair play for endeavouring to save the 19j, we ripped ours out the 110 when it started breathing heavy and fitted a disco tdi lump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snagger Posted November 22, 2017 Share Posted November 22, 2017 Pound to a penny you have cracked pistons and a cracked head - 19J are notorious for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean. Posted November 22, 2017 Author Share Posted November 22, 2017 Hi Scotts90, Yes, it does leave a mess, lots of mess at that! The engine bay on the right hand side looks a mess. It's all under and out including on the inside of the farside rear tyre! It's seeping as opposed to gushing out. I know it's from the engine not sure exactly where, I am guessing now the breather pipe, and out into the air filter hole at the bottom. It smokes a bit when it's started, but that calms down after a few mins. So I am not sure how much may be going into the engine. I am wondering about a runaway diesel situation, and want to avoid that at all costs. I will check the back breather pip once it's been washed out again, and have ordered a breather box and looking to close off the pipe going to the air filter. As the breather from the engine seems to have a lot of oil in it. I'll check for other places, once I can get it cleaned out. As I could not see at the moment, sadly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkie Posted November 22, 2017 Share Posted November 22, 2017 Here is a picture of a piston from a 19J I rebuilt. I have seen worse, but if you look at the top of the "V" mark in the piston you can see a crack. Worn bores and rings can also cause high crank case pressure. It is certainly an idea to take the head off atleast to carefully inspect the pistons for cracks. Given it's age and also it is common for this engine to crack pistons, I wouldn't be surprised to see cracks in one or more (even all 4) pistons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkie Posted November 22, 2017 Share Posted November 22, 2017 This piston (number 1) from the same engine; at first I thought had been hit by something but when I looked more closely I could see it had actually started to melt from a faulty injector. The idea isn't to try and scare you, but just to prepare you for you might find on a 27 year old engine with unknown service history! This engine is now rebuilt and has been in my 110 for coming up to 18 months now. Starts great, no smoke, no oil consumption and keeps up with modern traffic no problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean. Posted November 22, 2017 Author Share Posted November 22, 2017 Hello Scotts90, I can't see any oil in the exhaust pipe. It's not very clean and may be due to it previously burning oil. When I changed the air filter it was soaked. I do get a lot of oil residue on the back windscreen. I assume this is from the engine Hey, and moving along and out and up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted November 23, 2017 Share Posted November 23, 2017 My TD engine went all oily, residue all over the rear end when driving, filter was full of black thick oily muck, I replaced it with a new 200tdi repower kit back in 1994, old engine had cracked head, 3 cracked pistons, hot spots loose, it had done 103,200 odd miles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted November 23, 2017 Share Posted November 23, 2017 Oil on the back window is very often just from a leak in my experience. It could be being shoved out the back by all the above problems causing excessive crankcase pressure of course Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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