300 Tdi air filtration

[Sabre]

Both my son and I have 300 Tdi Discoveries. When the rocker shaft on his engine broke, we had the engine overhauled. At 310 000 km the cylinders still had honing marks in. The cylinders were given a light hone each, and standard pistons fitted

My Disco has done 392 000 km. As mentioned in another thread the cylinders do not bore clean on 20 oversize. My vehicle has traveled way more dust dust roads than my son's. I would put the high wear rates in my cylinders down to the possibility of dust ingress

Any suggestions on how I can improve air filtration ? There is no space for a Donaldson, and I am not sure about the effectiveness of a snorkel either. Ideas/suggestions appreciated 

[BogMonster]

Snorkel takes in cleaner air to start with. We have problems here with filters on lots of vehicles and lots of people run snorkels not for the wading capability as much as making filters last longer. The Tdi Discoverys had a particular issue which was that the filter would fill up with dust and then a splash of water getting into it turned that solid and blocked it completely, then the filter collapsed with engine suction and you had no filtration at all. From memory the intake comes from inside the wing which is hardly a dust-free location on unsurfaced roads or off-road. I imagine your rural roads are probably a bit like ours.

[Sabre]

On 7/2/2018 at 11:39 AM, BogMonster said:

Snorkel takes in cleaner air to start with. We have problems here with filters on lots of vehicles and lots of people run snorkels not for the wading capability as much as making filters last longer. The Tdi Discoverys had a particular issue which was that the filter would fill up with dust and then a splash of water getting into it turned that solid and blocked it completely, then the filter collapsed with engine suction and you had no filtration at all. From memory the intake comes from inside the wing which is hardly a dust-free location on unsurfaced roads or off-road. I imagine your rural roads are probably a bit like ours.

Thanks BM, yes the Disco sucks in the air inside the wing. Fortunately I have never had an issue with a wet filter. (But I have seen one on a Jeep Wrangler)

I have traveled quite a few km's in Botswana and Namibia, virtually all of them dirt (unsurfaced) roads.

Maybe I'll go the snorkel route.

[Snagger]

The Discovery intake seems to be in a particularly bad location, through the wing - dust thrown up by the wheel will find its way in.  My 300Tdi RRC has essentially the same engine bay, but the square filter housing has a trumpet like intake pointing forward to just behind the left headlamp.  That would probably be much cleaner than through the wing.

Si/II/III all had wet filters that were fantastically effective at removing dust.  They're also self cleaning and easy to service with a wash and new oil, not being subject to the vagaries of paper filter quality control and the decomposition of paper filters should they get water or oil contamination.  I don't know whether LR changed over because of concerns of turbo charged vehicles sucking in oil from the filter, but the timing of the change on the introduction of the 90 and 110 well before the 19J engine suggests it was just seen as the thing to do and an industry standard.  Maybe they thought that servicing would be easier and cleaner with disposable cartridges.  I think a wet filter would be better, and best if it had a cyclonic prefilter.  

 

[Sabre]

On 7/5/2018 at 12:41 PM, Snagger said:

The Discovery intake seems to be in a particularly bad location, through the wing - dust thrown up by the wheel will find its way in.  My 300Tdi RRC has essentially the same engine bay, but the square filter housing has a trumpet like intake pointing forward to just behind the left headlamp.  That would probably be much cleaner than through the wing.

Si/II/III all had wet filters that were fantastically effective at removing dust.  They're also self cleaning and easy to service with a wash and new oil, not being subject to the vagaries of paper filter quality control and the decomposition of paper filters should they get water or oil contamination.  I don't know whether LR changed over because of concerns of turbo charged vehicles sucking in oil from the filter, but the timing of the change on the introduction of the 90 and 110 well before the 19J engine suggests it was just seen as the thing to do and an industry standard.  Maybe they thought that servicing would be easier and cleaner with disposable cartridges.  I think a wet filter would be better, and best if it had a cyclonic prefilter.  

 

I agree. My father had a Peugeot 404 pick-up that had an oil bath air cleaner. That vehicle traveled dirt roads daily, and the engine lasted a very long time

A Donaldson type filter cleans very effectively, but there is no space for one in the engine compartment. And no, I do not want to fit one outside the engine bay, on the fender, as some big trucks have them 

[Hercu]

Sabre

I opted to install the defender element air cleaner on my snorkel and belief I am getting super filtration.

Yes it demanded a few mods like moving the window washer water bottle but I am very Happy.

[Sabre]

Thanks Hercu, looks brilliant ! Looks like you moved the washer, jack and wheel chock. I will try this mod