Tdv6 engine oil on bellhousing

[Bulletman]

Gday All,
I'm thinking my D3 wants to go back to the tropics.. today I noticed a bit of oil under the car, getting underneath I clearly have engine oil down both sides of the bellhousing. Checking the oil level it's still full.
So reading suggests possibly the oil filter housing oring leaking. I'm pretty confident it's not this as I've just done 5500km in 5 weeks since changing the oil and filter and I havent used any so my thoughts are it would have lost some in that time/km .
Also see its possible oil cooler, this is possible I guess, cant see a valley full of oil not any in the header tank.
I can see oil which looks to be leaking from the rocker cover front passenger side into the valley area but it's not a flowing leak. I can also see oil at the back of the drivers side , but the rear of the head looks clean.
Obviously it needs a good degrease and clean but wondering if others have had this and what the culprit was.
Cheers Bulletman

[DiscoJeffster]

Oil is like blood. You can spill a small amount and it seems like a lot. 100ml of oil spilled makes a terrible mess but is barely perceived on the dip stick.

As for where, sorry can’t help as I’m a 3L owner and specialise in all its foibles

[Bulletman]

Forgot to add, 2008 with 198k on the clock.

Might be time to think about my future of LR ownership. Gearbox issues, compressor issues , now oil leaks... starting to un-enjoy the permagrin

Cheers Bulletman

[scarry]

It was the oil cooler on mine.Oil ran down the rear of the engine.
Do what you said,good clean up then inspect,but as Jeffa said,oil runs everywhere.

Good luck with it[bigsad][biggrin]

[Pippin]

Gday All,
I'm thinking my D3 wants to go back to the tropics.. today I noticed a bit of oil under the car, getting underneath I clearly have engine oil down both sides of the bellhousing. Checking the oil level it's still full.
So reading suggests possibly the oil filter housing oring leaking. I'm pretty confident it's not this as I've just done 5500km in 5 weeks since changing the oil and filter and I havent used any so my thoughts are it would have lost some in that time/km .
Also see its possible oil cooler, this is possible I guess, cant see a valley full of oil not any in the header tank.
I can see oil which looks to be leaking from the rocker cover front passenger side into the valley area but it's not a flowing leak. I can also see oil at the back of the drivers side , but the rear of the head looks clean.
Obviously it needs a good degrease and clean but wondering if others have had this and what the culprit was.
Cheers BulletmanI get this all the time from my oil changes despite 4 turns of the filter cover to let the oil drain. When i remove the filter and cover oil goes down to the valley. To stop it building up and leaking out the back of the engine I suck it out with a large syringe and monitor it with a thin wooden dowel that will reach down to the bottom of the valley at about the 10 o'clock position of the filter assembly looking from the front. I have a replacement cooler ready to go in anyway to hopefully resolve that issue. i'm putting off that job at the moment. Nick

[Narangga]

A mechanic I know reported the same symptoms about a D3 I know [bigwhistle] (OK I Own) at the last service (engine at 195K). His assessment was oil cooler too [bigsad]

[Bulletman]

I will get some degreaser and give it a good clean, I will check the filter housing is tight and then go from there.
For those who had the oil cooler leak , was the telling sign oil in the coolant or does it leak external as well.

Cheers Bulletman

[DiscoJeffster]

I will get some degreaser and give it a good clean, I will check the filter housing is tight and then go from there.
For those who had the oil cooler leak , was the telling sign oil in the coolant or does it leak external as well.

Cheers Bulletman

Leaks into the V. Get a rod (coat hanger etc) and dip it into V deep down and see if you find oil.

[Eric SDV6SE]

I will get some degreaser and give it a good clean, I will check the filter housing is tight and then go from there.
For those who had the oil cooler leak , was the telling sign oil in the coolant or does it leak external as well.

Cheers Bulletman

I use my vac pump to suction out the oil filter recess and any in the valley, then a quick visual check. If you're in Perth happy to give you a hand, got plenty of degreaser here too.

[Bulletman]

I use my vac pump to suction out the oil filter recess and any in the valley, then a quick visual check. If you're in Perth happy to give you a hand, got plenty of degreaser here too.

Thanks for the kind offer, and if I didn't have so much going on at the moment I would take you up on it.
Once I move the van , because of the rental crisis in perth most van parks will only let you stay 5-7 days, managed to find one that will let us stay longer, get my 2 air compressors that are leaking in the caps which are both near new alloy type....but that's a whole other story . I might manage to get around to sorting the oil leak out.
Oh the Joy's of the permagrin.

Cheers Bulletman

[PerthDisco]

Definitely oil in valley overflows and drips down around bell housing and accumulates on sway bar. At about 10 years very very likely to be oil cooler related.

The other leak point is the vacuum pump seal on drivers side back of the engine. This drips down from top and ends up on the fuel cooler travelling over the exhaust cross over and EGR cooler area. Any body off job always change this cheap seal I reckon as it’s parallel difficulty to changing the fuel pump belt access procedure.

I did the oil cooler and now all I have is the vac pump leak.

When removing oil filter undo a few turns and wait for the captured oil to drain into sump on the 2.7. Not sure if 3.0 has same feature. A heap will come out if draining by sump. You can do it leak free.

[Pippin]

When removing oil filter undo a few turns and wait for the captured oil to drain into sump on the 2.7. Not sure if 3.0 has same feature. A heap will come out if draining by sump. You can do it leak free.[/QUOTE] I have never been able to do it leak free for some reason, it does not seem to drain completely no matter how long it is left to drain after the requisite number of turns.

[Bulletman]

When removing oil filter undo a few turns and wait for the captured oil to drain into sump on the 2.7. Not sure if 3.0 has same feature. A heap will come out if draining by sump. You can do it leak free. I have never been able to do it leak free for some reason, it does not seem to drain completely no matter how long it is left to drain after the requisite number of turns.[/QUOTE]
I normally change the diff oil every oil change so I leave it to drain whilst I do them and then do the filter and engine oil.
I did use a different brand filter this time so I might just do a few checks to see if I can identify it.
I am going to order a oil cooler anyway as it sounds like I'm on borrowed time so may as well get it here for when it happens.

Cheers Bulletman

[PerthDisco]

I have never been able to do it leak free for some reason, it does not seem to drain completely no matter how long it is left to drain after the requisite number of turns.
I normally change the diff oil every oil change so I leave it to drain whilst I do them and then do the filter and engine oil.
I did use a different brand filter this time so I might just do a few checks to see if I can identify it.
I am going to order a oil cooler anyway as it sounds like I'm on borrowed time so may as well get it here for when it happens.

Cheers Bulletman[/QUOTE]

The extra deluge out the sump is very noticeable and if you imagine the entrapped oil in the vacant space of the filter cover can’t be much. There’s almost no way to lift it off to one side so carefully raising it should keep drips in line. Only a real splurge can overflow the housing but I’m sure it happens regularly in service shops.

If you were brave you could shoot some air down that drain hole to verify it’s draining or carefully pour in oil with filter out and watch it disappear.

[Keegan]

Gday All,
I'm thinking my D3 wants to go back to the tropics.. today I noticed a bit of oil under the car, getting underneath I clearly have engine oil down both sides of the bellhousing. Checking the oil level it's still full.
So reading suggests possibly the oil filter housing oring leaking. I'm pretty confident it's not this as I've just done 5500km in 5 weeks since changing the oil and filter and I havent used any so my thoughts are it would have lost some in that time/km .
Also see its possible oil cooler, this is possible I guess, cant see a valley full of oil not any in the header tank.
I can see oil which looks to be leaking from the rocker cover front passenger side into the valley area but it's not a flowing leak. I can also see oil at the back of the drivers side , but the rear of the head looks clean.
Obviously it needs a good degrease and clean but wondering if others have had this and what the culprit was.
Cheers Bulletman
Need a new oil cooler. Sits deep in the V . Light weight piece of sardine tins.

[Bulletman]

Ok so I can definitely say it's not the oil cooler leaking, the valley has no oil to speak of in it. Its obviously not perfectly clean but there is no pool of oil sitting in it.
I'm thinking its leaking drivers side on something that sits behind the head. Will try and get a photo .

Cheers Bulletman

[DiscoJeffster]

I believe that’s where the vacuum pump lives and as has been said, the seal on those are
prone to leaking, so it could be that.

[Bulletman]

I believe that’s where the vacuum pump lives and as has been said, the seal on those are
prone to leaking, so it could be that.
Body off job ??
Cheers Bulletman

[PerthDisco]

Body off job ??
Cheers Bulletman

Can be done in a similar vein to the fuel pump belt removing all things in the way coolant cross over, heater pipes and some injector pipes, but easier on RHD cars without engine harness to remove. Two mounting bolts access from top and two bolts from below reaching up.

You can replace seal but given brake booster oil contamination replace whole unit if going to trouble.

There’s a DIY write up on Disco3.uk

When I recently replaced my brake booster servo there’s an incredible view of the side of the engine and EGR with the plastic covers completely removed that cover the booster. It was obvious to me my vac pump was weeping as heaps of grime and you can see the top of the exhaust cross over where it leaks onto then down to the fuel cooler but nothing bad compared to previous oil cooler leak.

[Eric SDV6SE]

When removing oil filter undo a few turns and wait for the captured oil to drain into sump on the 2.7. Not sure if 3.0 has same feature. A heap will come out if draining by sump. You can do it leak free. I have never been able to do it leak free for some reason, it does not seem to drain completely no matter how long it is left to drain after the requisite number of turns.[/QUOTE]

On the D4 the oil drain from the filter works the same, undo the filter housing a fraction and remove the oul filler cap, oil trapped in the filter drains audibly. Suctioning out gets all the oil out as on the D4 the suction point is lower than the drain. D3s are different of course