Oil In Air Filter

[hot rover]

I am getting a thick dark oily / greasy build up on my air filter. Every time I get a service I have to cough up for a new air filter. I drove 500km at the weekend with a brand new filter in place and checked when i arrived home last night and it to is clogged up. The build up is on the inside of the filter the box also gets a build up in it. Does anyone have any ideas on what it could be?
My vehicle is a 2001 td5 discovery.

[hot rover]

ooopps when I said the outside of the filter box I ment to say the inside

[George130]

Doesn't sound good. I have no idea what would cause it but I don't have that problem.

[Kalbee118]

Hi Hot Rover - I had the same problem on my TDi until I put on a snokel. Seems the intake inside LH wheel well sucked in a lot of road grime.

[hot rover]

I had a transmission line fail in febuary this year. I think there must be some transmission fluid somewhere that was missed in the clean up. I have been leaning towards a snorkel to.

[T.D.5]

Hot rover,

Just be aware that oil on the sensor on the air intake will fry the element & you'll be up for a new one. This is a hazard of over oiling reusable element filter such as ITGs & other brands. It would take alot of oil to penetrate the paper element but if oil is migrating it may seep up past the filter seal. I'd be cleaning it out pronto & checking the intake throat.

Remove the inner guard & check all lines. this is were it sounds like you have the problem. Its not a visible area. 1 phillips head screwdriver is all thats needed.

Curiously, what did the service tech say about the oil ingress? Did they offer suggestions or remedies? I hope they just didnt politely sell you another air filter & leave it at that.

Cheers

[hot rover]

Hot rover,

Just be aware that oil on the sensor on the air intake will fry the element & you'll be up for a new one. This is a hazard of over oiling reusable element filter such as ITGs & other brands. It would take alot of oil to penetrate the paper element but if oil is migrating it may seep up past the filter seal. I'd be cleaning it out pronto & checking the intake throat.

Remove the inner guard & check all lines. this is were it sounds like you have the problem. Its not a visible area. 1 phillips head screwdriver is all thats needed.

Curiously, what did the service tech say about the oil ingress? Did they offer suggestions or remedies? I hope they just didnt politely sell you another air filter & leave it at that.

Cheers
The oil hasn't gone past the filter yet i checked the maf when I changed the filter.
I removed the inner guard last week and it was dry and dusty in there.
I stopped going to the local land rover dealer as they are nothing more than lying theives. They claimed they were fixing thing and all they did was steam clean and leave it sit in the car park all day. So I have to try to fix everything myself as every mechanic yo go to as soon as they see it is a land rover they don't want to know you.

[EchiDna]

back pedalling a bit first...

is the oil on the inner or outer surface of the filter? a bit ambiguous in the earlier post, so I'm not sure!

[hot rover]

On The Outer Side Of The Filter (or The Side That The Dirt Hits)

[phil&liz]

On The Outer Side Of The Filter (or The Side That The Dirt Hits)
Hi,
Did you work out what was causing the filter to oil up?
I've had a 1999 td5 disco since 2009 and it's done it since I've had it.

Phil

[Hamish71]

My money is on a leaking power steering pump, or transmission cooler.

[colintandy]

hi hot rover...im not 100% positive of the set up of the td5 engine but on the tdi engines they have a pipe running from the otherside of the engine normally comes around the back of the engine this is from the oil sump breather ...this is also conected to the air filter pipe just above the airbox!!
disconect this pipe from the filter end and make sure you seal the hole up !! and hang it onto the chassis somewhere out the way...all that comes out is basically bad engine breath that is moist with oil that is why the filter gets black!!
ok first thing you will notice is a improvment in performance as there is no warm air entering the air intake now and a little smoother running.
the second thing is it will lubricate your chassis rail with with engine oil...cant be a bad thing ...ivehad mine off for 4 years now and i have done deep water wading with no issues and i dont get any problems just better drive although mine is a 300tdi .i will try to post a few pics so you can see
cheers colin

[phil&liz]

I don't think the problem is with the engine breather as the oil or grease gathers on the dirty side of the air filter. The attached images shows the greasy build up in the air filter and housing.
There is no evidence of oil in the intake to the air filter housing also.
I'll have a good look around the power steering reservoir.