Thread: Total Oil Loss

Originally Posted by Bolton

Hi All. Yesterday my wife was towing a laden horse float with our 98 Disco 1 300 TDI. On Aarrival home She reported pols of black oil appearing on the floor and sprayed under the body of the car. I checked today. There is no motor oil left in the motor now and I checked oil levels just the other day. The entire underside, from the front of the motor to the rear diff sprayed in oil I suspected oil cooler hoses, which I have spare, so put oil in motor and ran it. I expected to see a very obvious evacuation of oil from a hose or similar. I could however see nothing. Slight weep from the front seal, but that s nothing new. Anyone got any ideas? I am baffled.

It is a Land Rover
Carry at least a four litre of oil everywhere you go

Originally Posted by Bolton

Hi All. Yesterday my wife was towing a laden horse float with our 98 Disco 1 300 TDI. On Aarrival home She reported pols of black oil appearing on the floor and sprayed under the body of the car. I checked today. There is no motor oil left in the motor now and I checked oil levels just the other day. The entire underside, from the front of the motor to the rear diff sprayed in oil I suspected oil cooler hoses, which I have spare, so put oil in motor and ran it. I expected to see a very obvious evacuation of oil from a hose or similar. I could however see nothing. Slight weep from the front seal, but that s nothing new. Anyone got any ideas? I am baffled.

Could it be leaking around the edge of the sump? That might explain why, whilst stationary, it's not leaking oil, but when moving, the oil would be sloshing around?

Also, oil won't go through the oil cooler hose until it's hot. 300tdi has an oil cooler thermostat that doesn't open whilst cold. You may not have had the oil hot enough for it to pass through the oil cooler lines to see any possible leak.

A long time ago I read a story by some writer taking his family on a round Oz trip in a D1 and the motor self destructed in the back of Queensland due to the oil feed pipe to the turbo failing and spewing all the oil out. Needless to say he wasn’t very impressed. Something for you to add to the check list.
On the upside, your Disco should be very well rust proofed now.
Cheers and good luck,
Woolly.

Thanks All. Will re check the heating/ oil cooler hose issue.
BB

turbo oil line return hose ?

I had the same thing with mine, bit more obvious when it happened, but it was the oil cooler hose, they pump oil out pretty fast when they are broken!

There will be a difference in 'oil loss' between towing a laden horse float and test driving without the same load.
Whilst under load, oil will be lost more quickly. Oil will get much hotter, I've measured approx 20 - 30 °C more whist cruising compared to straining.

So your slight weep from the front seal on a test run may turn out differently if you had the Tdi under a harder load(uphill/towing) for a length of time.

Using common physics principles, you said 'entire under car from front of engine' was sprayed, so it's unlikely to be an oil leak coming from the RHS centre of the block.
It's more likely to be something closer to the front of the engine. ie. front seal.
So when towing, oil is hotter and under a touch more duress, stressing the seal, but on a test drive less stress and is just a weep.

My old RRC,(had far too many klms on it for a totally original 3.5lt) .. ran like this.
Just cruising it'd (maybe) drop or two from the front seal. But worked a little hard(eg. 120k/h on a very long outback road .. not that I drive that way! ) or a long uphill climb .. it would dump half a lt of oil from the front seal in a few mins, just parked(yep! measured).
RRCs problem wasn't the front seal, it was a worn crank/bearings etc. new seals lasted the drive home from a mechanic before leaking again. Trick was to just tread lightly.

It sounds like your'e lucky it was still running when switched off.
Don.