200tdi breathing heavily and losing oil

Well I've changed the cyclone breather and the oil filler cap for now. Both seem a million times better than one the ones that came off, the cap fits tightly and the new cyclone breather actually has the o ring seal unlike my last one don't think that helped with oil retention anyway. Haven't had a look yet to see if its still leaking but I've got a feeling it won't be now. However since I've changed them it seems to have developed quite a fast, rough idle which calms down and disappears after a bit of driving. Any ideas as to why?

sounds like head gasket

I thought that initially but no other signs point to it

i had exactly the same thing on my fender, put another engine in and later removed the head from the old one and found the head gasket had gone on number 4 cylinder and an oil way hence pressurising the rocker

Hm. I'll see if I can feel any chuffing or anything back there. How long and easy is it to do the gasket? Tis my daily driver so I can't have it off the road any longer than a weekend

worth a look for the cost of a gasket.
Did it seem to happen all of a sudden?

the_wolf said:

Hm. I'll see if I can feel any chuffing or anything back there. How long and easy is it to do the gasket? Tis my daily driver so I can't have it off the road any longer than a weekend

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it doesnt have to be leaking from the head just from the cylinder into an oilway, Its not too hard a job to be honest, it could be done in a day

Gasket can go between pot and cam gallery which won't give much in the way of symptoms except crankcase pressure.

Did you get to test compression?

blue beasty said:

Gasket can go between pot and cam gallery which won't give much in the way of symptoms except crankcase pressure.

Did you get to test compression?

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Exactly what BB said, removing the head will at least give indication to bore and or ring wear and also the condition of the gasket

top-cat said:

worth a look for the cost of a gasket.
Did it seem to happen all of a sudden?

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Nope been like this for a while now. It's taken me a while to discover the source of the oil leak and look into it further so the original symptoms I asked about certainly aren't new. The rough, fast idle is, just seems to coincidental that this started after I replaced the cyclone.

blue beasty said:

Gasket can go between pot and cam gallery which won't give much in the way of symptoms except crankcase pressure.

Did you get to test compression?

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Hm I may very well look into doing the gasket then. It certainly can't hurt. Haven't tested compression yet but I'm sure I've got a bit of kit in work that will do the job. Just so I'm clear how do I test it?

Trying to find a decent how to int easy on me phone

Try this Engines Compression Testing Procedures - YouTube

Basically remove injector, screw in, disconnect fuel stop solinoid and turn over. Repeating with a squirt of oil helps to diagnose whether rings are the problem

remove glow plugs is the norm

Ah I thought that was the procedure. Positive I've got a compression tester in work so ill see if I can borrow it for this weekend. What would I be looking for?

the_wolf said:

Ah I thought that was the procedure. Positive I've got a compression tester in work so ill see if I can borrow it for this weekend. What would I be looking for?

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JM is quite right of course, you could look up what readings are 'normal' but compression down on one pot would suggest increased likelyhood of gasket failure to cam gallery with no other symptoms. Doesn't rule out valves etc but so far as I understand that's why you retest with oil to see if the issue is above pistons

Been having a look and apparently land rover don't specify compression readings but most things I've seen suggest that around the 405 mark is very good for a healthy engine with no more than a difference of 7 between each cylinder. Hopefully it is just the cylinder head but will compression test and see. Strange thing is that it also seems to have more power, especially low down power, since I changed the breather. Don't think its just my imagination but you never know...