300 tdi leak identification..

I'm new here and just as new to land rovers, only had her since saturday.
Got home, had a look over how the engine held up over the 310mile journey home and notice a little leak. Nothing I am too worried about but as I haven't had a land rover or a car over 3 years old before, oil scares me!

I think its either the rocker cover or the manifold gasket but, can anyone help identify it whilst I wait for the gaskets to arrive... the oil is pooling in this little bit and running down the exhaust a little.

quite likely both

Haha fair enough! Gaskets should be here tomorrow so I'll be doing it on the weekend. Unlikely to be anything else?.... :fingers crossed:

agree with James, I had the same thing on mine when I got her and it turned out to be both

Rocker or manifold?
Surely that's a bit of oil to be blowing out of (I assume) the inlet manifold???

julianf said:

Rocker or manifold?
Surely that's a bit of oil to be blowing out of (I assume) the inlet manifold???

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Are you suggesting it's neither?

Nope - could easily be the rocker, but JamesM knows more than me, so i was confused that he suggested it could be the inlet (?)

Rocker is simple enough to check - clean it all up with break cleaner (toolstation has it cheap at present) and see if it comes back from the top of the head.

(or at least thats what ive done)

phew. I'll do both anyway, just hoping it is one or both of them.

As James says it's probably both - the exhaust manifold gasket will probably have cracked/split at No's 1 and 4 ports. Don't go mad when you tighten down the rocker box bolts - just a nip and I'm sure someone on here will come back with the torque tightening figure.

10Nm. It isn't a lot - it's a good idea to use a torque wrench as it lets you get all 3 equal - this means the seal is then pulled down as square as possible.

the 3 nuts should bottom out meaning clamping pressure should be equal

jamesmartin said:

the 3 nuts should bottom out meaning clamping pressure should be equal

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I would be inclined not to do that. They give a torque specification, not an angle tightening spec, not a "bottom out" spec.

The rocker seals don't benefit from being crushed, in fact they will leak. Bottoming them out relies on all three studs being exactly level, i.e. screwed down exactly the same amount,and being the same size of stud, I know on mine one of the studs is not original and is slightly shorter than the rest, if someone blindly bottomed them out on my engine they would end up with one really very tight and probably causing damage.

I tend not to disagree with you James but there is plenty of engineering theory to suggest this is not a good method.

So.. use a torque wrench? For both the rocker and the inlet manifold? Or just the rocker?

OneTon said:

So.. use a torque wrench? For both the rocker and the inlet manifold? Or just the rocker?

Click to expand...

up to you though it isnt necessary unless youve no idea about using spanners

Haha no problems, quick help... Rocker cover is off, it appears these things, c shaped pieces of metal, where stopping the cover getting flush... Should they be in a certain position?

any pics

or do you mean these in center between the rockers

That's the badgers

pull then upright before reffing cover