Disco 1 Blowing White Smoke

This site contains affiliate links for which LandyZone may be compensated if you make a purchase.
P

Peppercorn

New Member
Posts
3
Location
Australia
Hi, this is my 1st post here sorry it's a negative one.

I've owned by Disco TDI300 for about 7 years now and I've looked after it well with oil changes and general maintenance and it's nearing the 300K mark. It still goes well but...........
It started blowing white smoke (and burning oil) after I towed a trailer about 6 months ago. The trailer was heavy and it was a very hot day but the car never over heated or anything.
It started puffing smoke at idle or after re-starting it after running it for a while, it would fill the street with smoke but once we started driving again, it would stop.
So, normal driving seemed to stop the smoke.
If I traveled on an Expressway @ 100kph (type of driving) it was fine and never blew any smoke or used any oil for that matter. But if I stopped to fill up the tank when I restarted it, it would smoke a lot again until I got up to speed again.
But, the other day, it seemed to get worse. It is puffing when I'm driving along and it reasonably bad.
I thought it might be the Turbo, so I replaced the turbo with a NEW insert. A genuine Turbo not a Chinese knock off but it STILL is smoking the same.
Now, all I can think is that it might be a piston or a piston ring?? but I'm hoping it might be something else less dramatic.

The motor hasn't lost any power and isn't making any odd noises.

If I remove the Oil Filler Cap while the engine is running it "appears" to have negative pressure 'if anything' rather than positive pressure in that, it seems to suck a little as the cap is removed. It definitely does not blow from there at all.
This to me, "may be a sign" of something but what??
The only thing which is modified on the engine is the breather system as I installed a Provent system 3 or 4 years back but that appears to be working OK.
Any help would be much appreciated!!
 
IMO first move should be to measure the compression and start from there... that crankcae pressure thing might be related to valve seals, maybe a engine overhaul would be a good ideea
 
Thanks for your response.
I've been thinking it may be Valve seals too. That makes sense that it starts puffing after it's restarted too. Then, I also wondered if it might be a Head Gasket as well? But, I am hoping for someone to tell me to check something that I havn't thought of which will be less expensive and less mechanically intense. I think I'm living in denial!!

The problem definitely arose after towing that big trailer which makes me think it might be a ring or a piston because of too much strain
 
After doing a compression test and finding no problems there, a mate suggested that I disconnect the Provent and reconnect the Factory Setup as a process of elimination.
I did!
It turns out that the Provent was the problem. Thank God!!!!!!!! I am in no position to pay someone to do an engine overhaul and even though I am an ex mechanic, I'm in no physical condition to do an engine rebuild.
Let's not talk about a financial situation.

So, somehow the Provent was literally
1: Sucking oil through the vacuum hose via the top of the Rocker or,
2: it was drawing it up through the drain (which I find hard to believe) but anything is possible.

The truth is, I've had no end of trouble with that Provent from the day I installed it. This is the 3rd serious issue I've had with that darn thing. A waste of money, and effort.
Just on this thing....
I bought it through a Club about 5 years ago as 15 of us bought some as a "group buy" as a guy in the club was a salesman with the company and sold us on their superior design bla bla bla.
Most of us had issues with the thing from the outset. I believe there is a fault in the basic design of the thing because, of oil being drawn into the container and then, easily passing through this paper membrane they had there, specifically designed, to stop oil being drawn into the top of the container and being sucked into the Vacuum hose and then the combustion chamber.
To cut this story short, all of us changed the design (quite simply) and improved the thing and our troubles ceased. That is, as it turns out, until a few months ago.
AND, the stupid thing is, I should've suspected it from the outset but for some reason thought it was behaving itself.

Anyway, thanks for your help!
 
Peppercorn said:
Most of us had issues with the thing from the outset. I believe there is a fault in the basic design of the thing because, of oil being drawn into the container and then, easily passing through this paper membrane they had there, specifically designed, to stop oil being drawn into the top of the container and being sucked into the Vacuum hose and then the combustion chamber
Click to expand...
It is a good thing that you found your problem, unfortunately so many of these "bolt ons" turn out to be dissapointing.
 
Peppercorn said:
Most of us had issues with the thing from the outset. I believe there is a fault in the basic design of the thing because, of oil being drawn into the container and then, easily passing through this paper membrane they had there, specifically designed, to stop oil being drawn into the top of the container and being sucked into the Vacuum hose and then the combustion chamber
Click to expand...
It is a good thing that you found your problem, unfortunately so many of these "bolt ons" turn out to be dissapointing.
 
Peppercorn said:
After doing a compression test and finding no problems there, a mate suggested that I disconnect the Provent and reconnect the Factory Setup as a process of elimination.
I did!
It turns out that the Provent was the problem. Thank God!!!!!!!! I am in no position to pay someone to do an engine overhaul and even though I am an ex mechanic, I'm in no physical condition to do an engine rebuild.
Let's not talk about a financial situation.

So, somehow the Provent was literally
1: Sucking oil through the vacuum hose via the top of the Rocker or,
2: it was drawing it up through the drain (which I find hard to believe) but anything is possible.

The truth is, I've had no end of trouble with that Provent from the day I installed it. This is the 3rd serious issue I've had with that darn thing. A waste of money, and effort.
Just on this thing....
I bought it through a Club about 5 years ago as 15 of us bought some as a "group buy" as a guy in the club was a salesman with the company and sold us on their superior design bla bla bla.
Most of us had issues with the thing from the outset. I believe there is a fault in the basic design of the thing because, of oil being drawn into the container and then, easily passing through this paper membrane they had there, specifically designed, to stop oil being drawn into the top of the container and being sucked into the Vacuum hose and then the combustion chamber.
To cut this story short, all of us changed the design (quite simply) and improved the thing and our troubles ceased. That is, as it turns out, until a few months ago.
AND, the stupid thing is, I should've suspected it from the outset but for some reason thought it was behaving itself.

Anyway, thanks for your help!
Click to expand...

soon as you mention paper element it stands to reason
all engines do breath and there will be oil in the suspension OF THE BREATHING SYSTEM
once the paper media is wet it wont allow air to escape as quick creating more crank case pressure (pillowcase over some guys head torture while pouring water he cant breath )
to high of a crank case pressure results in the turbo can not drain the oil as quick due to back pressure in the sump ..the oil by passes the turbo oil seals (RINGS) either straight out the hot side or sucked back into the cool side ..depending... but some turbos do not suffer from damage it all depends if the oil sealing ring and surface is not burnt

I would monitor this over the a few days... if it ok go and purchase a cheap catch can ..bearing in mind do not get to greedy while adding in media try and allow the catch can breath as well as catch oil
in my experience I have seen only 2 types of systems to work 100%

# 1 breath to atmosphere FLIP side leaves a mess
#2 a oil spinner breather that works with oil pressure found on bigger engines
 
Last edited:
brian47 said:
You're not suggesting water boarding the sales rep are you?
Click to expand...
not this time round the provent was installed 3 to 4 year ago
as well as peppercorn is a ex mechanic who should know fine well how the breathing system works
 
Last edited:
Peppercorn said:
Hi, this is my 1st post here sorry it's a negative one.

I've owned by Disco TDI300 for about 7 years now and I've looked after it well with oil changes and general maintenance and it's nearing the 300K mark. It still goes well but...........
It started blowing white smoke (and burning oil) after I towed a trailer about 6 months ago. The trailer was heavy and it was a very hot day but the car never over heated or anything.
It started puffing smoke at idle or after re-starting it after running it for a while, it would fill the street with smoke but once we started driving again, it would stop.
So, normal driving seemed to stop the smoke.
If I traveled on an Expressway @ 100kph (type of driving) it was fine and never blew any smoke or used any oil for that matter. But if I stopped to fill up the tank when I restarted it, it would smoke a lot again until I got up to speed again.
But, the other day, it seemed to get worse. It is puffing when I'm driving along and it reasonably bad.
I thought it might be the Turbo, so I replaced the turbo with a NEW insert. A genuine Turbo not a Chinese knock off but it STILL is smoking the same.
Now, all I can think is that it might be a piston or a piston ring?? but I'm hoping it might be something else less dramatic.

The motor hasn't lost any power and isn't making any odd noises.

If I remove the Oil Filler Cap while the engine is running it "appears" to have negative pressure 'if anything' rather than positive pressure in that, it seems to suck a little as the cap is removed. It definitely does not blow from there at all.
This to me, "may be a sign" of something but what??
The only thing which is modified on the engine is the breather system as I installed a Provent system 3 or 4 years back but that appears to be working OK.
Any help would be much appreciated!!
Click to expand...

considering the engine isn't brand new with 3000 on the clock you should be breathing positive
if you removed the oil filler cap and noticed a vacuum this could be also a tell tale sign the intake is blocked choked up air cleaner or chocked up manifold due to the good old EGR system

removing the oil filler cap by passes all other breathing system
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
Discovery 4 - Limp Mode Cold Start Manifold absolute pressure issues
Replies
2
Views
373
Graculus
Graculus
B
Heavy black smoke and very poor fuel economy
Replies
19
Views
875
MJI
MJI
M
D2 - TD5 - sudden oil consumption increase
Replies
17
Views
1K
Malawi_Disco_2
M
C
Discovery 4 fumes in cabin
Replies
2
Views
835
Chadders1960
C
200tdi Land Rover 90
Defender TD5 2003 idle problems!
Replies
5
Views
449
Anaconda
A
Back
Top