Calling Oil Detectives!

Hi All,

Noticed two drops of oil on the drive today.

So had a look under the engine and one is coming from the sump - so need a new plug there (suggestions/links welcome).

The second leak, is a little more! I've taken pictures from underneath and above - any advice is more than welcome as still new to the world of TD5 90's.

Also I had a further look round and there seems to be alot from the crankshank pulley (hope I've identified that right.

Put please have a look at the pictures and any advice/recommendations you all have.

Thanks in advance!

Thinking on I've bought a new seal for the crankshank pulley, and clean it all down this weekend along with the other 'oily' bits, which fingers crossed will help see things more clearly!

But if anyone has thoughts on the oil leak around the pipes then let me know!

Camshaft front cover/grommet/seal on front of head.
Rocker cover gasket.
Fuel pressure regulator
Power steering pump.
Clean it all off with brake cleaner and start from the top down.
Two different rocker cover gaskets depending on the year.

Anaconda said:

Camshaft front cover/grommet/seal on front of head.
Rocker cover gasket.
Fuel pressure regulator
Power steering pump.
Clean it all off with brake cleaner and start from the top down.
Two different rocker cover gaskets depending on the year.

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Bearing in mind that by driving it , the wind can push oil in a lot of places ...

Anaconda said:

Camshaft front cover/grommet/seal on front of head.
Rocker cover gasket.
Fuel pressure regulator
Power steering pump.
Clean it all off with brake cleaner and start from the top down.
Two different rocker cover gaskets depending on the year.

Click to expand...

Thats great feedback - thank you. Are they all fairly simple(ish) jobs? Or are any more of a pig than another?

Also the year of the 90 is 1999 if that helps?

Dippypud said:

Bearing in mind that by driving it , the wind can push oil in a lot of places ...

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Really good point! So after a good clean up, start the engine up stationary for 15/20 mins and see whats happening/any leaks?

ForceyBoy said:

Really good point! So after a good clean up, start the engine up stationary for 15/20 mins and see whats happening/any leaks?

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You can just chuck some talc everywhere and drive as normal thenlook see where the concentrations are, as there maybe more than one concern ...

Dippypud said:

You can just chuck some talc everywhere and drive as normal thenlook see where the concentrations are, as there maybe more than one concern ...

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Weirdo what you do in your private habit not a concern here. Smack bum for you young lady with a inflated rubber washing up glove.

That oil around the air intake pipe could well be diesel leaking out of the fuel pressure regulator which is just above. Mine has been known to do this. It's doing so at the moment, but not quite badly enough to merit a new one. The existing one is just about to reach its tenth anniversary, so maybe it's time.

There's a picture of your multiplug where the injector loom enters the cylinder head there, which looks quite oily. That might be worth checking, and replacing the injector loom inside the rocker cover. Oil has a habit of leaking into the wires and into the multiplug and causing running and starting issues.

I'd be inclined to clean things up and see what reappears. The TD5 engine doesn't mind being hosed down with a pressure washer. I buy multipacks of the cheapest brake cleaner I can find on Ebay for oil cleanup duties. It seems to cut into it more readily than Gunk.

saxavordian said:

Smack bum for you young lady with a inflated rubber washing up glove.

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What you do in your private habit not a concern here. Wierdo.


There, got that in the right order for you

Brown said:

That oil around the air intake pipe could well be diesel leaking out of the fuel pressure regulator which is just above. Mine has been known to do this. It's doing so at the moment, but not quite badly enough to merit a new one. The existing one is just about to reach its tenth anniversary, so maybe it's time.

There's a picture of your multiplug where the injector loom enters the cylinder head there, which looks quite oily. That might be worth checking, and replacing the injector loom inside the rocker cover. Oil has a habit of leaking into the wires and into the multiplug and causing running and starting issues.

I'd be inclined to clean things up and see what reappears. The TD5 engine doesn't mind being hosed down with a pressure washer. I buy multipacks of the cheapest brake cleaner I can find on Ebay for oil cleanup duties. It seems to cut into it more readily than Gunk.

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Great advice - cleaned the engine bay and under today... so able to watch whats going on now. Though after it all dried out saw this - any ideas?

ForceyBoy said:

Great advice - cleaned the engine bay and under today... so able to watch whats going on now. Though after it all dried out saw this - any ideas?

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That yellow stuff looks kind of dry and will be the remnants of the leaks you have cleaned off. The yellow is like a kind of varnish the oil leaves and will come off with a wire brush or similar.

Oil can accumulate on the base of the transfer box from a variety of places. The O ring seals on the intermediate shaft of the transfer box can leak, there's a seal where the output shaft of the main gearbox exits the primary box, and another where it enters the transfer box and if these deteriorate the oil can run down and accumulate here. Also, one of the bolts holding the primary gearbox to the transfer box is up there in that gap and because it's hard to get at people can forget to replace it. It's above the oil line, but as the oil is thrown around as you drive, it can drip. Or the bolt can be there, but loose. If you need to replace it, use a short one, because a long one can foul the gears and stop them going round. Also, oil can escape from the join between the main body of the transfer box and the front nose cone. This join doesn't have a gasket because the two parts have to go together accurately so as to define the distance between the two roller bearings of the centre diff. However a smear of some sort of sealant that squeezes down well, like Hylomar, on assembly can be helpful. Oh yes, and the join around the sump pan of the transfer box. Even if there's a gasket and sealant, the oil can come out of the bolt holes and past the heads of the bolts, because some of them go straight through into the interior.

All of these things need a certain amount of dismantling. Except the missing bolt I mentioned. So you've got to balance the time and trouble involved against the severity of the oil leak. I took my transfer box out and replaced a number of the gaskets and seals last autumn, but that's because it was shedding oil at quite a rate and needed a top up every 500 miles or so.

It's started again, after a mere six months. My handbrake has been considerably less effective too, over the last couple of weeks, so I might have a leak at the rear output seal - that's another place the oil gets out. So maybe a new output seal and brake shoes are on the cards.

So that's my experience of 150,000 miles with a Land Rover transfer box. I'm sure there's more that can go wrong, but it gives you some idea.

I bought some glow in the dark fluid stuff a while back which you add to your oil, and then spot potential leaks using a black-light UV torch. Helped me find a couple of leaks, but only after I’d jet washed the hell out of what was there already.

As @Dippypud said, the oil comes from one place and gets blown and stuck everywhere.

s8ndst0rm said:

I bought some glow in the dark fluid stuff a while back which you add to your oil, and then spot potential leaks using a black-light UV torch. Helped me find a couple of leaks, but only after I’d jet washed the hell out of what was there already.

As @Dippypud said, the oil comes from one place and gets blown and stuck everywhere.

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Never knew you could glow in the dark fluid for oil and fuel - that is genius! On it!