Cold Bonnet

Hi All, new here so thanks in advance for any info.

My wife drives a 54 plate Diesel Freelander (from new) which has been trouble free over it's 40000 miles. Last week after a journey of 20 miles apparently there was a great deal of smoke from engine bay when she came to rest. She drove car back and everything seems fine although there is a small oil leak I would say at top of engine. What does seem very odd to me however is that the bonnet is stone cold even after driving for a good 20 mins or so. Any guidance as to whether this is a problem or not would be great or could this have been just a one off event of an oil surge or something like that.

Many thanks
John

Most likely your fuel burning heater on the passenger front side wheel arch
They puff out a bit of smoke when they turn off shortly after turning off the engine
Where exactly was the smoke coming from ?

Thanks for the responce Hippo. It was a cold day but apparently more than a puff of smoke but I'll check it out. I rarley drive the car but it does seem odd that bonnet is cold.

I thought they did away with the fuel burning heater after 2001 and replaced it with the PTC ceramic type?!

joe27979 said:

I thought they did away with the fuel burning heater after 2001 and replaced it with the PTC ceramic type?!

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As far as I know all the TD4s had fuel burners.

My 2002 and my current 2004 certainly have.

I've never seen a PTC.

Hi you don't say where you are located but I wouldn't have thought it has been cold enough in UK yet for the FBH to kick in: < 5 degrees. Possibilities are either a small oil leak from the top of the engine causing oil to drip onto the hot exhaust system or more seriously at the mileage you quote, a blocked engine breather/pcv breather/ crankcase depression limiting valve filter (proper name) which can be terminal as the resulting back pressure can cause all the engine oil to be forced out of the dipstick tube. Do a search on here and check it out. D..

I agree with Dann - the pcv is a likely culprit if there are no obvious oil leaks on the engine exterior.

It needs to be replaced preferably with the modified 'cyclonic' insert part, anyway at this mileage.

I've never heard it called a 'crankcase depression limiting valve filter' before - although that may be an accurate description.

BMW who re-designed the thing call it an 'Oil Separator'.

Singvogel said:

I agree with Dann - the pcv is a likely culprit if there are no obvious oil leaks on the engine exterior.

It needs to be replaced preferably with the modified 'cyclonic' insert part, anyway at this mileage.

I've never heard it called a 'crankcase depression limiting valve filter' before - although that may be an accurate description.

BMW who re-designed the thing call it an 'Oil Separator'.

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Quoting from 'Rave' D..

Singvogel said:

As far as I know all the TD4s had fuel burners.

My 2002 and my current 2004 certainly have.

I've never seen a PTC.

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Noooo, mine has the PTC ceramic heater, don't know where it is though.

I used to think I was doing well learning one new thing everyday.

Now on LandyZ I learn something new every hour.

Well done guys.

OP please log on and give us more info, if you can.

Thanks people. I'm in Norfolk and lowest temp has been 9 degrees. I'll search on here regarding your other comments. Should she continue to drive(it has happened since) and is the cold bonnet normal.

Sorry that should read.... It has NOT happened since.

Relayer said:

Thanks people. I'm in Norfolk and lowest temp has been 9 degrees. I'll search on here regarding your other comments. Should she continue to drive(it has happened since) and is the cold bonnet normal.

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As the bonnet has a very thick sound/heat insulation pad i would think it would generally feel cold externally. As to whether she should continue to drive? well I would carefully remove the dipstick with the engine running and if oil sprays out then no I would not drive the vehicle but search this forum to find the reason. Remember that these awesome TD4 engines cost £4K+.

My heater thingy is not there, someones knicked it.... the coolant pipes go in there but are just linked together, and the electrial connection is just flapping about. But cant recall seeing a fuel supply line?


Theiving scum!!! what does it look like any one have a link to one, on ebay maybe?

Must be an international thieve gang, because my Dutch Td4 from 2005 doesn't have a FBH too. Well, see it this way. Something else that cannot break.

Maybe the FBH were optional extras ?

Checked the Singvogel Archives - Correction required.

Diesel fuel burning heaters were standard on SE, HSE and Sport Premium TD4s only.

They were a £400 option on all other TD4 models.

jedi said:

My heater thingy is not there, someones knicked it.... the coolant pipes go in there but are just linked together, and the electrial connection is just flapping about. But cant recall seeing a fuel supply line?


Theiving scum!!! what does it look like any one have a link to one, on ebay maybe?

Click to expand...

LR Series have been out of stock for a while,
JEC500320 AUXILLARY ENGINE & CABIN HEATER ASSEMBLY | Freelander 1996>: Accessories | shop | www.lrseries.com | L. R. Series
Some on ebay,
webasto thermo top c | eBay

Optimus Prime said:

Noooo, mine has the PTC ceramic heater, don't know where it is though.

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The PTC heater piggybacks onto the heater matrix.
An auxiliary fuse box is fitted to the side of the E-box for either PTC or heated screen.

i wouldn't worry about one...the noise mine has been making every time i start up this week and the amount of extra fuel its using i will be removing the fuse for it tomorrow!!!