Discover 4 Oil Overfill

Hi all my name is Francis and I have made a mistake so here hoping for some guidance ‍.
I have recently over filled my Discovery 4 SDV6 with oil. The oils gauge seems to be faulty and me thinking it’s totally empty decided to top it up with a large jug. Shortly after a drive to the shops it started running lumpy and I almost couldn’t stop the engine!,

It’s chucked oil out the exhaust……

I’ve had it recovered to a local garage who have stated the crank is shot. Is that likely? As the same garage offered me a scrap price for it which gets me thinking maybe a second opinion would be a good idea.

Thanks

Welcome to the forum!
so sad to hear this!
Those engines do have a reputation for breaking their cranks, but whether that has anything to do with overfilling with oil I have no idea.
Maybe you have hydrolocked it only with oil not water. This might explain the oil out of the exhaust and it running on burning it's own oil which maybe why you had problems stopping the engine.
You want to start by emptying out all the oil in the sump, looking for particles of metal, and from then on consult someone who knows more about D4s than I, which is diddly-squat really.
@gstuart is your man, among others.
He'll pick this up now i have tagged him.
Best of luck with it mate and I hope the person who offered you scrap for it isn't just an orrible person who uses some general knowledge that many Landy owners have about these engines to persuade you to let him have it cheap when in fact you may "just" have done damage to the head gasket and possibly bent a con rod.
all the very best with it mate!

Whilst the SDV6 is prone to crank issues in specific circumstances, I've never known this to be caused by overfilling with oil.
That said, cleaning the intake & charge air tracts isn't going to be a quick job - you may also require a replacement exhaust system depending upon the model year and emissions specification level - and the level of contamination.
The root cause is of course, the oil level sensor which will also require replacement,

Defo second opinion

The reason you couldn't stop the motor was running on its oil being overfilled drawn in through breather, can cause significant damage, in many cases, hopefully you'll get lucky will need significant cleaning as mentioned above

Why do I have a deep distrust of brand new posters, posting up some pretty unreal situations....

Go on then.... What were the symptoms that prompted you to top up your engine, with a big jug of oil..... without any thought of type, quantity, or reasons for overfilling your engine with lubricant.

Me cynical..... you bet.

Dunno, but the post he(?) made is plausible and isn't contentious so.....
I work in a dealers workshop and I'm well used to reading between the lines and the post seems genuine to me.

tilly2 said:

Why do I have a deep distrust of brand new posters, posting up some pretty unreal situations....

Go on then.... What were the symptoms that prompted you to top up your engine, with a big jug of oil..... without any thought of type, quantity, or reasons for overfilling your engine with lubricant.

Me cynical..... you bet.

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I have once seen a car with someone who filled the engine oil right to the top of the rocker cover oil filler hole as the oil light kept flashing!
I have seen many trucks with no oil on the dipstick or the oil level two or 3 inches above the maximum mark on the dipstick, bear in mind an inch on the stick is roughly 5 litres.

Sh!t happens.
The bloke made the understandable error of believeing the flipping guage.
Apparently it is "better" to have a piece of untrustworthy electronic cr@p than a dipstick.
I honestly feel sorry for him.
Call me a mug if you must.

Francisxxx said:

Hi all my name is Francis and I have made a mistake so here hoping for some guidance ‍.
I have recently over filled my Discovery 4 SDV6 with oil. The oils gauge seems to be faulty and me thinking it’s totally empty decided to top it up with a large jug. Shortly after a drive to the shops it started running lumpy and I almost couldn’t stop the engine!,

It’s chucked oil out the exhaust……

I’ve had it recovered to a local garage who have stated the crank is shot. Is that likely? As the same garage offered me a scrap price for it which gets me thinking maybe a second opinion would be a good idea.

Thanks

Click to expand...

I had a similar situation with the auto box oil temp warning light. .
Tis frightening when you are travelling 550 miles towing another car on a trailer and the flipping thing comes on, at random.
I got under, checked the oil level in the tranny and carried on.
Got to destination and changed the sender. the problem went away.
Hate electronics.

Low oil level warning lights, ANOTHER piece of TOTALLY unnecessary electrical cr@p. They should only allow fitting alongside a good old fashioned dipstick.

I hope Francis gets back and lets us know how he got on.
Mistakes do happen.
Sometime ago, my TD5 went in for a Service at a local and well respected garage. I told them it takes an age to show correct level on dipstick when toping up, so to put in the measured amount. Go away, have a cup a tea, service another car, then, dip it !
After picking it up it was smoking on way home, so I checked, yep, way past the full mark so I took it back.
It will burn off or we can empty some they said. I will wait was my reply.

Andy Warren said:

Low oil level warning lights, ANOTHER piece of TOTALLY unnecessary electrical cr@p. They should only allow fitting alongside a good old fashioned dipstick.

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Couldn't agree more!

They were mostly fitted because people were unaware of how to find & check a engine oil dipstick...

Graculus said:

They were mostly fitted because people were unaware of how to find & check a engine oil dipstick...

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Really?
Well maybe that is why in some countries basic car maintenance and checks are part of the driving test, quite rightly. What used to be called "weekly" checks in the owner's manual.

tis in fact part of the Uk driving test now.
"The questions of the second type of "tell me" questions (e.g. "open the bonnet") are:

• "Open the bonnet and tell me how you’d check that the engine has sufficient oil."
• "Open the bonnet and tell me how you’d check that the engine has sufficient engine coolant."
• "Open the bonnet and tell me how you’d check that you have a safe level of hydraulic brake fluid."["

It's a 'convenience feature' much like passive locking, power liftgate opening and global window open/close.
I'm not saying it's right - people don't want to get their hands dirty, much like why they take their car to a dealer if the TPMS warning light (the 'fat @rse' symbol) comes on - it's a 'fault'.
Yes, they should be doing the daily/weekly checks as demonstrated by the driving unstructor and required as part of the UK driving test. Once passed, few do check it - along with tyres, screenwash, lights etc. etc.

Graculus said:

It's a 'convenience feature' much like passive locking, power liftgate opening and global window open/close.
I'm not saying it's right - people don't want to get their hands dirty, much like why they take their car to a dealer if the TPMS warning light (the 'fat @rse' symbol) comes on - it's a 'fault'.
Yes, they should be doing the daily/weekly checks as demonstrated by the driving unstructor and required as part of the UK driving test. Once passed, few do check it - along with tyres, screenwash, lights etc. etc.

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Not saying you are wrong in the slightest. It is all my missus can do to put petrol in the car, and I once had a colleague whose wife refused to do even that! AND they lived out in the sticks.
But I do wish car manufacturers could put things like dipsticks back in so simple checks could reveal whether the fault actually exists or not.
Getting under the car with the engine running and needing to undo the ATF filler plug to see if any dribbles out, on the side of a motorway really isn't fun. A dipstick would have been so much easier.
Of course that would cost money.

The last transmission I saw with a dipstick was (I think) a mkII Ford Granada - the one before they went all 'jelly mould' shaped, TBH if you're losing transmission oil, then there's a leak or seal that needs sorting. The engine oil is another matter though, quite often the dipstick tube drilling is still there (as with some VWG engines) but it's not fitted as they think the driver would prefer to follow the arcane procedure to check it on the dash. This in itself can lead to some issues, such as complaining that the engine is using oil and smoking badly - when in fact, they retrofitted a dipstick tube but with a shorter dipstick than it should have, consequently overfilling by about 2.5 litres which the engine was happily ingesting and burning off!
But yes, a dipstick is much easier and usually more accurate, especially for the filter-spinners where time is money in the dealership!

Stanleysteamer said:

Not saying you are wrong in the slightest. It is all my missus can do to put petrol in the car, and I once had a colleague whose wife refused to do even that! AND they lived out in the sticks.
But I do wish car manufacturers could put things like dipsticks back in so simple checks could reveal whether the fault actually exists or not.
Getting under the car with the engine running and needing to undo the ATF filler plug to see if any dribbles out, on the side of a motorway really isn't fun. A dipstick would have been so much easier.
Of course that would cost money.

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My wife's car has a dipstick on the gearbox and the engine.
Common sense, to me anyway, suggests that not having a dipstick is a stupid idea for lazy people who literally have no interest in what they are driving.

Graculus said:

The last transmission I saw with a dipstick was (I think) a mkII Ford Granada - the one before they went all 'jelly mould' shaped, TBH if you're losing transmission oil, then there's a leak or seal that needs sorting. The engine oil is another matter though, quite often the dipstick tube drilling is still there (as with some VWG engines) but it's not fitted as they think the driver would prefer to follow the arcane procedure to check it on the dash. This in itself can lead to some issues, such as complaining that the engine is using oil and smoking badly - when in fact, they retrofitted a dipstick tube but with a shorter dipstick than it should have, consequently overfilling by about 2.5 litres which the engine was happily ingesting and burning off!
But yes, a dipstick is much easier and usually more accurate, especially for the filter-spinners where time is money in the dealership!

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I am mentioning this cos a disco one auto has one, or so it would seem from this thread.