TD4 oil leak front right of car

Hi all, hoping for some useful advice here.

I've just bought a left hand drive 2006 Freelander TD4 S, with fairly low mileage at 89000 km (55,000 miles). She's a great drive, very smooth and as someone new to Land Rovers I'm impressed with the refinement and driving comfort on offer.

However, the last couple of days I've noticed that it has a small oil leak which shows up on the front right side (passenger side in Europe, driver side UK). I've put a drip tray under it tonight to see how much is there in the morning, but I'm expecting quite small amounts based on the last 2 days.

Opening the bonnet there are no immediate signs of a leak, everything looks dry and tidy and the dipstick tube looks normal from the top at least. I haven't taken the bottom tray off (I lack a good space to do it), so am not sure what the exact source is but I guess it must be from something towards the bottom since the top looks so tidy.

Based on experience, can anyone point to a most likely cause? It's definitely oil, which I confirmed now it's going into a drip tray.

That's the area where the dipstick & oil filter are......

Epicuser said:

That's the area where the dipstick & oil filter are......

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Thanks Epicuser, will see if I can inspect more closely around these areas this week. Hoping it's nothing difficult/costly to rectify... But may end up having to take it to the dealers anyway since I just don't have anywhere to work on it.

Could be diesel , leaking from the hp injector pump , that runs out from the lower pulley to the sump , hard to see actual leak source , the pump is behind the alternator , leaks when cold gradually gets worse !

Update: it appears that it only leaks when the engine is still warm. The tray I put under the car is no fuller this morning then it was an hour after I got home last night.

Hi Ian. It is definitely not diesel, I have a picture attached, including a bad shot of where the drip is appearing located relative to the front wheel.

on the top of your engine should be a cover check if it is still there, if not then check that the bolt is in, near to the oil filler cap ,if not you need to put one in as it goes through into the other side of the cover and this lets oil out. hope this helps you out

Looking at your picture it looks like its near the back of engine , Could it be from the power steering rack on bulkhead ?

DTO said:

Looking at your picture it looks like its near the back of engine , Could it be from the power steering rack on bulkhead ?

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I managed to take a few snaps by extending my arm into the space without removing the undertray, attached is the best of the lot.

It does show that oil on the surface is most visible towards the bottom right, but as I indicated with the top red circle, it is possible it could be running from higher up (impossible to tell though really).

Does this match your thoughts re the power steering rack, or is it more likely something else?

Btw, the picture is obviously taken in the direction of the front of the car.

teddywood1 said:

on the top of your engine should be a cover check if it is still there, if not then check that the bolt is in, near to the oil filler cap ,if not you need to put one in as it goes through into the other side of the cover and this lets oil out. hope this helps you out

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Hi teddywood. Cover is still there.

that's where mine was coming from and I had read so many posts about making sure the bolt was in .