Unknown Air system mod

Can anyone shed any light on this addition to my HSE? My guess is that it’s some kind of moisture interceptor. Inside the main cylinder is a fine mesh wire gauze. It seems to collect quite a bit of oil in there. The long hose in the last pic has a small thumb tap at the end which the previous owners had sticking out from under the belly pan. When I open it it certainly drains off some water but also quite a bit of gunky oil.

Firstly can anyone confirm what this actually is. And secondly, is it worth having or better just to lose it?

A little issue that also popped up today was a loud hissing sound when I accelerated roughly from 1500rpm on, it settles when I reach a steady road speed. It did stutter slightly when accelerating up a hill. Initial thoughts were turbo but I don’t think it is as its not there when I rev the engine whilst in neutral. It’s seems to be from the left hand side of engine bay as you sit inside but can’t be sure. Everything seems to run fine, levels all good, temp good so any thoughts would be welcome.
Cheers all

It's an aftermarket oil catch tank for the breather. Some say it helps keep the engine clean, in reality it's of negligible benefit to a well maintained engine.
I toyed with the idea of fitting one to mine, as I was experiencing some blowby, however that was cured after the new piston I'd fitted was properly bedded in, so I'll not bother now. Engines need a bit of oil in the intake anyway, as it helps lubrication of the intake values, and the breather system delivers this tiny quantity of oil passively.

Nodge68 said:

It's an aftermarket oil catch tank for the breather. Some say it helps keep the engine clean, in reality it's of negligible benefit to a well maintained engine.
I toyed with the idea of fitting one to mine, as I was experiencing some blowby, however that was cured after the new piston I'd fitted was properly bedded in, so I'll not bother now. Engines need a bit of oil in the intake anyway, as it helps lubrication of the intake values, and the breather system delivers this tiny quantity of oil passively.

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Nodge68 Thankyou very much for your reply, very helpful and all makes sense. I think I might remove it, main reason being is that I’m not happy with the way it just seems to have been stuffed in. I’ll see if I notice any difference and if it looks like it’s going to cause an issue I’ll stick it back in.

Then I’ll move on to the noise, I’m now suspecting a split in one of the hoses relating to the turbo but we shall see.

Thanks again.

Nodge68 said:

It's an aftermarket oil catch tank for the breather. Some say it helps keep the engine clean, in reality it's of negligible benefit to a well maintained engine.

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+1 on all counts.... Possibly more relevant to something like a Gardner L6 - lovely injun that they are, they are known to smoke a little ... Pretty sure they weren't ever fitted to FL's though .... might be a bit of a project for someone ?

JPC1888 said:

I’m now suspecting a split in one of the hoses relating to the turbo

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More than likely.. delamination - fairly common issue

JPC1888 said:

Nodge68 Thankyou very much for your reply, very helpful and all makes sense. I think I might remove it, main reason being is that I’m not happy with the way it just seems to have been stuffed in. I’ll see if I notice any difference and if it looks like it’s going to cause an issue I’ll stick it back in.

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I'd bin it. The factory breather comes out the cam cover, and is supposed to join straight to the intake pipe, hidden from view round the back.

JPC1888 said:

Then I’ll move on to the noise, I’m now suspecting a split in one of the hoses relating to the turbo but we shall see

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Split boost pipe, which is quite common.
It's normally the short pipe below the throttle body, but the turbo elbow pipe fails too, which LR upgraded to a more robust orange colour pipe on later models. I fitted the later orange type, when rebuilding my engine.

So thanks again. Oil catch tank and associated piping all removed. Nothing but a complete oily mess with the tank (cylinder) seeming to leak back out more oil than it was catching.

And spot on with the boost hose. There was an inch and a half split in it. Fortunately the one on my dead FL was in ok condition so that is good for a temporary fix until a new one gets delivered. Straight forward repair if a little bit of a tight space and a few scratches for my efforts.

Thanks again for the advice.

JPC1888 said:

And spot on with the boost hose. There was an inch and a half split in it.

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Which boost hose was it? The elbow hose by the turbo, or the little straight hose by the throttle body?

Nodge68 said:

Which boost hose was it? The elbow hose by the turbo, or the little straight hose by the throttle body?

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On checking again it seems that it was the intercooler hose but came up in searches as boost hose. The one circled in green.

The short one to the throttle body, that's the most likely to fail.

And just when you sort one issue another one pops up. I’ve now got a big steering fluid leak from behind drivers side wheel . Was getting too dark to inspect properly so I guess she’ll be up on the ramps tomorrow .

JPC1888 said:

I’ve now got a big steering fluid leak from behind drivers side wheel .

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Another common Freelander 2 issue. It'll be the PS metal pipes that have rusted through.
There's a kit available to replace the rusty pipes, and it's something that I'll have to do on mine at some point. Thankfully mine aren't too rusty yet, and I rust treated them to prolong their life, but they will spring a leak one day.
The PS pipes are the 2 vertical pipes left of the boost pipe in this picture.

Here's a pipe kit on ebay.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Power-St...=p2349624.m2548.l6249&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

PS pipes are ok if a bit rusty. The fluid is p@ssing from the rubber gaiter on the track rod, which is in a poor state. The MOT was only done about 2 months ago and I can’t see this much wear happening in that short time.

JPC1888 said:

The MOT was only done about 2 months ago and I can’t see this much wear happening in that short time

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What has happened is the rack piston seals are leaking, filling the gaiter, but because whoever adjusted the tracking didn't bother straitening the gaiter, it has now been stressed and split, allowing the fluid which had built up to escape.

Thanks again for all the advice. It was indeed the seals in the rack. Unfortunately because of the gaiters being in a poor state there was a lot of ingress of water and all sorts of other cr@p, meaning a lot of rust inside the rack. So unfortunately it was away with the old and in with a new one .

JPC1888 said:

So unfortunately it was away with the old and in with a new one

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Ouch. They're not cheap, but at least it should last.