White smoke and lack of power!

Gentlemen,

TD5 Landmark

During a motorway journey yesterday I lost power. From cruising at 90mph all of a sudden I could only manage around 70mph on the flat, this would drop to 45-50mph on a steep hill in 5th gear. The drop in power was instant but then didn't get any worse.

There were no unusual noises coming from the engine although I did notice it was burning something, most likely oil as there was white smoke, not steam coming from the exhaust. The engine remained stable in terms of temperature and no funny noises etc, just a lack of power and this smoke. I stopped and checked the oil and needed to add 2 liters to bring it back to mid way between the marks and continued another 200 miles home, I had few if any alternatives.

This morning the engine fired up first time but the smoke is a lot worse, the oil level is again off the dipstick so it looks like it could have burnt 2liters of oil in 200 miles.

I fear the worst but would welcome your thoughts?

Turbo goosed?

White smoke normally means coolant and blue smoke is oil. Check the coolant, if it has oil in then stands a good chance your head gasket has gone. Any mayo on the oil cap?

P38Penguin said:

White smoke normally means coolant and blue smoke is oil. Check the coolant, if it has oil in then stands a good chance your head gasket has gone. Any mayo on the oil cap?

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If the HG has gone then it would surely pressurise the cooling system (rock hard top hose after a run) and thus create a temperature spike too.

There is no water in the oil and the stable temperature during the further 2.5hrs of driving yesterday would make me think the head gasket is fine, then again Im not the one with the answers, hence my question.

I wondered about the turbo, how would I know it it was?

Other ways of oil getting into the cylinders would be valve guides or rings. Guides wouldn't happen so fast or rings for that matter.

Might be worth disconnecting the breather pipe from the rocker or the PCV (mushroom shaped bit on top of the turbo intake), a blocked breather/failed PCV will give you very similar symptoms - and it's a pretty cheap fix...

PCV's fail pretty regularly and really should be a service item.

boost modulator failed

Sounds like boost modulator favourite. Id have gone for wastegate spindle stuck if not for the "sudden" failure but it does sound like something in this area. Possibly even just a failed vac hose or connection.

Doesn't really explain the oil consumption - course it could be more than 1 issue

If its a turbo related issue could someone tell my where the white/blueish smoke is coming from?

As you can tell Im no mechanic but Im trying to get an understanding as I have to wait a week for the garage to look at it.

Have a look in the pipe to the intercooler to see if there is excess oil in there.

springer said:

If its a turbo related issue could someone tell my where the white/blueish smoke is coming from?

As you can tell Im no mechanic but Im trying to get an understanding as I have to wait a week for the garage to look at it.

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Failed rear oil collar in the turbo could lead to oil leaking into the exhaust, chances are you'd get white smoke, not blue.

Failed wastegate modulator (depending on how it had failed) would either lead to gutless performance and lots of BLACK smoke, OR you'd keep getting fuel cut out on high boost due to the ECU cutting fueling (overboost).

I think the issue is elsewhere, I've recently had very similar symptoms due to a blocked crank breather - but didn't drive it as far as you so cannot say I had the oil consumption you did. Worth pulling the crank breather off to check though I'd say!

From there you might be advised to remove the downpipe and check for oil residue exiting the turbo...

OK guys,

Ive had a non-specialsit mechanic take a quick look at the huge plumes of smoke, he tells me it is definitely blue oil smoke.

Does this help any with a possible diagnosis?

Try the suggestions above, they will cost you nothing.

I disconnected the mushroom thing then took off the intake pipe which had some oil inside, as you can see there was also some oil in the mouth of the turbo. I started it up like this without the intake pipe connected and the smoke was still there albeit I only ran the engine for a few seconds.

Could the oil be coming down from the top of the rocker area?

You can see before I started there was a bit of oil in that area but I dont know if that is normal. Im really struggling to get anyone to look at this before next week so Im keen to try things myself, Im competent enough with my spamnner skills but clueless as to what to do, any help greatly appreciated.

The oil in the throat of the turbo is crank case blow by coming from the breather/mushroom and is perfectly normal.

Really you need to disconnect the breather hose from the mushroom and try running it again. The mushroom can fail SHUT meaning that the crankcase will pressurise and blow oil out wherever it can (via rings even!), Leave the tubo inlet connected so as not to upset the MAF and wastegate modulator, leave the mushroom connected to it, but disconnected the breather hose from the mushroom....

If it still blows smoke, then it's time to look elsewhere, next check would be to remove the exhaust down pipe and check for oil leaking from the exhaust side of the turbo.

Leaking rocker gasket could be an indication of crank case over pressure too...

Have you checked the sedimentor bowl, that full of water gives you white smoke! Ditto fuel filter.

Thanks for everyone's contributions. My vehicle is now in a garage as it was getting beyond my ability to repair. As yet the fault hasn't been diagnosed although they suspect it will be a turbo.

Apparently it needed 4ltrs of oil to bring it back to the level. On my return journey I topped the level up with only 60 miles to go, that seems like a hell of a lot of oil to burn in 60 miles and it has me a bit worried about the rest of the engine to be honest.

If its a turbo issue can anyone suggest the likely repair costs for different scenarios, its not a main dealer and they quoted me £20/hr labour.

get this 452239-5009S New Genuine Turbo for Land Rover TD5 2.5L [452239-5009S] - £368.69 : Turbo Dynamics, Turbochargers & Performance Products and fit it yourself as it's a piece of cake to fit a new one ... you'll need just some gaskets for exhaust too