19J oil pan alternatives

I need to improve the oil breather setup to get my 19J through a French MOT. Apparently normal level of oil leakage for a 1986 landrover is no longer within acceptable limits for modern road use...
I've seen there are some 19j sumps with an inlet for drain tube off the breather- but they're all stupid expensive.
I don't feel up to drilling into the sump and fitting one myself, but I was wondering if you can fit an oil pan off a 12J, or 200/300TDI. They look very similar, and all have 22 bolt holes....

I've also seen the option of simply drilling a hole in the chassis, and running the drain tube to that.
Any thoughts?

not a tdi but any other red block like 12j

I’ve considered this myself as my spare 12j engine sump doesn’t have the spigot for the cyclone drain tube. I was thinking of drilling the sump and fitting a decent fitting, or get a local engineering shop to weld one in.

Oil leakage? It shouldn't be leaking? You mean oil into the filter housing? Do you have a pic of the engine? There are two types of crank case breather for this engine, the latter one is a little better than its predecessor.

A radiator repair shop is probably your best bet to get a fitting stuck in the sump, just make sure its as high as can be

lynall said:

A radiator repair shop is probably your best bet to get a fitting stuck in the sump, just make sure its as high as can be

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I dont know to be honest, its a breather pipe, to vent crank case pressure, redirecting it to the crank case kind of isnt what you would want a crank case vent that vents crank case pressure to do.

nobber said:

I dont know to be honest, its a breather pipe, to vent crank case pressure, redirecting it to the crank case kind of isnt what you would want a crank case vent that vents crank case pressure to do.

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Makes sense, on the tdi I think its mainly to return oil caught in the cyclone widget to the sump.

The trucks tried the enclosed crankcase ventilation set up, it failed miserably and was very complicated, now the official mod is to block it off and vent to atmosphere.

nobber said:

Oil leakage? It shouldn't be leaking? You mean oil into the filter housing? Do you have a pic of the engine? There are two types of crank case breather for this engine, the latter one is a little better than its predecessor.

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It's the older type, and it currently drains to a jar wedged behind a headlight- unless the tube has jumped out again...

I've got a cyclonic separator ready to fit, along with a new air filter- the previous one was black with ingested oil...and a runaway engine isn't fun, so I though I best do something about that.

Alpinewoodsman said:

It's the older type, and it currently drains to a jar wedged behind a headlight- unless the tube has jumped out again...

I've got a cyclonic separator ready to fit, along with a new air filter- the previous one was black with ingested oil...and a runaway engine isn't fun, so I though I best do something about that.

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When I had a 19j, I just blocked off the fitting where the hose goes into the air intake, and ran a hose from the rocker box cap breather, going down behind the engine, and on to a fitting in the chassis, so that any vapour went inside the chassis, and kept it in good nick.

In eight years, no MOT tester even noticed this, but this was in the UK, and I have no idea how stringent French testers are with old vehicles.

If you are talking quantities of liquid oil, I think your engine may need other attention. Only a bit of vapour ever came out of mine.

Turboman said:

When I had a 19j, I just blocked off the fitting where the hose goes into the air intake, and ran a hose from the rocker box cap breather, going down behind the engine, and on to a fitting in the chassis, so that any vapour went inside the chassis, and kept it in good nick.

In eight years, no MOT tester even noticed this, but this was in the UK, and I have no idea how stringent French testers are with old vehicles.

If you are talking quantities of liquid oil, I think your engine may need other attention. Only a bit of vapour ever came out of mine.

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I suspect there is a leak or two somewhere, but I need to pressure wash it to find it. The breather cap popped off at one point, making finding any leak that bit harder...

Alpinewoodsman said:

I suspect there is a leak or two somewhere, but I need to pressure wash it to find it. The breather cap popped off at one point, making finding any leak that bit harder...

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In that case, you have a lot of crankcase pressure. Probably caused by a blown head gasket.

Turboman said:

In that case, you have a lot of crankcase pressure. Probably caused by a blown head gasket.

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That sounds like it'll be fun to fix.... consult the book of Haynes.

I'll go with the oil drain to chassis for now, and deal with the head gasket later. Solve one problem at a time....

Alpinewoodsman said:

That sounds like it'll be fun to fix.... consult the book of Haynes.

I'll go with the oil drain to chassis for now, and deal with the head gasket later. Solve one problem at a time....

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Pull off the rocker box cap, and if oil vapour is "chuffing" out of the hole where the cap goes, head gasket is blown.
I would not recommend leaving it, it is not a difficult job, and the gas running across the blow may damage the head or the block.