Hi Folks,

2008 FF TDV8 with 240,000 kms. Full service history. I bought around a month ago and just used it for the first week after purchase driving approx 40kms per day. Most on motorway.

Noticed an exhaust smell in the cabin a couple of minutes after start up, which cleared up a couple of minutes after that. Didn't think too much about it.

Driving OK.

Started up while parked today, after being parked for just over 2 weeks. Started immediately and all ok, then 2-3 minutes later noticed white smoke from under the car. Looked and it was coming out of a joint in the right side exhaust. After a minute or so, the smoke cleared and all was OK.

I think the idle varied very slightly, probably 650 -700 but otherwise all OK and it revved fine.

There was also an oil leak, from area in line with front doors. It looked like clean engine oil. Car was serviced, and has done approx 2k kms since service. Oil on dipstick looks darker in colour as one would expect.

Seller told me he had both EGR's replaced in the 10 years he had the car, and has changed "some" of the injectors. No problems with the Turbos.

He also mentioned that he once had the white smoke for a minute or so, and believed that might have been around same time as one of the EGR changes, or just before.

Thinking back, this one minute or so while smoke episode must have happened almost everyday when I used it directly after purchasing it.

I have done some research and found various comments pointing to EGR, injectors, or my biggest fear, the Turbo(s).

Does anyone have any pointers as to how I go about diagnosing this? I am reasonably OK on the spanners, but know my limits.

Do you think the "clean oil" leak is a separate issue?

I'm in Central Switzerland if anyone has any recommendations of independent garages.

Many thanks in advance.

So I would check the white smoke isn't in fact from the fuel burning heater, which runs when the engine is cold, to heat the cabin faster. This is behind the left front wheel arch, but the smoke can appear from all kinds of places.

Regarding the 'clean oil' leak inline with the doors - there's only 2 components in this location that I can think of:

1. Transfer case. They have 2 drain and 1 fill hole with copper washers. I'd check these aren't leaking first, then I'd look around the transfer box itself for a sign of any leaks
2. The transmission. The sump pan would likely be covered if this is leaking. On the 6 speed boxes, the mechatronic sleeve is also known to leak (top of the transmission and then the oil finds its way down)

...I would also check it's not a brake line ruptured.

Oil colour on the dipstick - it can go dark almost immediately in diesels, and would totally be expected for one which has covered 125,000+ miles. 2015 Range Rover Autobiography 4.4 SDV8

Hi garyRR,

Many thanks for the reply and guidance.

I had no idea that there is a fuel burning cabin heater. That would make sense as it appears to "switch on" after a couple of minutes, then off again. Definitely switch like. I'm assuming the smoke is not supposed to come out of what appears to be a weak point in the exhaust system. I wonder if that

It's coming from a joint on the right hand side exhaust, in line with the front doors, as if you are looking at the car from the back.

I have not seen a hint of smoke coming from the back of the exhausts, so being a separate system such as the cabin heater fits the symptoms.

As for the oil leak, I will get under the car today hopefully. I recently bought an endescope so it might earn it's purchase price today.

Thanks again. Much appreciated.

The Webasto burns diesel to heat the cabin whilst the engine is cold, and the exhaust is also behind the wheel arch, so white coloured smoke can appear from it in a number of places.

There may be an exhaust leak from the engine somewhere, given age and mileage, and if this is before the sensors, could cause the engine to try and compensate with more fuel or air.

You should be able to see the gearbox and transfer box enough by putting the car in off-road height, locking the suspension by leaving the driver door open and putting a couple of axle stands beneath the car. 2015 Range Rover Autobiography 4.4 SDV8

Thanks. I'm going out today to check it again.

Yesterday I thought I saw the smoke coming from the main exhaust system, and indeed there is as black area where I thought smoke was coming out. It was only for a few seconds though before it stopped.

I will fix the exhaust leak in any case.

As for the oil leak, I'll do what I can as I don't have axle stands here, so don't want to go under it in a raised position without them.

Just by way of update.

I started the car again on Sunday morning and the auxiliary heater didn't start up. No white smoke.

I didn't manage to inspect the oil leak sufficiently so will report back once I've found the source.

Are you sure the oil leak problem is not coming from the oil cooler, a common problem with these vehicles. RR owner

Hello,

No I'm not sure. It is going into a local specialist on Tuesday next week where they will first clean everything around the leak so they can better see where it is coming from.

I'll report back.

As for the auxiliary heater, I saw the white smoke again and got a clear view of the exhaust poking out from the inner wheel arch. Now that I know where it is coming from, and that it appears to be "normal", I'm not concerned about it. Just the oil leak and an intermittent high pitch whistle when driving in a straight line. A slight turn on the steering wheel in either direction, stops the whistle.

Many thanks.

I totally understand what you're going through. I'm thinking about getting an early L405 and because of all the horror stories I'm sure I'll just be the same, waiting for something to go wrong that will empty my bank account. Sounds like you're worrying too much, let us know what the garage say

Thanks for the words of reassurance.

The reality is that it's a 17 year old car with 242,000 kms on it so there is a high likely hood of something going wrong, as with any car.

I did my research (obviously not as well as I could have) and bought the best I could find in my budget, so now it's a case of dealing with things as quickly as possible after I notice anything. Oil leak being the obvious one here. I'm very confident the white smoke is in fact the auxiliary heater that I didn't know I have.

I am going to ask the specialist to give it a check over to see if they notice any issues. It did go through the Swiss equivalent of the MOT without any issues days before I bought it. However, I notice a slight "clunck" when applying brakes suggesting there is some play in some suspension component in the front.

I also have very little to compare to, so I am not sure if my gear changes as less smooth than they are supposed to be. Very noticeable in my 6 speed box, compared to a TDV8 4.4 with 8 speed box I drove. The changes there were almost imperceptible. I have driven 2 other 6 speed cars and I think I remember the changes being smoother in those. Can't really remember. If the oil leak is the gearbox, then it would/could be related.

The next niggle I need to solve is the high pitch whistle, as it disturbs the quiet in the cabin while driving, and this is a luxury cruiser after all

As mentioned in another post, it "switches off" with even the slightes load on the steering wheel, either left of right. Steering pump? Fluid level is OK. I will probably just change it anyway to eliminate that, and it can't hurt, unless I use the wrong fluid!

After that it's servicing more frequently that the handbook states. I can do that myself and weirdly looking forward to doing the first one, but I need to wait a few more kms.

Good look with your search for the L405. They are a gorgeous looking car.

Hi Folks,

A quick update.

I had the RR in a local garage this week, and they cleaned the the underside of the car to remove all the traces of the oil.

They then drove it several times during the day to see if they could see any oil. They didn't, but they did charge me an awful lot of money. (Switzerland)...

On the one hand it's good they didn't find anything, but on the other, I'm still wondering where the oil came from.

It occurred to me this morning that the access to my garage is steep. I only noticed a leak on my garage floor after parking it up there, and then I saw a leak again, after it had been parked for a couple of weeks, when I took the car out the garage and up the steep slope. (Leak seen when parked at top of the slope.)

That suggests some oil pooling somewhere and only appearing as a leak when the car is on a sufficiently steep incline.

What I need to check now is if that oil, is a spill from an oil change and it pooled somewhere, or if a slow leak is pooling somewhere.

I have a several 100 kms trip over next few days before parking in the garage again. I'll check if there is a repeat leak.

Does any of this make sense to anyone? The gearbox oil was changed over a year and several thousand kms, ago, so doubt it would be oil spilled from that ?

I believe the gearbox oil goes through an oil cooler which is part of the main radiator at front of car. If it was leaking there would it show up under the back of the gearbox?

Unfortunately I didn't get to speak to the mechanic who looked at the car in person. I will do that and ask if they did anything to check the level of the gearbox oil. I understand that's not particularly straight forward.

For peace of mind I am going to change the gearbox oil anyway.

Further update:

Drove 350kms after the garage cleaned ther underside of the car and couldn't find a leak.

No oil in sight. All looking very clean and in great condition so obviously happy about that.

I did have a panic when I saw a puddle under the car after a short run to town. Turned out to be water.

There is a tube either side of the gearbox where the water was dripping. Is this aircon condensate? What else would generate water like that.

A bonus is that a high pitch whistle that was bothering me is no longer there. The under-body deep clean probably sorted that.

Yes, you're correct its condensate from the AC

Thanks for the confirmation. Much appreciated.

So,,, a bad thing happened. I thought I would take a few minutes to clean the MAF and MAP sensors as it's easy and quick. It was, and none of the sensors were particularly dirty which is a good sign.

The bad thin? I managed to drop my torx bit into the engine ... Doh! It dropped just in front of the MAP sensor on the left, and rested nestled between two hoses just underneath the turbo intake hose.

I didn't have a magnet, and long story short it fell through between the two hoses and I heard it ping against something metal. Could not see it despite a log time searching and dismantling what I could.

Took under body protection off to see if it had fallen through. Didn't find anything.

After much head scratching and looking at diagrams of the engine etc, I decided that I would take a chance and start the engine. All fine so far, but I hate the thought that it might get on the belt, or jam a pulley, or, or....???

What makes it worse was the thought did occur tome that I shouldn't drop anything. So much for an easy 5 minute job.