My 2011 Range Rover Vogue 4.4 tdv8 ownership experience started last year with rather heavy oil consumption, but rarely any smoke. Certainly none at all when accelerating to engage the 2nd turbo.

After a few thousand miles of ownership trying to convince myself that perhaps I hadn’t quite filled it up previously and ‘let’s just add 1 more litre and see how it goes’ etc, I saw a general dampness of oil over the alternator, and a drip coming off of the bottom of the bell housing. Obviously these little drips didn’t account for the amount of oil it was using, but it did lead me to the decision to drop the engine out to have a proper look at it all. I think this car is one I’ll keep and of course you never really know a car until you’ve got involved with it’s workings...

I run and work at my small family garage and have a redundant building which I could use to do the job over a period of time.

So it all began, front off, wheel arches undertrays off, exhaust off, shields off, prop off etc.

Lowered the front subframe complete with engine and gearbox down all together on the pallet truck!

Other observations so far on the car, the centre prop bearing is completely worn out also the car has had a previous repair to an air suspension pipe which is leaking - this would explain why the car had had 2 new compressors in quick succession recently in the hands of the previous owner.

Now looking at the engine, the oil consumption proved to be coming from the NS Turbo with oil being in the intake pipe where it recycles its air when it’s not engaged and also a fair load in the inter cooler... so engine hoisted, the cv joints are totally seized in to the hubs (even using a 12 tonne hydraulic press), so I removed the whole hub assembly complete with driveshafts. Removed the diff and got the turbos off - decided to do both whilst I’m at it.

The inside of the exhaust manifolds were coated in wet oil so the engine has actually been smoking a lot but the dpf has been working overtime to stop it coming out the back I assume! This oil is mirrored when you look in the inlet manifold from where it’s been inhaling it over a period of time.

Next job was to slide hammer the core plugs out of the sump, drill, tap etc and fit the much discussed double turbo drain mod. Clean it all up, fit some recon turbos and re-assemble the plumbing. In terms of the other oil leaks, it turned out that one of the blanking plugs on the cylinder head (the ones you would remove to access chain tensioners I think) was completely loose and had unscrewed itself, only being held in by a bracket for the vacuum solenoids. The oil was then tracking along the top edge of the sump and ended dripping off of the bellhousing. So a simple tighten up resolved that, I then checked the same plug on the other head and that was quite loose aswell so I nipped it up too.

Other observations were half a socket set was sat in the subframe, previously dropped by someone several years ago - I would say about 5 years worth of rust on it! And many spurious m6 screws found jammed in the bracket at the top of the bellhousing which I assume got dropped there when the car had a new oil cooler gasket fitted by the dealership in a previous owners hands.
Also when the primary turbo was off I observed a loose bit of casting was blocking off the coolant supply to the turbo from the engine, so I poked a small screwdriver in with some grease on the end and pulled the bit of metal out. Glad I had the engine out to do this as I don’t think it would have been visible if it was still all fitted up in the engine bay.

The turbo oil feed tube was thoroughly inspected and cleaned (it previously had lots of instant gasket on the o rings), and was refitted with new o rings and copper banjo seals from jlr.

Next the prop received a new centre bearing, I chopped out the section of suspension air pipe where the previous join was and joined in a new bit of pipe.

Then the car was reassembled, gearbox oil topped up (I had previously disconnected the cooler lines to access the double drain mod better), front diff topped up, all fluids refilled, 2 worn lower ball joints replaced and she’s back in action!

It’s early days yet but all seems good, it pulls really well and it sounds good.
1 problem so far is a whining noise from somewhere under the centre console for the first mile or so of travel which then stops making any noise at all.. this I’m almost certainly sure is due to the cheap centre prop bearing I fitted.
So sometime I will revisit this and fit a genuine one.

Hope all of this is of interest / help to others

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Brilliant write up, should serve you well after all that.

just wow

.  Cheers, Greg
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2011 Vogue SE 4.4 with lots of toys in Stornaway

I agree 100% Greg, but he is not working in the street or on his driveway.
Brilliant work though
Mike. G reg 2.5VM Vogue Portofino red 1991- 1999
V reg 2.5td P38 Rioja red 1999- 2006
53 reg td6 Vogue Oslo blue 2006- 2015
11 reg 4.4 TdV8 Vogue SE. Baltic blue 2015- date.
https://www.fullfatrr.com/forum/topic56162...tty+affair

I wish I had your facilities and your expertise to do the same to mine, just for peace of mind!

Dunc. The life you have is the only one you'll get; make the most of it.
--------‐--‐-----------------‐------------------‐---------------------------------------------------
2012 4.4 TDV8 L322 Autobiography
2003 TD5 Oslo Blue D2 ES Premium Auto (with mods!)

Thank you, as far as I can see, the main thing to look out for is oil consumption- if you are having to routinely add oil, and there is no visible leaks, there is a problem brewing. Even though there didn’t seem to be any visible side effects on mine, it probably would have ended up with a more serious problem - hydraulic lock or similar. So I’m glad I’ve got it sorted before anything like that happened.

oh to have the space and kit to do that!! i would do the same just because i can  2012 Vogue 4.4 TDV8 - Current
2014 Navara V6 - Gone
2004 Vogue TD6 - Gone
Grand Cherokee - Gone
Discovery V8 (LPG) - Gone
Discovery TD5 - Gone

Nice!
What's the name of your garage? Good to know for others who might need your services  Gone to a good home: 2011 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE Buckingham Blue with Ivory and clear glass = "Rory"
2025MY Defender D350 90 in Silicon Silver on coils
1974 Series 3 Lightweight = "Millie"
Many, many other Landies over the years
My preferred specialist: www.glenrands.co.uk
--------------------------------------------------

Hi Dr Rob

We’re near Malmesbury in Wiltshire, if anyone is interested in us doing work for them, they’re welcome to PM me and I’ll forward our details

I absolutely love the casual nature of "I've got some oil loss so I thought I'd drop the engine out to have a look" as you do

Well done, nice to have facilities but it's still a very big job. I take my hat off to you sir. BMW i3 Electric Car
2012 Full Fat RR 4.4 TDV8 (now gone)
2006 VW Touareg 3.0 TDi V6

Haha thank you!

Edward wrote:

Hi Dr Rob

We’re near Malmesbury in Wiltshire, if anyone is interested in us doing work for them, they’re welcome to PM me and I’ll forward our details

PM sent  Gone to a good home: 2011 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE Buckingham Blue with Ivory and clear glass = "Rory"
2025MY Defender D350 90 in Silicon Silver on coils
1974 Series 3 Lightweight = "Millie"
Many, many other Landies over the years
My preferred specialist: www.glenrands.co.uk
--------------------------------------------------

PM sent