Wondering if you could help me? I have a 2004 Landrover Discovery which I purchased in December 2006. At the time it had 68,000 miles on it. A few months following purchase I observed the oil light come on. The dipstick revealed low oil which required almost two quarts to bring it back to level. This event occurred approximately 1,500 miles from my first oil change following purchase. I checked for leaks, found none and attributed it to a bad oil change. So, to be on the safe side I had the oil changed immediately and again the same event occurred, about 1,500 miles later. With having acknowledged there was now a problem, I brought it to my local Landrover Dealer for a check of any oil leaks. Their analysis revealed a few issues, including a leaking Cylinder Gasket, Timing Cover Gasket, and Water Pump. I was somewhat surprised as I did not notice any drips of oil or coolant in parking spaces or the driveway, but thought these had to be the cause of my issue. Well, I have had my second oil change since forking out $1,300.00 for the repair and I am back to square one. It was fine for the first oil change but the oil light is on after 1,500 miles again for the second!? I am afraid to go back to Landrover for another costly diagnosis and repair. If anyone knows of any common problems associated with Discovery oil consumption, your feedback would be certainly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

 

Go back to Land Rover and tell themTHEY have a problem andYOU needit fix. Tell them the problem still exists and they will have to fix it. Are you under any warranty? If not, your gonna wanna be real soon.

 

If I understand you had the oil changed after finding it low and then it was ok for that oil change.

Then it was changed again at Land Rover and it got low again?

If that was the case they may have used the wrong weight of oil, check your work order and
see what worked and see if it was different than what didn't.

With luck that is all it is.

 

hey Ianhand, sorry to hear about your situation. yeah, i have an 04 disco as well. same thing happened to me. bought mine brand new and at ~5000 miles the oil light came on.dealer replacedthe oil pressure switch and i thought that would take care of the problem. well at ~13,500 miles the light came back on. went to the dealer and bitched and so they did a oil consumption test and said that oil level was a bit low but was under normal factory specs. well guess what, at ~22000 miles the oil light came back on. again went to dealer, pissed and basically said, "hey, thiscar has had thisproblem basically since i got it, find the goddamnproblem or give me a new one." so this got there attention and they came backand basically said that theengine was burning toomuchoil. they had toreplace the whole engineshort block. took them about a month to get the damnpart and about3 days to put the engineback together. thank god for warranty. costs me nothingbut this ordeal really pissed me off. so yeah, hopefully yourdiscohassome warranty on it, not saying that thisis the problem (i hope not) but it sounds exactly like my situation. good luck.

 

I would for sure take it back to them and see what they say. Don't get rude yet. Dealers can fix a lot under goodwill if you are out of warranty, you have to show goodwill towards them, though.

You can't see any evidence of it leaking? Also, are you loosing coolant anymore?

 

There's only a few places oil can go... On the Ground, in the Cooling System, and out the Tail Pipe. If you don't see it on the ground and it is not in the coolant, then it appears your burning it out the tail pipe. You might want to 1) check your plugs and 2) do a compression check..

 

Probably what it is.

 

Thanks for all the replies guys, althoughI have to say that the possibility of a new engine is rather bothersome! Just to firm up a few things. I had the gasket/pump repair work done at Landrover along with a $100 oil change and for the 3,000 miles afterwards had no issue with the oil light. I went to a garage that specialized in foreign vehicles for my last and most recent oil change, and after 1,800 miles the light came back on. Funny how I only have this problem when a Non Landrover facility services my vehicle? Is my Landrover a snob or what?! In any case,I brought the vehicle back to the same garage that performed the recent oil change last night. The owner of the facilityhad beena Landrover technician for 10 years so Ifigured he may have some good knowledge to share. We put it up on the lift and no leaks were detected whatsoever. The coolant was the appropriate color as well. I had replaced the spark plugs and wires with this facility due to a misfire about a month ago. The plugs were in fact fine, just one of the wires was melted. I replaced them at the same time anyways. After some goings over, the mechanic came to the same conclusion as this post. If its not leaking it, its burning it. He was also puzzled by the Landrover "No Issue" Oil Change, therefore he thought it may have something to do with the oil they used? A diagnosis of the LR bill revealed 5W30, which is what he used? So no difference there. He did wonder if they used Synthetic though? He believed that this may make a difference as Synthetic oil doesn't burn as conventional does? So, it is at the shop having a Synthetic oil change as we speak?! Does this make any sense at all? I have read that people are doubting the weight of the oil, so what ideally should I be using in this thing? Don't want to put unnecessary money into this thing, so your feedback is most appreciated! Thanks!

 

A $100 oil change would definitly suggest a synthetic or more expensive oil at the rover dealership. They used some kind of a special product. I'd phone them up and ask what they use for an oil change that costs $100.
It has to be burning it I would think. It's strange to think that synthetic versus regular oil would make such a huge difference. Kinda like how viscosities really wouldn't (or shouldn't) make a difference. In my opinion, it's just outright lousy engineering on LR's half, because all it means is that the measurement tolerances in the engine are excessive. It's not a tight design. But hell, I could go on and on about LRs engineering... In the mean time monitor your new oil change and see what happens.

 

I am really hoping a switch to synthetic will solve my problem. Given my luck with vehicles it may be wishful thinking though! I called the LR dealership and they did state a Synthetic product was used by them previously, so I am remaining a optimistic at this point. I will keep you guys posted on my results. Thanks again for the feedback.. BTW, great picture 98roverguy J !