Just so you don't get freaked out, when you change over to synthetics, you may experience a little blow by. Conventional oils gum up and imperfections, and synthetics will clean that out., then polish the surfaces. You may experience some higher oil consumption at first.

 

I thought that Land Rover wanted 10w30 for neweror 10w40 oil forDisco I'sLand Rovers.

But don't take my word look it up your owners manual.

The wrong oil is my guess, a synthetic even the wrong weight
will last longer .

 

OK, new info on my problem after 500 miles on my synthetic oil change idea. Left the truck idling for about 5 minutes the other day and went around back to get something out of the trunk. I looked down and noticed a nice 4 inch puddle of oil underneath the exhaust pipe. Instead of burning the oil it is spitting it out instead. My mechanic said that was a possibility since synthetic oil does not have the burn qualities as conventional oil does. So I now have come to the conclusion that my engine is shot? Is this an incorrect assumption? I love the truck and can't figure out how this could be happening as it drives perfect and only has 78K on it? It pains me to get rid of it too. Does anyone have any suggestions, short of playing the lottery or selling a kidney to pay for this repair (without any warranty coverage)? Thanks in advance...

 

IanHand,
Why don't you call me and let me walk you thru what to check, shouldn't be hard to work this out/
Mike
303-862-7680

 

Probably what's beenhappening is the oil is dripping on to the exhaust and burning if off before it has chance to drip to the ground when you park and stop the motor. As there is no oil pressure with the engine shut off you only get a few drips that burn off on the exh and no signs on the ground. With it sitting in one spot idling the has been time for these drips to make it to the ground before they get burnt up. If you do have a leak like this, more than likely if you get under the truck you should be able to see a good portion of the underbody of the truck "wet" with oil from the motor back as the oil drips will get blown back while driving.

 

call Mike. He can point you in the right direction. Might just be a leaking switch or filter. Find where it is leaking from. You might be ok.

 

I still don't get the fact that your 2004 is without waranty!!! Isn't it 4 or even5 years full coverage????

 

I searched out this thread because I am currently experiencing a similar problem on my 2003 Discovery with 75,000 miles. I have owned the truck for 1 year and put around 8,000 miles on it. I switched over to Mobile 1 synthetic 10W30 the first day that I bought it and 1500 miles later noticed that it was using oil. As stated in this thread I let it go and just watched the consumption until it came time for the next oil change. Needless to say a year later it is still using oil. No drips, no smoking, nothing, it just seems to disappear. My oil light has never come on, I am just a bit **** about checking the oil once a month or so. I am adding a quart about every 1200 - 1500 miles. I read another post on this site "end all answer to stupid oil questions" from someone on the forum that stated that he never recommends using synthetic oil on LRs because it leaks through some specific seals? He recommends using Rotella T 15W30 and a larger Purolator oil filter.
With this thread being years ago I am curious to know what the outcome was on this particular situation and if anyone has any further input?

 

Same issue here. Truck runs great. uses a quart every 4-600 miles. 170K miles on it. Have been using Rotella 15-40. Just switched to Castrol 20-50 to see if it slows down.

Read on another forum where another Disco owner replaced his oil separator with a PCV valve and the problem stopped. Anyone done this??

Brian in Austin

 

I've had this issue for the entire 130k life of this engine which was a free factory replacement for the "03 VIN issue."

I had the dealer fix the rear main seal leak before the extended warrante ran out and that didn't change a thing.

My best guess is that the dealer broke the engine in with Castrol 5w30 synthetic which is what the new trucks were using by then, 2007. I kept complaining and they kept telling me it would stop. Then they kept telling me that a quart every 1000 miles is considered normal and they would not do any more unless the oil "consumption" increased even more.

Anyway I've been using Rotella 15w40 ever since, which did slow it down to about a quart every 1200 miles... Recently however I had an oil change at a different LR indy shop who uses Swepco 20w50 and the that made a difference. With the heavier oil I've used 2 quarts in 4000 miles.

One bonus, I figure I don't need to be religious on changing the oil every 3k as by then it has already had quite a bit of fresh oil added in.

I too would like to really know whats up and have not found anybody who could tell me for certain. Or maybe I haven't paid anyone enough to tell me for certain.

I should have had the rings redone when the heads were off but that was already a large expense that I didn't need to get larger at the time.