Posting for a friend. He bought a D2 a couple weeks ago and we are pretty dang sure the engine is toast now. Dumped oil out the bottom and it wont crank over apparently. He sent me these pics. Trying to find a cause but I know for certain the oil level was good as we had just checked it a couple days ago. I believe these pics are near the interface to the bell housing. Not sure if the cause, random part, etc. To me this looks like a random rubber boot of sorts and unrelated. I feel that maybe the rear main seal blew as the back of the engine was always oily but since it was also up high I assumed valve covers. Will head over in a bit and look at the truck myself I suppose. And I guess he is looking again for another cheap Rover project.

 

It did start but we feared low/no oil so we killed it fast. Not even long enough to see how she idles. Got it back home and added oil. Owner assumed it was out, dip stick was clear, and added 3 quarts and that actually put us way over. So not empty of oil but now with way more oil than needed and we found it pouring a small stream out the back. Of course did not start it again with that much oil. We pulled one spark plug on each side. One side was charged deep black the other pretty black, so lots of carbon fouling going on. We do know that the wires are arching in multiple locations, he checked the night prior cause of poor idle all of a sudden. I also noticed expansion tank for coolant was empty.

Suspect rear main seal and maybe a double whammy with head gasket blown. Either way its dumping and apparently consuming oil. If bad arcing can cause such a poor idle to carbon the plugs, then maybe just rear main.

Thoughts?

Edit: Found an Atlantic British vid on oil leak out the rear of the engine. This is the 4.0 V8 I believe. I think I will have him check the crucifix seals, can those be pulled with just an oil pan drop or is there more to it? It was not leaking oil before all this happened, at least not much. It sat for two weeks and there was just a quarter sized spot of dried up oil.

 

The first pics are just an inspection plug. It's not an oil seal.

 

Thats what I was thinking, especially now that I have been underneath.

We are going to use a scope later and overfill the oil and to see if it will rival the leak, depending on how much of the back end we can see with the scope. There may be some good news though, we think that *maybe* the truck died because of the poor idle which could be a separate issue. And when he tried to restart it he thinks in the panic he did not put it in drive. Got out and saw oil and assumed it was something big that happened. Fingers crossed. Also since this rough idle came up a dat or so again there is a strong fuel smell. I guess I will be learning all about these 4.0s...

 

I'd be taking a long hard look at valley pan/lower intake gasket, since you are loosing oil and anti-freeze. Then, next suspect would be head gaskets.

 

Buy 6 liters of cheap 10/30 and I mean cheap and a basic oil filter then:

1. Dump and capture the oil check for water/AF contamination
2. Remove the round inspection plate - the round plate in the last image if you have a blown remain or crucifix seal it may be fairly full of oil
3. Leave the inspection plate off
4. New filter and oil
5. Top up the AF and buy one of these kits you need the dye and uvlight thttps://www.amazon.ca/Interdynamics-375CS-Radiator-Coolant-Dye/dp/B002M4E0VC/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw1dGJBhD4ARIsANb6 OdmEwbwIudJTjVzVP8EQBGMZVEPfK8qIz-aCMfn2EYAMWIV8k2CdmjYaAsP8EALw_wcB&hvadid=36723296 0331&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=1001926&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvr and=3061691534836428120&hvtargid=kwd-343232150071&hydadcr=13510_9588689&keywords=coolan t+dye+kit&qid=1630908933&sr=8-1
6. Bump about 2/3rds or so of the dye in and turn the engine over, hopefully it will run for a few minutes
7. make sure the oil is up and restart
8. Keep an eye on the temps and underneath - if the rear seal or crucifix are leaking oil will start dripping out of the inspection port hole after a few minutes
9. You can check your oil for AF by hitting with UV light if it glows you got a problem - trust me it glows bright

 

Just to update this.

The D2 is gone, hauled away for a low price of $500. Which sucks because the interior was like new, like twilight zone creepy clean new except some slight cloth wear. It was like someone replaced it all recently. But I was not the owner and not my decision. So it was hauled off for basically the price of scrap for the cats without ever digging into it.

And then he bought a 1998 D1, a dealer loaner then single owner vehicle. Rusty as all sin but the driveline seems good, certainly has a TON more go power compared to the D2. Dang near a contender against my D3! So that will be the new project I guess.

 

Wow. That sucks. All for just needing an engine

 

Im 99.9% sure it did not even need an engine, the oil level was sufficient as it was. It never ran out like he thought! So pretty sure just the rear main or crucifix seals were all that was needed. Oh well.