If your D2 has an oil cooler, it will be stacked with the transmission cooler between the main rad and AC condenser, and the two mounted together are almost the height of the radiator.

 

Thanks jfall.

Truck was a quart low on Monday before I drove to the airport, so I filled, then drove 50 miles to the airport. Today upon arrival I was curious so I popped the hood - oil was roughly 1/3 quart low. No oil under the truck. This prompted me to stop by the shop today just to put our heads together and see what's happening. I agree that the oil has to be going somewhere. Now, I'm very particular about watching everything that goes on with this truck. I park it in the same place on my cement drive every night, and typically the same spot at work as well (level asphalt). I do have a very tiny leak that comes down the filter and occasionally shows itself on my drive - about half of a dime size. Rover did us a disfavor and did away with the oil coolers on the D2 at around 2002, I believe, although some are sticking them back on, and I've thought about it on a few occasions.

funny thing at the shop was that they were pretty sure the capacity was six quarts ... I kept telling them that my book says seven, and I typically stick seven in and it's at the correct mark on the dipstick. One mechanic stated that synthetic oil doesn't smoke when it runs through the exhaust - not sure if this is correct or not. They are thinking that there may be a valve stem seal that wasn't seated right, or something in that area. I'm waiting as the owner was going to call me. I know these people, and know that they are not out to get me - a great group of guys who know their stuff and support our local Land Rover club 300%.

Coolant is spic and span. I have Amsoil coolant, which is yellow. At least I can't tell that oil has gotten in the coolant - if so then it is a very unnoticeable amount.

Valve cover gaskets are new, and the motor is clean underneath - so I know it isn't coming out there.

 

A quick look at the engine - this is when they replaced the head gaskets in February. You can see that the engine is pretty clean - heads were very clean as well. I've ran Amsoil through it since I bought it at 120k, in this pic it has 146k, and now has 148k.

 

I'm sticking to my theory, it happened to me, it can happen to you too.
I have actually heard of others having this happen to them too.
When I first switched to Rotella I went through 4 qts in a week.

 

Gonna have to agree with spike. When we do significant engine work and gaskets are changed, we always drive the vehicle about 100miles and we always have to add more oil. Seen it multiple times on alot of different engines in the Benz and Honda world.

 

I've heard about engines leaking oil when switching from dino oil to synthetic stuff. IIRC it's due to the fact that synthetic oil is more homogenous compared to dino oil. Synthetics oil ( molecular structure ) is very consistent where dino oil, say an equivalent grade, is composed of different lengths of chains, complex chains, and aromatics compounds etc.

I've have trouble understanding that it is absorbed by the gasket and stops when the gasket is fully soaked ( specially when it soaks up 4 quarts ). My reason for this is that is you take the volume of the entire gasket used for a HG job, it won't come up to more than a quart
( I'll even give you two ). If this is so then we should really research this coz we just ran across something that could solve our storage problem, LOL.

It's got to be leaking/burnt up somewhere.

 

I imagine that it is a combination of things. A regular oil change still has oil in all kinds of places inside the motor, but if motor was apart these spaces are now empty, and it will take more oil to refill a dry engine. May be some air pockets that have to push out. If heads were done then probably new valve seals, and those have to seat in as well, so perhaps a higher oil consumption, either as very faint blue smoke that may have been missed (because we are so busy watching the temp gauge), or may show up as oil droplets on the back door paint and bumper (valve cover gaskets leaking when running).

But the extra oil consumption should end by 500 miles.

 

why not switch to rotella 15 40 and see what happens. I would run dino not synthetic....2 cents...

 

I would consider switching to dino ... but I really like the Amsoil (see picture from previous post), and I've heard from two different mechanics that the 2003 and 2004 are recommended to run synthetic due to the higher temps. Haven't confirmed that - not sure if the same was said about the 4.6 in the Range Rovers.

 

Higher temps? What? They all run at the same temp and I would say the 4.6 runs alittle cooler because it has a oil cooler, which the other DII's do not have.

Here is what the shop is going to want to do, a compression test to check for a sticky valve or bad rings.
Then when that comes back good they are going to want to open it back up.
Let them do the compression test, when that comes back good leave it alone, it will stop "loosing" oil.
It took my truck about 6 months or so.