Hello All,

I am a long time reader, but this is my first post.

I recently bought a 2003 Disco with 83k mile. It runs like a dream and doesn't leak and the gas mileage is what it should be.

I have to add a quart of oil to this thing every few hundred miles.

There is no smoke whatsoever and no leaks like I said.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance for your help

 

If it is not leaking out, it could be leaking in. Have you checked your coolant for oil in it?

 

I have checked the coolant. I did not see any oil at all

 

If you park over fresh cardboard, you may find a leak that was missed. If you have an external oil leak, it will usually spread across bottom side of truck, and make oily spots on rear door and glass.

Of course, this assumes you are running an oil where the last number is "40" or "50", like 15W40, etc. A good diesel rated oil, like Shell Rotella (widely available and cheap) does a good job keeping things like rings and valve seals and guides clean.
10W30 is just too thin for these engines in most areas.

Does your model have one or two small radiators stacked between the main radiator and the AC condenser radiator? If equipped with two, one of them is an engine oil cooler, but they were discontiued above a certain VIN.

Remove spark plugs and inspect for color. May have one that is oily and wet looking.

Borrow or rent compresion tester, it screws into the now open spark plug holes. You pull fuel pump relay, and crank engine to build up pressure. Looking for either all to be low, or maybe just one (the oily one is the place to start if you have one).

Put cap-ful of oil in that low cylinder and retest, if reading improves to almost that of others, rings are suspect. If reading only goes up a few pounds, valves are suspect. Normally valve related issues make exhaust smoke slightly blue.

You should also borrow a coolant pressure tester and check cooling system for leaks, just to be sure. Most auto parts chains loan this stuff out.

No leaks? It's just not natural....

 

If you are not leaking oil externally then the only four possibilities for oil consumption would be rings, plugged up EGR system, bad valve seals or a bad intake gasket .
What weight oil are you using?

 

I just switched to Rotella 15-40. I don't know what was run in it before. It has been regularly serviced at the land rover dealerships because there is record of every scheduled maintenance record

 

Probably drive for a week or so and see if problem continues. Monitor oil level daily, to see if, and by how much it is still dropping.

 

There is no EGR on the V8.
This is perfectly normal after switching to Rotella, your engine seals are soaking up the new oil, keep it full with Rotella, it will stop.
After I first switched my truck drank oil like it was free, not a single drop on the ground.
It stopped after a few months.

 

I was wondering about the EGR statement also. Was Mike talking about the oil separator possibly?

 

Yes, that is what I was referring to, just another one of my Friday misquotes.
I would not blame the oil consumption on using Rotella, gaskets can not soak up a quart of oil in under 200 miles, not even a small % of that, if anything will start cleaning up the old sludge and residue from left over oils.