hey everyone, well we had the first big snowfall around here for years this past weekened, and ofcourse, something went horribly wrong with my range rover. i had been driving it fine, and my battery had started to act up, im guessing it was just the cold weather and an old battery that needed to be replaced, no big deal. so driving home, it ran great in the snow, we had a total of 2.5 feet of snow fall, and the range was handling and driving great. ofcourse, i hadnt gotten stuck anywhere, but when i came home i got stuck at the very end of the driveway(has one of those steep curbs, mix that with slush/ice/snow, and it equals a pain in my ***). so i was trying to get unstuck, just revving it, i really didnt take the engine over3500 rpm, maybe 4500 tops. out of no where, my cab fills with smoke, and i look at the temp gauge, and itstowards the top, so i immediately kill the engine(i had only been trying to get unstuck for about 5 minutes). anyways, i kill the engine, let it cool down, and pop the hood and start it up(roughly 45 minutes later) and i see smoke coming out of the right side of the engine compartment(left side if im looking towards the fton of the range with the hood open, and it appeared to be coming out towards the ac lines, where you refill it, but i know this isnt the source of the smoke). anyways, it was dark, so i decide to let it sit overnight and id check all fluids the next morning when i have some sunlight. well, all fluids checked out, but everytime i started the car, there was smoke coming out of the exhaust, no more smoke under the hood, and none coming through the a/c vents anymore. so since everything seemed well, i decided to take it for a drive, well it drove fine too but it is making a weird sound. it sounds almost like an exhaust leak in the headers, or before the cats, but i cant source it, im going to get under the truck tommarow and see if i can see where the sound is coming from. but now im lost, i dont know where to go from here, and i should be able to diagnose a couple "could-be" causes. for all i know, the whole engine could be shot, or i could of bent a valve, or something along those lines but yet im unsure, and dont really know how to go about determining the cause. i have mechanical skills, i replaced the head gasket on my old chevy all by myself, although i know these are a whole other story, im just saying i do have mechanical knowledge and should hopefully be able to do the repair myself. now i know i needed an 02 sensor, but i dont think this would cause, or be the cause of my problems. so i was wondering if anyone has any ideas. ill list my trucks symptoms andinfo below to help make breaking it down easier.

2003 range rover hse, 105,000 easy highway miles.
*needed an 02 sensor
*smoke filled the cab through the a/c vents while full heat was on
*smoke out the rear exhaust, not excessive, but noticeable
*when it first overheated, smoke was coming out of the right side of the engine bay while looking under the hood, could not source it
*i went to start it today, it started up fine with the remote start, accidentally shut it off, went to start it with the key and it took 10 seconds of cranking before it finally turned over(this was the first and only time this has happened)
*all fluids checked out fine
*if you guys need any other info, let me know, i would take it up to the shop, thats my next step, but i dont want to drive it anywhere if its going to cause more damage, so if i can find the problem it will make life that much easier, it drives fine, doesnt overheat, it just seems like its running rich if that would be possible(that would explain the smoke(its whiteish, not oil burning sooo..), the excessive cranking to get it to start after it had been idling for a couple minutes, but im lost so any help would be greatly appreciated)
*also, it kind of makes a puff noise, like an exhaust leak or something, and sorry about the scattered info, im just trying to list every possible bit of info that might help diagnose my problem.

 

Well your last statement about the puff noise and the smoke from exhaust and the heating up I would thing head gasket. The smoke comming from the engine bay and in to the drivers compartment might just have been caused by you being in deep snow and the heat from the exhaust melting it and causing the smoke. Did you smell coolant?

Can you park some where you can verify leaks? Check the coolant lines really good for any leaks, maybe caused by a hose backing it self off while you were accelerating. The hoses might still be on but moved enough to allow fluid to seep out.

 

There has been no coolant loss, that's what I guessed happened at first, but I couldn't find any leak. I'm about to take the plastic engine head cover off for a better look, it's just ard to work on a car inblizzard conditions. Is it possible it's an exhaust manifold gasket leak, could this cause my symptoms?

 

Mine makes a light puffing noise due to an exhaust leak, don't know if that helps. I'm wondering if the steam is from the heater core going out, which would explain it overheating.

 

well, i put some extra oil in today, and it drove like a charm, until s a okow truck ran me off the road, and i got stuck again, but this time, my car shut down and was smoking a little. come to find out there oils steadily dripping out near the oil pan. now i have no clue what was going on, i put some extra engine oil in today, she ran great, better than ever besides the puff noise from my exhaust leak, but now this is just getting to be too much. i couldnt source it yet, seeing as it was dripping down the oil pan, and everytime i was cleaning it off more would be coming out. any ideas. my engine oil light came on, i was hoping it was just my oil drain plug or someting but now its showing there no oil in the engine dipstick, any ideas. this is just a never ending problematic truck for the last 3 days and my moneys tight around christmas, this is the kind of stress i just didnt need............ its killing me, this truck is my prized possession and Ive never treated it wrong.....any ideas?

 

You damaged your oil pan or drain plug, which is leaking out oil and causing your engine to overheat, smoke, and destroy itself. Get under there and check things out! A steep slope for a given period of time can also cause this problem, especially if its low on oil. I am willing to bet the pan or drain plug was damaged awhile back and was slowly leaking oil. It drove great straight and level cause the oil was not at one end of the sump. You got sent off the road and probably damaged it more, causing the oil light to come on due to low pressure and oil level. All of that would be my guess as to what happened. Having to crank 10 times before start is probably due to the remote start, as they tend to screw up the engine management. What I may or may not be correct, I need more information. But I can honestly say you have a serious problem that NEEDS to be addressed unless you want to buy a new car, and permanent damage may have already been done .

 

You obviously have a pretty serious problem. If it were me I would not drive it. Call a rollback and have it taken to a competent shop or to your garage. This is not something that you are going to fix on the side of the road or in your driveway in the snow.

 

it was running fine, no smoke, but as soon as the oil started coming out it shut down, so i think it should be ok aslong as i can fix the problem. i know it shut down as soon as the oil started coming out because i was digging out the snow under the tires, told my buddy to go forward and as soon as he did it started to leak, and it shut down, i threw it in neutral and towed it to the closest relatives house and thats where its sat since. im going over there today and taking a close look, the oil pan drain plug looked fine, it was coming down from the front of the oil pan. if its something real serious i think it would be easier to just find a used engine and do a swap rather than fiddle with a rebuild or something, ill keep you guys filled in.

 

Here's another scenario to look at. During your romping ont he accelerator in the snow you could have built up some pressure and blown the gasket on your oil filter, it will hemorage from there and you will lose all your oil. Usually you will not blow the oil pan gasket but I guess it is possible. You really need to find the source of the leak first before you go out and drive it anywhere, in the snow this will not be fun. The oil filter may also be causing the oil light since there would essentially be no proessure there.

Good Luck.

 

An engine swap will be much more expensive than just a repair. It would be over kill in my opinion....