I have a Freelander W reg, diesel, pre-TD4. Now out of warranty. Its done 28,000 miles so not a high mileage vehicle.
Had no serious problems with the engine during its 3 year warranty period. Took it in to the local Land Rover dealership for its 3 year service (at 25,000 miles) with nothing to report. Dealership advised that it needed a new sump gasket, which they promptly fitted.
24 hours later the vehicle had dumped a goodly portion of its oil on my garage floor. Called the dealership, got the emergency guy out. He crawled under and declared there was a big leak around the sump gasket. No oil showing on dipstick at all. I'd probably been driving the car around the previous day with oil being dumped.Filled up with oil, got the vehicle back to the dealership. Two days later I've got a new sump cover - old one was cracked. That was 4 months ago. Everything seemed okay since.
Noticed jet black oil drops on my garage floor a couple of days ago. Checked oil level, took it back to the dealership. They put it up on a ramp and discovered that there was a huge amount of oil on the panel that sits under the engine bay. And that the sump gasket appeared to have gone again. Naturally, I'm out of warranty by 4 months.
Question: The vehicle has done 3,500 easy miles since the last major service when the oil was changed. Is the oil supposed to be jet black? I thought this indicated that there was a break somewhere between the engine and sump? For sure when I've gone between major services before the oil has remained fairly clear.
I've noticed recently when pulling away that I'm blowing smoke out the back end during the first few yards. I assumed this was normal, but now I'm not so sure.
Dealership deny all knowledge and say jet black oil in the sump is perfectly normal. They are putting in for an after-warranty claim because they accept that they changed the sump gasket 3,500 miles ago and it has obviously failed again.
PoP