Don't buy a Discovery Sport or Range Rover Evoque until you’ve read this

Diesel dilution scandal means you should think carefully before buying a 2016 modelyear Disco Sport or Range Rover Evoque

THE world of diesel engines came crashing down on Friday September 18, 2015, when US authorities announced that Volkswagen would be prosecuted for fitting so-called “defeat devices” to its cars to beat EU emissions rules. It has never been the same since.

The VW 'Dieselgate' scandal resulted in motor manufacturers throughout the world jumping through hoops to keep on the right side of the law, fitting all sorts of complicated devices to reduce the soot particles emitted from their diesel engines.

The Ford engines fitted in early Discovery Sports and Range Rover Evoques were incapable of meeting the ever-tighter EU6 emissions rules. Luckily JLR’S new Ingenium family of engines would be able to solve that problem, they reckoned. The 2.0 Ingenium diesel had already been successfully fitted under the bonnet of the Jaguar XE. Unfortunately, when it came to the transverse mounting under the Sport and Evoque bonnets, the engine and its close-coupled diesel particulate filter (DPF) didn’t fit the space available.

The DPF is normally mounted near the exhaust outlet, so that the heat can burn off the troublesome soot. But LRM has seen evidence that suggests JLR’S Design department refused to alter the underbonnet layout on these two models, which meant the DPF was fitted much further back.

Because of this, the vehicles’ software was tweaked so that every 250 miles some extra diesel would be automatically squirted into the system, in order to create the heat needed to burn off the soot. But if the process took place at a time when the driver was making a short or stop-start journey, most of that diesel would end up in the sump instead, diluting the engine oil, without the owner knowing. This high level of oil dilution meant that the service warning light came on much earlier than the claimed 21,000 miles/two years interval.

One owner, who we shall call Mr X, is a retired Met Police officer. He bought his 2016 Discovery Sport in May 2017 from a JLR dealership with just 3200 miles on the clock. It shouldn’t have needed an oil change until 21,000 miles had been reached, but the indicator came on at 14,000. He complained to JLR and wrote about his experience on an internet forum, where he soon found out he wasn’t the only one suffering this problem.

A year later, he received a full refund of the £29,850 he had paid for the vehicle, but as a former policeman he couldn’t resist continuing his investigations, which make sobering reading. There isn’t room here to reveal his findings in full, but he has published them in an evidencepacked 20-page document in PDF format, which LRM readers can download for free at: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ d0bcrd7sve4l598/d8_dilution_explained. pdf?dl=1.

JLR claims to have corrected the problem by modifying the DPF and software after the 2016 model-year. Some owners of 2016 models have been offered indefinite free oil changes, as goodwill gestures by JLR. Others were told it was their own fault, because their driving style included too many short journeys!

We understand that, like Mr X, some disgruntled owners have actually received full refunds.

Mr X’s investigations include evidence from some JLR powertrain engineers, who claim the company had been warned about the problem of excessive oil dilution, but continued anyway. One JLR contractor told Mr X that “despite Engineering advising Design of the ramifications of shoehorning the D180 [engine] into the architectural structure and floorpan, was not listened to by the Design team, as unfortunately egos are rife over there. The net result is that the 15-19MY D180 [Discovery Sport] cannot ever reach its required servicing parameters. It’s an engineering impossibility and anyone who says differently deep down knows this to be the case.”

More worrying (to me at least) is the fact that JLR moved the goalposts on oil dilution. In 2016 it claimed that oil dilution should not exceed 6 per cent or engine damage could result. Since February 2019 it has raised that threshold to 10 per cent. Mr X claims that “oil samples removed from more than 30 Discovery Sport vehicles since 2017 contain high levels of iron and other metals, something which is normally associated with premature engine wear”.

According to oil company Total: “Excessive diesel dilution reduces oil viscosity and washes oil from vital parts of the engine impairing lubrication. Poor lubrication causes metal surfaces to rub against one another increasing friction and accelerating wear of bearings and other components.”

Mr X has promised to keep LRM readers updated with his findings. In the meantime, do download and read his report.

One thing is certain: this is a story that’s going to run and run.