Diesel Ingenium warning
There’s good reason to avoid buying a 2016-17 Disco Sport or Range Rover Evoque if you do lots of short, stop-start journeys, reveals Dave Phillips
THE new generation of Ingenium engines built by JLR are at the cutting edge of petrol and diesel technology, but it’s come to our attention that the 2.0-litre diesel Ingeniums that power 2016 and 2017 model-year Discovery Sports and Range Rover Evoques have been problematical for some owners.
The biggest problem has been oil dilution, caused by excessive diesel getting into the sump and requiring some Evoques and Sports to require an oil change much sooner than the 21,000 miles interval boasted by Land Rover in the original sales brochures. In fact, it has become so serious that Land Rover has now rewritten its marketing material, stating that service intervals can vary depending on driving style.
This is because of the ultra-clean Ingenium engine’s diesel particulate filter (DPF), which removes 100 per cent of the soot produced by the combustion process. Advanced software in the engine management system detects when the filter is full and sends a prolonged blast of hot exhaust gas and diesel to burn it off. You don’t even know it’s happening: the engine just does it. JLR calls it “regeneration” of the DPF.
It’s a brilliant system, but it has one fatal flaw: the burn-off process takes a while to complete and if it happens on a short journey the extra diesel that isn’t burned off ends up in the sump, diluting the engine oil. Then the engine management warning light comes on to tell the owner they need to service their Evoque or Sport – even though it’s only a few thousand miles since the last service.
It’s costly, because services on modern cars don’t come cheap. But it’s much costlier if you ignore it and face the consequences of driving an engine with diluted lubricant.
One LRM reader who didn’t want to be named told me: “My 2017 2.0 Ingenium Evoque needed an oil change at 6900 miles because the oil dilution had reached seven per cent.
“My son has a Discovery Sport, also with the 2.0 diesel Ingenium engine, and at 16,000 miles the engine balancer shafts had to be replaced. I suspect this was caused by oil dilution, too. Diesel is the last thing you need in the lubricant for your engine!”
It is a problem JLR is well aware of. I have before me a copy of the official Service Compliance Notification (JLRP00100) sent to all franchise dealers in July 2017, the subject: “Service Indicator Message and Oil Dilution”, signed by Stuart Woodcock (Technical Service Engineering Manager).
It says: “The ‘Service Required’ message is being displayed early due to oil dilution, caused by a higher than expected number of partial DPF regeneration cycles” and points out that the burn-off cycle takes longer to achieve on Sport and Evoque models compared to Jaguar XE and XF models, because of the underbonnet layout of the Land Rover models, which have transversemounted engines.
“This combines to significantly increase the Fuel In Oil (FIO) contribution for each regeneration event,” says JLR, adding: “Oil dilution at 6.1 per cent will trigger the ‘Service Required’ message. Based on a customer’s driving style and usage, this value may be reached in advance of the service interval that was quoted in the online marketing and brochure for the vehicle – 21k miles / 24 months.
“The Handbook states that, depending on the type and style of driving that the vehicle is subjected to, the indicator may display a service message at a shorter distance than show in the service interval plans. This clause was never stated in any of the [original] marketing literature so early service requirements may lead to customer dissatisfaction.”
They’re right there. Our anonymous informant told me: “How I wish I’d never got rid of my Freelander 2, which I bought seven years ago and never had any problems with. The same with the Defender 90 I drove before that.
“I bought my Evoque because I thought it would be ideal for the sort of driving I do, but it seems that short runs to pick up my grandchildren aren’t a great idea if you own an Evoque or Discovery Sport with Ingenium diesel engines.”
The good news for owners is that dealers have been instructed to provide free oil and filter changes to customers who bought 16-17 Model Year Disco Sports and Evoques... “in good faith based on internet and brochure descriptions of reaching published service intervals”.
The obvious message here is don’t buy a 2016-17 MY Sport or Evoque with the 2.0 Ingenium diesel engine if you do lots of stop-start journeys. The good news is that the early Evoques and Sports fitted with pre-ingenium Ford engines are not affected.