G'day Stu
It's always good to be vigilant. But as Mikey says it's to be expected. Mine has 265,000km with EGRs disabled. Below are pics of my car from a while ago to illustrate the normal oil and soot build up even with no EGR for at least 5000km.
http://www.fullfatrr.com/gallery/albums/us...G_2415.JPG

http://www.fullfatrr.com/gallery/albums/us...G_2422.JPG ______________________________
Vogue tdv8 08MY poverty pack - wow

Many thanks to you all for your very informative and considered replies. I am now venturing out with more confidence - - especially as it seems the slow coolant loss has been resolved with the replacement of the thermostat block.

After the great positive feedback you have given me over the turbos I feel rather churlish in still suffering "rangerover nervosa" about their reliability.

We have a shopping car for everyday use and only use our FF to go cruising to distant places. On two occasions recently she has thrown a hissyfit - - first time with the EGR in Spain and then very soon afterwards in blowing the top hose. Fortunately on both occasions we were able to drive her home, eventually. Basically I have lost confidence in her reliability and now want to do some preventative maintenance and try to build reliability back in. With the EGRs and the thermostat sorted it seems the next weakest link are the turbos - - and I have been alarmed at some of the horror stories elsewhere in this forum about turbos popping at 70K km and the shrapnel being ingested into the cylinder with consequent damage to the piston crown/con rod. Preventative maintenance now might well save a blown engine a very long way from home . . . . . Also, given her great bodywork and interior we will keep her for many more years.

Given all the above I am very minded to invest in replacement turbos. New OEMs seem to be way overpriced and I am investigating reconditioned ones. I am aware, Mikey, of your views on these, but I have found a couple of suppliers (one in UK, one in France) who use OEM components to recondition and OEM calibration equipment. I have also found a really good local indy who is well up to do the job at 55Euro/hr. So, I reckon the job would come in at about 2,500 Euros all in.

Worth it for peace of mind and future trouble free motoring . . . ???

Cheers to you all - - and to the Oz chapter!

Stuart Stuart
L322 2007 TDV8 Vogue

I thought I would put up pics of my throttle body. No visible soot at all. The pics are as I found them, no cleaning. I wiped my finger around the inside of both pipes. Nothing on my finger. Very clean at 265,000km. I'll put it down to EGRs being disabled. Only possible issue was very thin smear of oil from vapour. Another reason to fit a provent secondary filter.

The first pic is with a flash so the yellow valve stands out more.
The MAPs are still very clean.
Here's the other valve.

Here's a pic of another member's FFRR
(I'm sure he won't mind) valve body.

Corrected above pic, and should add that I have used induction cleaner 15,000 & 25,000km ago and recently cleaned my MAPs. ______________________________
Vogue tdv8 08MY poverty pack - wow

Well impressed by the gleaming intakes! Are your EGRs mechanically blanked or mapped out? What is the intake cleaner you use and the process - - clearly you do this regularly?
Cheers,
Stuart Stuart
L322 2007 TDV8 Vogue

G'day mate, see above.

- EGRs disabled using emulators about 10 or 15,000km ago.
- I've used induction cleaner 15 & 25,000km ago.
- I cleaned the MAPs using generic contact cleaner about 500km ago.
- I bought it 35,000km ago.
- serviced every 10,000km since new.
- from 100 to 230,000km throttle body regularly cleaned.

Regards
Pete. ______________________________
Vogue tdv8 08MY poverty pack - wow