Hi all,

I have noticed a damp patch of diesel on my drive underneath the fuel filter housing. I took it down to a local garage who took a look at it with the diagnosis that the leak is coming from the housing itself. Replacement part is over £300+ VAT then fitting. The part is on back order too so no availability.

On doing a search here there is a handful of similar leaks but with simple rectifications but these seem to be the 3.6 rather than the 4.4. Is this part common to both engine variants? Is there an image that I can view to get myself familiar with the part I wonder?

Cheers guys,

Phil RR Westminster 2012 4.4 TDV8 Orkney Grey
LR Freelander 2 TD4e HSE Stornoway Grey - gone but not forgotten

Awhile back I had similar, diesel leaking from the bottom of the filter housing. So I dismantled the pipes, removed the filter with the housing, drained the diesel into a container and unscrewed the sensor.
Once unscrewed I replaced the seal with a new washer seal ( probably one I had in my plumbing spares if I remember correctly) retightened the sensor, filled it with diesel, connected it back to the housing, reconnected the pipes. Primed the filter, started the car and the leak hasn't come back.
Hope this helps, very simple job, basic tools and an hour's time.

Regards
Tiprat. Borrowed Grey 2002 3d 204k for a year
Now own a 2007 Java black Vogue SE 3.6TDV8 160k

Thanks Tiprat. Yours was a 3.6, is the housing the same do you think? RR Westminster 2012 4.4 TDV8 Orkney Grey
LR Freelander 2 TD4e HSE Stornoway Grey - gone but not forgotten

Update

Just before the break I took a look at the filter and it's housing as the leak was quite alarming.

I removed the housing complete with the filter, not a difficult task. The garage had claimed they had swapped out the filter but this made no difference, hmmm. When I loosened the filter collar I expected the filter to slide off but I had to twist to free it. The numpties had assumed it was a push and twist fitting when it is just a push fit (due to the pressed tab on the filter and the recess in the housing). This caused the filter to sit unevenly hence the leak.

Reassembled correctly and no leak!

There is a bit of a background to this story, when I purchased this beauty it came with a warranty which insists on the vehicle being serviced by a VAT registered garage. This rankles me as I have always done my own servicing and repairs and find it hard to trust others working on my vehicles. Anyway, as this particular garage is local to my work it seemed sensible to use them. I had some work on my previous Freelander 2 done there without issue and I have seen all types of LR cars in their car park at times.

When I collected the car in December 2022 after it's first service with them there was a diesel stain under the car the next morning, I took it back and they rectified it claiming it was a loose hose fitting(?). On now seeing which hoses are fitted to the assembly, that does seem to be a far fetched diagnosis, if either of them where badly fitted there would have more likely to have been a lot more fuel lost and undoubtedly a fire! I think they counted on my ignorance tbh.

The 'new' leak I took it in for last month had been there for a while but very minor, after I took it to them (after reminding them of the incident after they had serviced it last) the leak was certainly more severe to a point where a car park attendant went out of his way to flag me down to tell me as such.

Needless to say I won't be going back there and I'm inclined to make some sort of complaint. This isn't the only incident either. After it's first service in December '22 I took a look under the bonnet and found the bracket which holds two relays near to the secondary air filter had not been secured back to the body, the bolt missing too. Not a biggie but annoying.

During the course of last year I took my wife's Sportage 2.0D AWD in for a major service. This entailed a fuel filter change too. I got a call late in the day to say that they had had problems changing the filter due to it's location (it does look a pain tbh, but they are the 'professionals') so could I leave the car with them overnight - a day and a half to service a car?

When we got it back I took a look under the bonnet only to find the ECU, which is fitted to a bracket in front of the filter, hadn't been bolted back so was floating free! Again, I should have complained at the time but let it slip.

So, what to do? Complaining won't provide me with any recompense but I think it's fair to alert them of their shortcomings so they can address the issues. On reflection, if the fuel filter housing had been available from LR and I had given the go ahead to replace not only would I have been £400+ down but with potentially the same problem due to their inability to fit a fuel filter. RR Westminster 2012 4.4 TDV8 Orkney Grey
LR Freelander 2 TD4e HSE Stornoway Grey - gone but not forgotten

Same thing here, filter not seated properly hence leak and I think it could be a problem caused by people not used to working on these vehicles. RR owner

And another similar tale that I also encountered with my local garage, I made it very clear to them what to do and FFS an "Oil Change" - I don't care what make and model the vehicle is, BASIC STUFF for a semi competant mechanic - but no you have to remind them what to do - crazy world we live in folks

Name and shame the garage so nobody on here uses them as your first step 2011 4.4 TDV8 Vogue SE Buckingham Blue with Ivory and clear glass = "Rory"
New Defender D300 90 on order so "Rory" will be going to a new home....!
1974 Series 3 Lightweight = "Millie"
My preferred specialist: www.glenrands.co.uk
--------------------------------------------------