Defender 300Tdi cooling conundrum
Discussion
Hi guys,
I'm scratching my head with this so I'm hoping someone may be able to shed some light on the issue...
I recently replaced my rad due to an impact hole in the rear of it (that in itself is odd) and since then two issues have developed.
Firstly the Def only takes 1.5miles and five minutes to warm up (for the past 18 months it has always taken far longer & according to folk in the know a long warm-up time is the norm.
Secondly the overflow/expansion tank keeps dumping fluid and hissing through the pressure relief style cap. It never used to do this at all. I fill it to where I used to (under the tank seam).
The fluid is circulating as my heater works well, the Kenlowe preheater is hot (and has been bled) and all associated water pipes are hot also (have also used a digi thermometer to check and all seems fine).
I'm wondering if there's a blockage somewhere causing a pressure build up? However the fact that all is circulating would usually rule this out, surely?
Oh, the oil is fine - no sludge, water etc in the oil.
Any help much appreciated.
Cheers,
C.
I'm scratching my head with this so I'm hoping someone may be able to shed some light on the issue...
I recently replaced my rad due to an impact hole in the rear of it (that in itself is odd) and since then two issues have developed.
Firstly the Def only takes 1.5miles and five minutes to warm up (for the past 18 months it has always taken far longer & according to folk in the know a long warm-up time is the norm.
Secondly the overflow/expansion tank keeps dumping fluid and hissing through the pressure relief style cap. It never used to do this at all. I fill it to where I used to (under the tank seam).
The fluid is circulating as my heater works well, the Kenlowe preheater is hot (and has been bled) and all associated water pipes are hot also (have also used a digi thermometer to check and all seems fine).
I'm wondering if there's a blockage somewhere causing a pressure build up? However the fact that all is circulating would usually rule this out, surely?
Oh, the oil is fine - no sludge, water etc in the oil.
Any help much appreciated.
Cheers,
C.
Hmmm......impending head gasket fail I'd say.
I had a 300TDi Disco which did exactly the same thing. Warmed up dead quick, sipped the coolant away, hissed through the coolant cap, but showed no other symptoms (no oil in the water etc).
300s are good at soldiering on with iffy cooling whilst displaying only partial symptoms, so your rad situation won't have helped.
Fix it now while you want to instead of when you have to. It's not a difficult job, just an in-depth one that needs oodles of confidence.
I had a 300TDi Disco which did exactly the same thing. Warmed up dead quick, sipped the coolant away, hissed through the coolant cap, but showed no other symptoms (no oil in the water etc).
300s are good at soldiering on with iffy cooling whilst displaying only partial symptoms, so your rad situation won't have helped.
Fix it now while you want to instead of when you have to. It's not a difficult job, just an in-depth one that needs oodles of confidence.
Crossflow Kid said:
Hmmm......impending head gasket fail I'd say.
I had a 300TDi Disco which did exactly the same thing. Warmed up dead quick, sipped the coolant away, hissed through the coolant cap, but showed no other symptoms (no oil in the water etc).
300s are good at soldiering on with iffy cooling whilst displaying only partial symptoms, so your rad situation won't have helped.
Fix it now while you want to instead of when you have to. It's not a difficult job, just an in-depth one that needs oodles of confidence.
I must admit the thought of a head gasket failure had crossed my mind. I didn't want to give the the thought any credence though. Oh well, looks like I need to whip off the head now, before it goes good and proper.I had a 300TDi Disco which did exactly the same thing. Warmed up dead quick, sipped the coolant away, hissed through the coolant cap, but showed no other symptoms (no oil in the water etc).
300s are good at soldiering on with iffy cooling whilst displaying only partial symptoms, so your rad situation won't have helped.
Fix it now while you want to instead of when you have to. It's not a difficult job, just an in-depth one that needs oodles of confidence.
Thanks for your post
Cheers,
C.
viggen114 said:
Bleed the system again
Highest point is the heater matrix
Have done so - made no difference. Also, the highest point is my preheater which has also been bled.Highest point is the heater matrix
Having a test done on the air in the coolant tank tomorrow to see if there are any combustible materials in there...
viggen114 said:
Where did you get the radiator from ?
A radiator swap and bled should not do that - how long was you running dry
It's a OEM Rad and I wasn't running totally dry. The temp guage did get into the red though so I suspect the head gasket may well have sustained some damage. All will be revealed later this morning hopefully.A radiator swap and bled should not do that - how long was you running dry
you have 2 possibilities, 1 is cheap fix one isn't.
firstly remove your thermostat and make sure that it hasn't stuck shut. Test and refit or test a new one and replace.
secondly make sure you haven't got an airlock in your heater matrix set heat to full blow full hot and screen. The fill your system with the outklet from the heater matrix off till you get flow.
i fear however your head gasket has failed. Gaskets tend to fail from water jacket to piston in pots 2 and 3 so you don't get oil contamination. if your engine is pressurising the cooling system then I think this is a strong candidate. heads are also known to crack between the glow pug and valve seat on both pots so when you end up removing head make sure you check it for cracks.
Neil.
firstly remove your thermostat and make sure that it hasn't stuck shut. Test and refit or test a new one and replace.
secondly make sure you haven't got an airlock in your heater matrix set heat to full blow full hot and screen. The fill your system with the outklet from the heater matrix off till you get flow.
i fear however your head gasket has failed. Gaskets tend to fail from water jacket to piston in pots 2 and 3 so you don't get oil contamination. if your engine is pressurising the cooling system then I think this is a strong candidate. heads are also known to crack between the glow pug and valve seat on both pots so when you end up removing head make sure you check it for cracks.
Neil.
Thanks for the info guys, much appeciated. :-)
This mornings test showed no combustable material in the air within the cooling system, which is good news and the best thing of all is that purely down to having two of us looking into this curly issue we may have cracked it.
I sat in the car and gave it a few beans (already warmed up) while the pipette thingy drew air from the coolant tank. Due to my mech being at the front of the Def and the light catching the escaping coolant we could see what was happening when a load was applied to the engine.
There is a crack in the top of the coolant tank and it starts from the join and heads vertical for about 13mm. Under pressure it opens up and splits coolant everywhere. At idle you'd not even see it (it was also a tad grubby being a LR!).
So, new coolant tank is next and I'll then see if all is back to usual.
Fingers crossed!
Thanks again,
C.
This mornings test showed no combustable material in the air within the cooling system, which is good news and the best thing of all is that purely down to having two of us looking into this curly issue we may have cracked it.
I sat in the car and gave it a few beans (already warmed up) while the pipette thingy drew air from the coolant tank. Due to my mech being at the front of the Def and the light catching the escaping coolant we could see what was happening when a load was applied to the engine.
There is a crack in the top of the coolant tank and it starts from the join and heads vertical for about 13mm. Under pressure it opens up and splits coolant everywhere. At idle you'd not even see it (it was also a tad grubby being a LR!).
So, new coolant tank is next and I'll then see if all is back to usual.
Fingers crossed!
Thanks again,
C.
a crack in the expansion tank maybe (hopefully not) a symptom of the cooling system over pressurising. Was the "sniffer" test checking for exhaust gasses in the coolant, checked while the engine was under load. ( this is tricky to do, i had it on a p38a once,the sniffer test would only change colour whilst driving, ended up with a cracked cylinder head.) as at idle just revving it may conceal a fault. get it pressure tested properly. the pressure should not keep rising.
good luck
al
good luck
al
alchilds69 said:
a crack in the expansion tank maybe (hopefully not) a symptom of the cooling system over pressurising. Was the "sniffer" test checking for exhaust gasses in the coolant, checked while the engine was under load. ( this is tricky to do, i had it on a p38a once,the sniffer test would only change colour whilst driving, ended up with a cracked cylinder head.) as at idle just revving it may conceal a fault. get it pressure tested properly. the pressure should not keep rising.
good luck
al
I agree, it could indeed. However the cap is designed to let anything over 15psi out via the thread iirc.good luck
al
The test was carried out when the Def was hot and under load (1500 to 2500rpm) and yes, it was checking for exhaust gases etc.
I'm going to keep with the KISS principle on this and also keep my fingers crossed...
Thanks for the post - I'll keep all in the loop
C.
Well, a happy ending has arrived.
It was all down to the tank and hairline crack opening up under pressure.
A new tank has been fitted and no more coolant loss is the result The best thing is since a new rad has been fitted the Def is warming up far , far quicker now. The old rad must have been full of gunk and restricting the coolant flow.
Thanks for all the replies and assistance.
Happy travels,
C.
It was all down to the tank and hairline crack opening up under pressure.
A new tank has been fitted and no more coolant loss is the result
The best thing is since a new rad has been fitted the Def is warming up far , far quicker now. The old rad must have been full of gunk and restricting the coolant flow.Thanks for all the replies and assistance.
Happy travels,
C.
Hi I had the same issue on my Disco 1 what I found is that when it starts to over pressure slowly lossen the top bleed screw on the thermostat housing until the water comes back through. I changed 2 engines 2 different heads and a head gasket which all had same issue then found it was an air lock somewhere
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