a temporary fix - please help!!!

Hi All,

I have a 98 Discovery 3.9 V8i Auto, for sometime now its been loosing coolent, today at Tesco I noticed a nice puddle under the car, after a quick inspection it looks like one if the pipes not sure which but it has a hole in it.

its quite a thin pipe located near enough to the petrol tank.

my question is can I do a temporary fix until the weekend when I can get a replacement pipe and have time to fit it.

would something like a lot of insulation tape roud it keep it water tight. or if anyone has got any idea's i would be more than happy to hear them.

as always thankful

John

Self amalgamating tape would probably fix it But I'm a bit confused by your description of the pipe. Only thin pipes near your fuel tank that I can think of is brake lines and fuel pipes! But then I've never owned a V8 disco, so I suppose it could be coolant???

is the puddle at the front or rear of the car? Is it defo coolant? Thinkin it could be air con drain

Are you sure it is water? As far as I know, there are no water pipes near the petrol tank. The fuel pipes do rot - check on top of the chassis rails. As said, brake pipes also run to the back, trace them from the front.

The alernative is dip yer finger in the puddle, smell it and you'll know if it is petrol, taste it and you'll know if it is brake fluid or water with anti-freeze in it.

mark-d said:

is the puddle at the front or rear of the car? Is it defo coolant? Thinkin it could be air con drain

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Hi,

Well I have let the engine cool and have looked in the expansion tank and i have not lost any coolent, so that has thrown my theory streight down the loo.

Looking at what you said I was using the air con before we pulled into tesco.

What should I be looking for or where should I start looking for the leak, also I have been back under the car now its home and the hole i thaught i found was just some hard on muck on one of the pipes.

Still begs the question where is all my coolent going out of the expansion tank, I have had the head gaskets checked and they come up ok, but thats another question for another day.

I will go out and have a look round the air con radiator to see if that has got a hole or one of the pipes is leaking from that.

The fluid is dripping from the front end of the car.

Thanks

John

So the good news is that it isn't petrol or brake fluid right?

If you have a coolant leak look for track marks at the ends of all the coolant hoses. Remove your fan and radiator cowl and check the rad. Run a compression test just to be happier that it isn't a head gasket.

having the air con on will always generate water on a hot day from the evaparator that is inside the heater box and should have a drain to let it escape, it will be a clean puddle of water, taste it if it taste like water that is what it is, but if its sweet its antifreeze

classic kev said:

So the good news is that it isn't petrol or brake fluid right?

If you have a coolant leak look for track marks at the ends of all the coolant hoses. Remove your fan and radiator cowl and check the rad. Run a compression test just to be happier that it isn't a head gasket.

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I replaced the rad a couple of months ago, the petrol gauge is steady and the brake fluid has not moved down below its level mark, so i can say with fair confidence that they are ok and as i said before i had the head gasket checked also a couple of months ago and it come up ok.

I am also pretty confident its not oil thats dripping out because, well its oil you would just know.

other thing is now its stopped leaking altogether so my question is.

does the air con system house fluid anywhere, I have been looking through my Haynes manual and liquid and vapuor seems to run round the system but its not like the expansion tank for the coolent you don't have to top anything up.

Thanks

John

mark-d said:

having the air con on will always generate water on a hot day from the evaparator that is inside the heater box and should have a drain to let it escape, it will be a clean puddle of water, taste it if it taste like water that is what it is, but if its sweet its antifreeze

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Is the drain located near the front end of the car.

My Haynes manual does not say anything about it.

Thanks

John

its just condensation will be from near the dash area but under the car

mark-d said:

having the air con on will always generate water on a hot day from the evaparator that is inside the heater box and should have a drain to let it escape, it will be a clean puddle of water, taste it if it taste like water that is what it is, but if its sweet its antifreeze

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My Disco is the cheap model without aircon, but when I had the Cherokee people would often come up to me in car parks looking worried and pointing out the water pouring from under the car. It was just the aircon condensation. The Jeep aircon is pretty fierce, but I imagine the Disco does something similar.

mark-d said:

having the air con on will always generate water on a hot day from the evaparator that is inside the heater box and should have a drain to let it escape, it will be a clean puddle of water, taste it if it taste like water that is what it is, but if its sweet its antifreeze

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Please don't taste it, common sense really.

howardo said:

Please don't taste it, common sense really.

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If it's coolant it will smell of antifreeze and be coloured, blue, pink or orange.
Unless you haven't got any antifreeze in, in which case your motor will not be very happy.
Aircon fluid should be bright green (I think???)
Aircon condensation is distilled water and should be colourless, odourless, tasteless, etc.

I've got front and rear Air Con on my TD5
I get 2 lots of leaks on Supermarket Car Parks one at the front,and!!!! Guess what?? one at the back,Just Lately i have had the AC on Full.
BUT!!!! DEFINITELY NOT LEAKIING IN TESCOS'




Gotta be Asda:nopics:

teedeefyveluvver said:

I've got front and rear Air Con on my TD5

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Cor. There's posh! Still, you must be !

howardo said:

Please don't taste it, common sense really.

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Taste it not drink it, easiest way 2 find out what it is

ok mate you taste it.

I however would urge everyone else not to.

Well, its definatley condansation from the air con, I did as was suggested yesterday and a bit of a taste this morning when i got to work, much to the dislike of my wife lol but ne mind.

A big massive thankyou for everyones help.

John

the air con system actually makes water so it won't actually have leaked from anywhere but will be coming from the system drain. this is perfectly normal for any air con equiped vehicle when the system has been used:- what air con does is to dry the air out and cool or heat it according to your settings hence the easy clearing of the windscreen in the winter just by putting the air con onto warm settings then pointing to the screen ( think about the fridge in your wife's kitchen mate she never puts open liquid in it but it makes condensation and has a drain hole for that condensation to escape) ask her she'll show you the drain hole at the back normally on the bottom shelf above the veg box.
only worry if you make water from your landy and the air con hasn't been in use