Any ideas on this one? coolant levels low?

Had a dash warning light come on today flashing red on my 1989 efi, saying that my coolant levels were low.

I panicked a bit at first and kept my eye on the temperature but nothing changed till i got home.

Anyway on inspection both the expansion tank and rad were full to the brim with water and antifreze, and on running the engine i found all the hoses to be nice and firm so water seems to be getting round ok?

I must say in general things are getting a little hotter than normal under the bonnet though.

any ideas?

Hi Chris
I had a simular prob on my P38. The hoses were solid but on looking at the temp guage closely it fluctuated hot and cold.
again i had no leaks but found the return from pipe frpm the top of the rad to the exspansion tank was blocked.
all i did was drill out the hole on the exspansion tank and all was ok. Pipes went from rock hard to normal and a gental flow of coolant could be seen in the exspansion tank.
Julian

Hi

Forgive me if this is a dumb question

Why did you drill a hole in the expansion tank ? It's supposed to be pressurised for a reason (Different heats at different pressures) (( It's youre car at the end of the day))

On an EFi Classic I would'nt advise drilling holes as the expansion bottle is metal ***See above***

What I would check is the coolant Solenoids one on the expansion bottle and one in the engine. I would also check for the thermostat, this will stick when it gets old.

Just because you're pipes are appearing to be hard doesn't mean you have water in the block/Water pump, you could have an air lock (air will do the same) listen for a sloshing.

When all those are satisfied check the wiring, then check the senders replacing with new ones.

Hope this helps

Charlotte

lol Charlotte no you aint dumb.
I only took it uo by about half a mil because when the header tank was pressure tested the return was blocked by solid deposits of anti freeze.
Ibe had no probs since and she runs like a dream with all pressures correct
Jules

Hi Death660

know I understand (Why didn't you just replace the return pipe.

Charlotte

In my RR 87 the low coolant warning light in the dash never came on (either the expansion tank was full or empty) so I repace de Sensor/switch that is located into the expanstion tank. Now the low coolant warning light in the dash is ever flashing red, like Chris problem. I know this is not the solution for the problem but we can be sure that is no Sensor/switch that is located into the expansion tank problem.
.....hi to every body, I'm new in this forum.

Hi

By what i've read the swith may have been earthed out some where.

Try removing the temp sender and pressure switch below to the left of the temp sender. (i'm assuming youre Range Rover is an EFi.

My 89 EFi SE Vogue started to the same it turned out the second temp switch was earthing. Check that the switch you have replaced is good also check that the light isn't earthing in the speedo unit.

Charlotte

Same sort of problem on my 3.9 vogue - losing coolant and overheating if moving slowly. Replaced head gaskets and viscous coupling - job done or so I thought. Now losing coolant though goodness knows where it is going and still overheating in slow traffic. I have flushed the radiator out but no improvement on the overheating. I think that the radiator is blocked since if I run the heater on full tilt it keeps the engine cool in traffic (acting as an extra rad I suppose).

Any tips on clearing the damn thing out or should I just bite the bullet and get a new rad?

Hi
I had similar probs with my 91 range I eventually found that the radiator was blocked externally between the air con rad and the main radiator
youn need to pull out the main rad and check both are clear for air to pass

If it's your low coolant light coming on, and there's coolant in there, I reckon it must be the float sensor in the xpansion tank. take out the sensor and make sure the foam float slides up and down on the shaft smoothly.
If it gets annoying, unplug the sensor if it's not a fail safe one, you won't get any more warning aobut it....!

it could be the gauge is falty