Disco 2 Coolant loss?

Hi all, but of a puzzler.. I recently had an overheat and ended up changing the rad .. It wasn't without a few hiccups and I did need to cap a pipe on the radiator, but I'm fairly sure that's OK .
Thing is I've driven a few times since completing the job over the last few days maybe 30miles in total and I keep needing to top up the coolant (perhaps 500mls x3 times). To start with I assumed it was just air working out of the system, but it's it likely to take so many attempts? There's no coolant under car or anywhere I can see around the cooling system? When the car overheated, there was a load of coolant around the expansion tank. I assume the cap auto vented due to overheat and blew out a bit of juice? Is it possible I'm losing coolant thru the cap because something hasn't sealed itself again properly? Or am I missing something I can be checking? Ps the oil looks clean so don't think it's a blown head gasket..
Thanks

Caps are known to fail overtime cheap and easy to replace, it you want to see if it is coming from there, place a plastic water bottle over the end of the drain pipe and see if it collects coolant.

Cheers

That's a great shout, cheers for swift reply!

Have a look at the tiny little link pipe tucked up behind the turbo area. Mine started there and until it completely fails the water loss evaporates.

Without wishing to scare monger, how old is your Disco 2.
If it is the earlier 10p engine how hard are the top hoses when you have run it?
If hard then the HG is a reliable source due to plastic dowels. Caught mine early enough for the cost of a HG and two new steel dowels, reusing bolts and plenty of rtv.
The head is heavy to haul in and out but that's all thats difficult. Hope you sort.

Thanks for advice, I strapped a bottle to the overflow pipe, doesn't look like it's coming from there. Car is 2002, not sure how to establish if 10p?..will see if I can find and check pipe behind turbo tomorrow, still hoping not hg of course. .but will check how hard hoses are, would be curious why hard hoses point to hg? Water reacts with oil / hose rubber?
Thanks

Ush said:

Car is 2002, not sure how to establish if 10p?.

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You can count the pipes on the FPR or check your V5 and the engine number on the block.

Cheers

Ush said:

would be curious why hard hoses point to hg?

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One of the indicators of a blown head gasket is gases from a cylinder getting into a water gallery and over pressurizing the cooling system, which is often seen as a very hard top hose. the increase in pressure can also blow the coolant out of the overflow pipe.
Over-pressure in the cooling system could also be an indication of a cracked cylinder head, but we won't go there.

Love a bit of knowledge.. Thanks for that, very good to know (for me anyway, the missus has banned me from talking about giant torque wrenches or variations in rads, coolant mixtures etc..) the fpr was one of the first jobs i did a few years back, it was a 3 pipe. .and having just done the rad, I know it's eu3 (should have had a blanked pipe).. So I'm guessing it's a later engine, is that going to make the hg less likely as a culprit?

Rad pipes not hard, so hoping that's good news .. Have only had to top up slightly in the last couple of days, so could still be my initial thought of it being air in the system. I followed refill instructions, raised tank, filled slowly although clearly that's a bit subjective.. Only thing that occurred to me was that I removed the bleed screw rather than loosened, just now wondering if, by completely removing, I allowed air to be drawn into system and that might explain more air than I expected.. Here's hoping, guess I'll know for sure after a few more miles .
Cheers for all the help.

Ush said:

Rad pipes not hard, so hoping that's good news .. Have only had to top up slightly in the last couple of days, so could still be my initial thought of it being air in the system. I followed refill instructions, raised tank, filled slowly although clearly that's a bit subjective.. Only thing that occurred to me was that I removed the bleed screw rather than loosened, just now wondering if, by completely removing, I allowed air to be drawn into system and that might explain more air than I expected.. Here's hoping, guess I'll know for sure after a few more miles .
Cheers for all the help.

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i always remove the bleed screw. won't have made any difference. you will usually need a couple of small top ups after refilling the system.