Cooling trouble-shooting

Hi all,

I had the worst journey today, was utterly terrible. We drove up to the Peak District and back and the bloody cooling was all over the show. Some background info first; I have had a coolant loss problem since I got this car. To date I have replaced the inlet manifold gasket, the header tank and its cap, and replaced the circlip on the main tank outlet hose with a jubilee clip as it was leaking badly (still leaking but doesn't explain everything.) I thought the problem had stabilised, even though I have to check the level regularly and top up when needed.

Before the journey today I topped up the coolant with about .3 ltrs of de-ionised water as I didn't have any coolant to hand but the rest that was in there was coolant. This may have been a contributing factor to the problems perhaps someone can tell me. On the way up I had a big red-light temp spike on the dual carriageway and I managed to pull over and it was gone in a matter of seconds, but this has happened before and I did a quick air bleed and thougt all would be well. But as we got into the hill country it happened three more times. Each time I stopped and bleed some air out of the heater hose, I got a nasty high pressure jet of steam out of the bleed screw - and lots of it. The level in the tank would drop almost right out when doing this. If I let some pressure out of the tank cap, a bunch of coolant would flood into the tank from the small upper tank hose - sometimes filling it almost to the top. Also whenever I stopped the car and popped the hood I could hear a hissing noise, coming from the cap I think (which is brand new genuine LR as is the tank.) Possibly over pressured?

In the end it got so bad that I decided to take it nice and easy on B-roads and under 40mph all the way home. No more spikes but this made me deeply unpopular, though I tried to let people past where I could. Any higher revs and I would start to get spikes again. I'm probably going to avoid driving until this is solved.

Hopefully from what I've descrobed someone can suggest a few things to try? At this point I'm thinking of bringing forward my pruchase of new hoses all round and an EWP. I've had it with this terrible terrible cooling system.

Will.

another one bites the dust

Yeh I'm just working my way through alot of searches - something is very, very wrong with this motor . It's looking alot like HGF from what I'm reading, might be wrong though. I'm not really bothered though, even if it goes up to and including a complete new engine - this is not unexpected, it is a 1.8 and it was bound to **** its guts out sooner or later. Whatever the bugger throws at me I'll handle.

Anyway, any input would be appreciated .

Why don't yu
A) get a sniff test done to check for combustion gases in the coolant?
B) have a compression test carried out?
C) fit a rover 220turbo lump in it ?

The Mad Hat Man said:

Why don't yu
A) get a sniff test done to check for combustion gases in the coolant?
B) have a compression test carried out?
C) fit a rover 220turbo lump in it ?

Click to expand...

It definately looks like the head gasket had similar problems on my mgf.
If you do the job then check the cylinder liners are protruding slightly.
If they aren't then you will be waisting your time.
I use the new multilayer gasket and haven't had any problems since, but YOU must check the water levels weekly as a minimum.

I've looked everywhere and can't find anyone who has done the rover 220 turbo engine conversion even on here.
I would consider keeping my freelander if i could fit a rover 220 engine.

Mike

Speak to courier in LRO.


rear brake shoes fell apart
by courier » Sat 09 Jan 2010 4:31 pm

freelander 1800 with rover 220 turbo engine fitted

IMO, head gasket gone, that's exactly what happened to mine! Definitely do a compression test etc. When/if you do the head gasket, have the head checked to make sure it hasn't warped.

Also note that the cylinder liner protrusion figures were changed, so make sure you use the correct one.

mike lotus said:

YOU must check the water levels weekly as a minimum.

Click to expand...

Have been doing this religiously mate , after the new tank, cap and clip I was hoping the coolant loss was solved. But it may be the case that the HG was on its way out when I got it.

I've read so much about HGF on here that I know the drill now, I'll make sure it gets done properly. Obviously I'll have to send the head away but the rest I can do myself. Couple of tests to do though as you suggested, Hat Man.

The heater still works fine, if that counts or anything. The fact that I'm still getting a leak out of the main feed hose is an obvious first port of call. Is there any kind of sealing gum I can put on the tank's outlet tube which will make sure I get a good seal when I attach the hose?

Also going to completely change the coolant and re-bleed. Just to be on the safe side. There's no mayo in the coolant yet, so hope remains.

The Mad Hat Man said:

Also note that the cylinder liner protrusion figures were changed, so make sure you use the correct one.

Click to expand...

Noted .

While yu are at it fit the low coolant sensor, the remote thermostat ( if not done already) and an EWP.

Oh - and one more thing - lock the engine before yu remove head, as if yu turn crank, yu will feck all the liners ( they move).

Don't forget, it may not be HGF, it could already be water leaking past a liner .

Yes I've read about dropping a liner o_o! Going to be very, very careful. Black casing PRT has already been fitted but low coolant sensor and EWP is definitely going to happen. Thanks to this forum I'm pretty well prepared for this, and I'm not panicking as I know it's not going to cost both my testicles - it's just a matter of figuring out exactly whats wrong .

Interesting point about the Tomcat Turbo. I know absolutely nethin about them, where's a good place to look for them? First google seach didn't turn much up.

Thanks, as ever.

Will.

Not the turbo - the complete 220turbo engine. It will mate to the freeby gearbox, with a slight mod or two ( change input shaft). i think yu can also use the Quaffe LSD.

While your under it ,check if the core/frost plugs have rusted through . You might see a hairline crack . You do say there's a leak from a hose .

Yes sorry I thought the tomcat was the nickname for the whole engine. I've just a poke around autotrader and cars with this angine aren't exactly pricey. Bloody big mallet to squash this problem but well worth thinking about. Surely it would cause trouble with my insurance though?

One further thing, when people say (quite rightly) that the K series cooling system is poorly designed, conceived and exectued - do they mean the hoses, rad and all that or do they means the cooling passages within the block itself?

OldIrishWulf said:

While your under it ,check if the core/frost plugs have rusted through . You might see a hairline crack . You do say there's a leak from a hose .

Click to expand...

Ta Wulf, will look

The complete cooling SYSTEM.

Block design, thermostat location, coolant volume, airflow. Yu name it .

So I assume it's different on the doozles? If I'm honest, I'd only consider fitting the 220 TD if the EWP fails to stop HGF after I've fitted it - I think that heat soak has got to be a major factor in these problems and the EWP will stop that happening.

On a quick practical note, will PTFE tape stand up to the temps if I wrap some around the tank's outlet tube? That's my best shot at getting a good seal I think.

Will.

Nooooooo the 220 turbo petrol .

Oooooooh I thought it was a doozil! That's gonna be a thirsty bugger compared to the 1.8 !

No it won't. Compare figures . And all that POWER .