Freelander 1 - Smoke/steam issue

Hi all

I have a petrol Freelander 1 K-Series, My head gasket was done a few months ago and until recently the car was going well, however, now and again if I am sitting in traffic it will suddenly not tick over very well and sound as if its going to stall but it doesn't.

When this happens if I rev the engine smoke or steam comes out of the exhaust. However, after ten minutes the car generally starts to run ok again.

Could this be a dodgy spark plug or lead and the smoke is due to the car is running on 3 cylinders at that point in time ?

Any ideas folks ?

regards Dave

Is there any fluctuation in coolant level?

What does the smoke/steam smell like?
Bubbles in the coolant expansion tank?

Yes it seems to be using coolant more than usual, what are you guys thinking ?

Any bubbling in the expansion tank?

Not thank I know of

It's worth checking. Give it a good warm up then rev it while watching the tank.
These engines do steam a bit but I'm sure you know that.
Unfortunately serial HG failure is not unknown. When the HG was done where any of the recommended changes made (oil rail, metal dowels, PRT thermostat, upgraded head bolts)?
Also have a sniff and try and work out whether it is steam or smoke. Acrid white smoke will probably be unburnt fuel.
Take the plugs out and see if any have been washed clean.

Cheers David

Many thanks for your reply, my gut feeling is that its unburned fuel so I will check the plugs tonight, hopefully it will be a dodgy plug.

I really hope its not head gasket again :-( but as I said the problem is intermittent which is odd.

What year is the engine? Distributor or individual coil things?

Its S Reg 1.8 pettol K series so I think its 1998, Hmmm individual things I think but don't quote me.

My money is on distributor. Right hand end at the top of the engine (I think but don't quote me!)

I get that the distributer would make the car play up a bit but would that make smoke / steam come out of the exhaust from time to time though David ?

No/weak spark -> unburnt fuel.

When was the cap and rotor arm changed? I think they should really changed at the same time as the plugs, but there was no official change interval for them.
However if you are loosing a bit of coolant, I'd investigate that issue too.
You need to find out as much as you can about the work that was done. Things like what type of gasket was used, Multi Layer Steel (MLS) or Elasopolyler gasket. Were new bolts used and what make?
However if it's not boiling the coolant, I wouldn't condemn the head gasket just yet. Your coolant loss could be something simple like a faulty pressure cap or split header tank. The inlet manifold gasket is also another common coolant loss fault. This will also give an increase in steam from the exhaust and can damp out a plug too.

Thank you all for your replies I am going to investigate tonight

I think you should look at the head gasket again , who did it, and did they put the upgraded gasket on?

teddywood1 said:

I think you should look at the head gasket again , who did it, and did they put the upgraded gasket on?

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It's not correct to point a finger straight at the HG. All to often, a HG gets blamed for some issue or another when there other places to look at first.
However it is a good idea to get as much information about the work done and materials used. The MLS probably only works as a permanent repair in 50% of cases. If liner hights are out of a very tight spec, the elasopolyler gasket is better.

I changed the HG on my Freelander last year and a few months later I started loosing coolant again so I was gutted and feared the worst. After a couple of weeks looking for the leak and hoping it wasn't the HG again I found a damaged hose. Big relief and once sorted the coolant loss stopped.
Look for another cause before blaming the HG again, check hoses, waterpump and inlet manifold, these are all common causes of leaks.

my wife had her head gasket done and was still loosing a bit of water and it was the header tank cap and my wife cylinder head was skimmed and the new gasket applied.
I do not just blame the head gasket but with him having steam coming out of the exhaust that is one of the first places I would look if he was just loosing water with no steam out of the exhaust then I would look at other problems and I have said in the past not to blame the head gasket first. but obviously the first thing to do with his symtoms is a sniff test .