Coolent tank help

Hi guys/girls, I've recently bought an 2004 freelander 1.8 petrol. (I know...) I've noticed after driving it only 5 mile that I could smell something slightly burny coming from the front on my freelander. Now the car had been sat at work for ten hours before my 5 mile drive home. When I opened the bonnet I could hear hissing from the coolent cap. The coolent was extremely hot. I've just bought a new tank and cap and will fit it tomorrow. Would any of this cause the slight burny smell? I've checked my oil, all seems fine not cloudy and under the oil cap looks normal as was worried (clearly) about the HG. Anyone had this problem before? Thanks in advance.

If the coolant expansion tank has cracking around the cap, then this could account for the coolant loss.

The K series needs careful maintenance by someone who knows it's little habits.

The first thing to do is find out why it's losing coolant.

Tank splitting is a common place. Next is the inlet manifold seal. This can leak coolant, into the inlet port.

The K series also has a reputation for trashing head gaskets. Not HGFs are because of the HG it's self. The coolant going low, is enough to cause a failure at some point in the future.

Hi many thanks for the advice. Since changing the expansion tank everything seems ok at the moment. My radiator fans don't come on, but from reading other posts the temp has to be over 90' for them to kick in so gonna go on a long drive and hope for the best.

The only time the fans come on is when you get stuck in heavy stationary traffic or the AC is on.

Any update?

rob_bell said:

Any update?

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Well the radiator has never come on, so going to have a dig around and see what's what. Is there any common reasons for this? Engine bay always seems very hot after any journey short or long.

Possibility that the rad fan has seized and/or blown a fuse? Or, if the FL is anything like the MGF, it may be that the engine coolant sensor is faulty - providing the ECU with false temperature readings (i.e. much colder than the actual coolant temperature!)

Happy hunting!

Could try a thermometer after a journey to check the temperature. See if it marries up with you gauge.

The fastest way to check the fans are working, is to unplug the coolant temperature sensor. The ECU will assume a fault and put the fans on to avoid potential overheating issues

James Rogers said:

Could try a thermometer after a journey to check the temperature. See if it marries up with you gauge.

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This doesn't work on a petrol Freelander as the dash gauge shows a mid (normal) position when the coolant is above 75°C and below 115°C.

Also the newer header tank seem to leak through the cap I have tanked the cap off the wife's 1800 and always find water around the thread and the car does loose water I think I am going to try and put some ptfa tape around the thread and see how it goes.

teddywood1 said:

Also the newer header tank seem to leak through the cap I have tanked the cap off the wife's 1800 and always find water around the thread and the car does loose water I think I am going to try and put some ptfa tape around the thread and see how it goes.

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Is the washer present in the cap?

on my wifes car yes the washer is there but just been reading another thread and it seems there are problem with headed tanks from a certain dealer