cooling system

Hello,
Late last year I finally bought a lovely Defender 90 TD5 W plate, & am loving it & this site.

Usually I would take a car to the mechanic, but I've decided to do jobs I think I might be capable of, so that I get to know the Defender better.

I had a coolant leak the other day & in my efforts to see the problem, broke the bleed screw on the top hose, so that half was still in the hose housing.
I called out the RAC who replaced the hose clips that had failed & he did a quick fix on the bleed screw, which also came off yesterday. In my efforts to get the rest of the screw out, I ended up pushing it into the hose. All is running well. The temp gauge is fine & the fix that I've put in place of the bleed screw is solid enough, but the bit of plastic is still in the system. So my question is:

Will this do any damage? If I take a hose off I will lose all the coolant
Any advice is welcome..
Brian

When you say the bleed screw do you mean the screw in 'plug' that's on the top of the thermostat?

I don't know the TD5 but on my engine (I have a 300tdi), you could remove the hose and not loose too much coolant.

Keep the header bottle top screwed on. and when you take the hose off, tip it upwards and you should probably only loose a little coolant. I'd much prefer to have the plastic out before it starts getting in the way.

When you've re-connect the hose, open the bleed plug and slightly open the head bottle top. The coolant will 'fall' through the system and then put the plug back on. Chances are you'll only need to top up a bit and using just water won't kill it.

Hello, & thank you for your reply.
On the TD5 it has a dedicated bleed screw built into the hose. It sits in a firm rubber housing with a thread for the screw.
The old bleed plug sheared off, leaving the bottom part in the housing & it's the thread part that I've pushed in & is in the system. I have a new bleed screw which arrived the other day, but can't use it 'cos there's no thread. So, I am using a work around, which seems to do the trick for the moment.
If I do as you say, & don't lose too much coolant, I presume the plastic thread part of the screw won't be flushed out?

You can take the hose off you will lose a bit of coolant but only what's in the hose, take the cap off the expansion tank and that will release any pressure that might be in the system.

Just to be clear, have you damaged the hose and pushed the female thread insert in? You'll need a new hose if so.

Since coolant should be changed every 3 years or so, why don't you do this and hope the bit comes out? I've just done it to my Td5 and could give you a 'how to' if you want.

While the system's open you could back-flush the rad and pipes in case it's hiding in there. Certainly worth a try as there is no filter in the cooling system and the bit could lodge in a block or head passageway and cause you problems. However, looking at the coolant flow path for the Td5 it seems that the next stop is the rad top hose so hopefully it's in the rad.

Thank you for all your replies.
Yes, I've pushed the female insert into the hose. I've used a plug type affair to seal it, & it seems to work ok for the moment. If I need a new hose, is there a place you can recommend?
I'll try removing the top hose & see whether it finds its way out. Don't know how to back flush the system, and instructions on that & replacing the coolant would be very useful!

lebekster said:

Thank you for all your replies.
Yes, I've pushed the female insert into the hose. I've used a plug type affair to seal it, & it seems to work ok for the moment. If I need a new hose, is there a place you can recommend?
I'll try removing the top hose & see whether it finds its way out. Don't know how to back flush the system, and instructions on that & replacing the coolant would be very useful!

Click to expand...

Try here: Td5 - Island 4x4 - Specialists in Land Rover and Range Rover Parts and accessories for all models. UK and worldwide mail order. I've used them many times before and had good service.

Drain and flush:

1. Remove acoustic cover.
2. Loosen expansion tank lid and set heater control to 'hot'.
3. Disconnect rad bottom hose and drain into pan - dispose of properly as coolant is toxic.
4. Disconnect top hose from rad.
5. You can now flush, with a low-pressure hosepipe, into the rad bottom pipe and out the top, into the top and out the bottom, and the same for the engine block. Use a piece of rag to make the hose fit the pipes better. Flush the heater core while you're at it.

6. Fit your new top hose.
7. Put all the pipes back on.
8. Undo (carefully!) your new bleed screw. Heater still set to 'hot'.
9. Fill expansion tank with (ideally distilled) water until it flows freely out of the bleed screw hole. Refit bleed screw. Top up expansion if needed.
10. Start engine and allow to reach op temp. Keep expansion tank from emptying.
11. Allow to cool, then loosen expansion tank lid and again disconnect bottom hose to drain. Refit.
12. Open bleed screw. This time, pour in 6.5 litres of OAT (pink) coolant, then tighten screw when it flows. Top up expansion to max with water if needed.
13. Run engine to op temp again, allow to cool, then top up expansion tank with more water if needed.

This is not the official way, but the best way of ensuring your antifreeze concentration is exactly 50%, since you have added 1/2 of 13 litres, and the other 1/2 must be water. This issue arises because you can never drain 100% of the fluid from the system, and therefore can't be sure your coolant is not being diluted inside.

Hope this helps!

Thank you for the info..
Have just ordered a top hose from the site in your link. It seems to be a Britpart hose, which I presume will have the bleed screw? Wasn't sure if I needed to get a genuine Landrover part.
Going to have a go at it all when it arrives

I will let you know how I get on!

lebekster said:

Thank you for the info..
Have just ordered a top hose from the site in your link. It seems to be a Britpart hose, which I presume will have the bleed screw? Wasn't sure if I needed to get a genuine Landrover part.
Going to have a go at it all when it arrives

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Britpart is often ****e, but I tend to use it for parts that are easy to swap if they fail, e.g. not the clutch! Having said that, I've just had a bad experience with one of their exhausts (see my post). There seems to be a gap in the market sometimes between Britpart and LR parts, the latter being 4-5x the price.

It should come with a bleed screw. Phone up Island and ask.

I did try to phone them yesterday, but couldn't get through & by today the hose had been shipped. It's my first experience of them, so just hope it's ok..thanks for the reply by the way.

Thanks for your post..Yes, it's the first time I've dealt with them & did try to ring them yesterday, but couldn't get through so just left it. As long as it's the right part it should be ok.

update:
The new top hose came today, & it had the bleed screw on it. I didn't do the back flush of the system, because once I'd got the old hose off I found the remains of the old bleed screw, lodged in the plastic mounting(thermostat?). Anyway, once I got that out, following your directions, I fitted the new hose & coolant/water & ran it checking for leaks. All seems to be good & am waiting for her to cool down, so that I can check the level in the expansion tank & take her for a run..fingers crossed.
I will at some point back flush the system, & now I feel a bit more confident will know how to tackle it.
Thank you for all your advice, it's priceless, & will post again as & when..

lebekster said:

update:
The new top hose came today, & it had the bleed screw on it. I didn't do the back flush of the system, because once I'd got the old hose off I found the remains of the old bleed screw, lodged in the plastic mounting(thermostat?). Anyway, once I got that out, following your directions, I fitted the new hose & coolant/water & ran it checking for leaks. All seems to be good & am waiting for her to cool down, so that I can check the level in the expansion tank & take her for a run..fingers crossed.
I will at some point back flush the system, & now I feel a bit more confident will know how to tackle it.
Thank you for all your advice, it's priceless, & will post again as & when..

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Glad to hear you found the bit. Since you've done a coolant change, it would be a bit of a waste to lose it all and flush the system. Why not wait till next year's service and do it, then settle to a 3-year coolant change regime? Consider replacing the thermostat too if it's been sitting in crap for too long.

lebekster said:

update:
The new top hose came today, & it had the bleed screw on it. I didn't do the back flush of the system, because once I'd got the old hose off I found the remains of the old bleed screw, lodged in the plastic mounting(thermostat?). Anyway, once I got that out, following your directions, I fitted the new hose & coolant/water & ran it checking for leaks. All seems to be good & am waiting for her to cool down, so that I can check the level in the expansion tank & take her for a run..fingers crossed.
I will at some point back flush the system, & now I feel a bit more confident will know how to tackle it.
Thank you for all your advice, it's priceless, & will post again as & when..

Click to expand...

Well done, that's saved you a few quid and make you feel good. Win win.