Defender 300tdi strong coolant smell

kes86 · Jul 2, 2014

I think I may know the answer to this, I have a strong smell of antifreeze from when driving along in the defender. The smell started on Monday and was quite sweet and sickly but now it is smelling more burnt

There are no obvious leaks anywhere and no hissing and the water level has not dropped in the expansion bottle. There appeared to be a damp patch on the road this morning underneath the passenger side of the engine.

Initially I thought it was the heater matrix blown, but the smell is not worse when the heater is switched on, in fact it's more smelly without the heater on. I haven't taken it out to check it.

The coolant pipes to the radiator seem to have more pressure in them than usual.

Any thoughts?

trax · Jul 2, 2014

look at p gasket, behind water pump for wetness

kes86 · Jul 2, 2014

Yes could be that, no obvious water about but have had problems in the past with it, so bought a new housing and gasket to put on sometime, will have a closer look at it.

To be honest I thought it may be Head Gasket, but can't decide either way.

Hairball · Jul 2, 2014

trax said:
look at p gasket, behind water pump for wetness

also below the p gasket there is a core plug in the front of the block, which will rot through if the leak has been running down onto it from the p gasket.. i know this because after fixing a long time leaking p gasket from a previous owner, still had the leak.. on closer inspection fount there was a pin prick hole in the core plug as well, so had to strip the whole lot again and re do it including the core plug,, was easy enough to do.. just annoying having to do it twice..

kes86 · Jul 4, 2014

Pretty sure it's the P gasket, after a good run last night there was a weep on the housing.

This will be the third time I have done it, the housing was corroded and I tried cleaning up the face, but it just won't seal.

I got hold of a spare water pump housing a month or so ago so will be changing it over the weekend. All the gaskets are in the parts box ready.

One step forward two steps back as usual.

trax · Jul 4, 2014

try hymolar on both sides or a *lil* rtv, esp if the alu is pitted

kes86 · Jul 5, 2014

All done, replaced the housing and applied some decent gasket paste either side, just got it all back together. Also changed the power steering pump as it's been noisy and I had a spare.

Need some antifreeze and ATF now, not many places open tomorrow and it's bank holiday on Monday over here, so might not get to test it till Tuesday !!

yellow90 · Jul 6, 2014

good way to check for head gasket is sniff the expanision bottle and the exaust for antifreeze

with a bit of luck you gasket P gasket might have done the trick though

trax · Jul 7, 2014

yellow90 said:
good way to check for head gasket is sniff the expanision bottle and the exaust for antifreeze

with a bit of luck you gasket P gasket might have done the trick though

:scratching_chin: sniff the expansion bottle for antifreeze? think you might get a few false positives there.

kes86 · Jul 7, 2014

Got a bit of a pong again this morning on the first proper run out, but hopefully just burning off the old antifreeze. The journey home was less smelly. No obvious leaks either.

Kwakerman · Jul 7, 2014

Definitely anti freeze and not screen wash (being as your coolant level isn't dropping and washer bottle is on passenger side)?

kes86 · Jul 7, 2014

The thought did cross my mind about it being screen wash, so will check it, as the washers were not working too well on Friday.

However good news! Checked water level just after last being out in it before mid day. There was a definite hiss of pressure, so it is sealing now not leaking pressure. And also the water level was the same. Fingers crossed!

kes86 · Jul 8, 2014

No smell today and did about 30 miles - then broke down. All the electrics were working but no starter, not even a click. Wiggled lots of fuses and wires, then checked the big fuses in the engine bay, and off it went. Yippee. I think the antifreeze has been blowing back onto the fuse box and made the fuses sticky. Must get a new fuse box cover sometime.

Defender 300tdi strong coolant smell

kes86

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trax

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kes86

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Hairball

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kes86

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