Freelander Massive coolant loss & stalling

Hello there.

Was wondering if anyone had come across this type of behaviour in a Freelander before.

It's a '98 2.0 XEDi engine.

I've been topping up the coolant in small amounts as part of my weekly checks. Nothing out of the ordinary, as my old diesel VW behaves in pretty much the same way, only on a monthly basis.

Couple of days ago I saw that the coolant level had dropped significantly. Topped it up, intending to find the leak on the weekend & see if it was significant enough to try a coolant additive, or replace any leaking part/gasket etc.

However, yesterday my wife said she was driving back from a 10 minute drive & the car juddered & stalled, running really lumpy on startup, stalling immediately when trying to pull away. Engine warning light on.

She managed to get the Freelander to limp home (she wasn't far away).

When I looked at it, there was zero coolant. I topped it up to the Max line with some coolant I had left over. The expansion tank glugged & all the coolant drained away.

There was no sign where the coolant had gone. I had to sling some straight water in at this point, thinking that I could at least make it to a garage.

It took a further 3 litres of water before I got anything in the expansion tank.

I take a look around the engine, all seems reasonably OK, decide to turn engine over - All OK.

Decide to take the Freelander for a drive to warm up the engine to see what it does. Did a much longer drive than the wife with no issues.

Thought it must have just overheated - lack of coolant. Drove home.

Get up my road & the thing judders violently to a halt & stalls! I was unable to start her up again, Engine was very lumpy/stalling when idling. Stalled whenever I tried to pull away. Engine warning light on. Terrific...:doh:

Neighbour walked past & suggested fuel starvation. I had intended to replace the fuel filter as I saw it hadn't been changed for a long time.

Popped the bonnet & found zero liquid in the expansion tank. I filled up with more water (had a bottle in the car, just in case), waited 5 minutes for the engine to cool a bit & managed to get it back home.

Filled up the expansion tank again - 2 litres easily.
I changed the fuel filter as I had already bought one for this weekend. Couldn't hurt!

Today wife had to take kids to Nursery School - Freelander stalls again - Same issues. Not the fuel filter, then. It was also only a 20 minute round-trip. She was near a Halfords so was able to fill up with coolant.

Got home - Bone dry expansion tank again. This thing's easily knocked back a couple of gallons of liquid in a few days!

The thing is: There is no sign of where the coolant/water is actually going.
I feared Head gasket failure, but I checked the oil filler cap for signs & only can see black oil as you would normally.

Has anyone seen this type of thing before? I'm useless at fault-finding. Is it Head gasket or something else?

I heard Freelanders were famous for Head Gasket issues, but as this is a diesel I didn't think they were affected by that.

I can replace parts etc but I cannot identify a leak if I cannot see the drip. Is there something internal I can do/check?

I've tried searching on forum & on Search Engines but couldn't find anyone with similar fault/solutions.

Any ideas or advice appreciated!

water loss on a Hippoo - nar - nevva heard of that before.

check ya carpets.

There has been talk of a cracked expansion tank problem for coolant loss. I take it you have checked yr oil cap for yellow sludge of water in oil? Either way I personally wouldnt be using it until fault was found. Serious engine damage can result with no coolant!

The fans should have turned on to keep the engine cool.
Check expansion tank for cracks, maybe the cap isn't making a seal any more and needs replacing. Check all hoses for splits and leaks, check the metal coolant pipes (that run inbetween engine and air intake housing, one thin and one thick, both black) for corrosion.
Best to remove the under-tray and get underneath to see if you can spot a leak.
Also check the IRD cooler. Don't drive it until fixed.

Thanks for the quick replies.

Carpets are dry. To be honest after the amount of water that's been slung in there, I reckon I'd be needing wellies!

Checked the oil cap & dipstick for sludge - no sign.

This is the thing - when I drive it & the engine started playing up, the temp gauge was reading normal levels. Temp gauge appears to be working OK as it registers when the engine is warming up etc. Didn't hear sounds of the fan.

Pa-In-Law did just tell me that it sounds like the Head is getting too hot, though & that's causing the stalling etc.

Plan is to run engine on the drive (tomorrow eve), allow engine to warm up slowly with plenty of water in expansion tank & wait for any leak to become obvious after everything's warm & expanded. That water's got to be going somewhere. I'll keep an eye on those metal pipes.

Under-tray's already off, as I need to replace the reverse light switch & speed sensor (whole other story...)

I'll post any results.

Thanks again.

If its HGF then it seems there is two places the coolant could go. Into the oil, you'd have a rise in oil level on the dip stick and cream in the oil system. You've discounted that. The second place is direct to a pot. This seems unlikely as this would pressurise the cooling system rather than suck coolant out. However, one test would be to start the engine with the coolant filler cap off and see what happens. If the level starts rising and there are bubbles then its seems to suggest the head is the place of the problem.

Another place to check is the coolant pump which is on the back of the power steering pump. Then there is EGR cooler, the heat matrix, the IRD cooler and the oil cooler. Check everywhere the coolant runs basically.

Don't run the engine if the coolant is so low that the head galleries are empty. You'll destroy the engine for sure. Thats when you're getting the lumpiness.

Let us know what you find.

Good Luck!!

hi,

i've got 1.8 petrol and had coollant loss, turned out to be water pump leaking.

know yours is a diesel but might be worth a look

good look

Are you sure there are no drips/puddles of water anywhere ? If you are loosing that much water and there are no signs of a leak or in your oil, you may be burning it. A head gasket failure between the water jacket and a cylinder would cause this, but normally it pressurises the water system and shoots it out of the overflow as well. Diesels aren't prone to HGF either.

The Mad Hat Man said:

water loss on a Hippoo - nar - nevva heard of that before.

check ya carpets.

Click to expand...

At it again I see

Do yu have the slightest idea wot i mean by "check the carpets"?

Well, doesn't that teach me a few lessons. Stupid mistakes...

Saturday, instead of going for a jolly ol' drive, I filled up the Freelander with water & just ran the engine in the drive at home, waiting for the engine to warm up. Removed top cover to see the engine itself.

Once the engine had heated up to a decent temperature, it was clear that the water was coming out of a crack in the top radiator hose, really close to the rad itself. It was virtually steaming out. Crack closed up when cold. Explains how I managed to keep filling the damn thing up without any visible leaks (been doing all this with a cold engine - divvy).

I've managed to cut the hose at the crack & refit the pipe. It now fits really tight & there's a big kink in it, but it's running again. New hose on order (as the whole pipe doesn't look in the best of nick, now I look at it).

If I'd have just sat & watched the engine like I should have done, instead of doing all this in twilight, I'd have saved everyone a lot of trouble.

Mind you, good thing this happened, as I managed to spot another dangerous issue.

As I started the engine, it was clear that there was a small but still noticeable leak coming from one of the fuel lines that supplies the injectors. It was squirting a small but frightening amount of diesel into the engine bay.

Never noticed this under normal driving conditions, as we never hammer the old thing too hard, but flipping dangerous. All this is covered up by that engine cover that goes over the top.

Got a new pipe from Landrover that day & replaced it.

Thanks for all the advice. I was really worried that the head was damaged. Last thing I need right now!

glad yu got it sussed.

Well done that man. At least it was an easy one in the end and that you found another issue. Doubt it would have been too dangerious but it wasn't doing your MPG much good.

Good luck. Dave