have i bought another lemon

hello some of you may know i bought a 2.5dse a few weeks ago.i drove it yesterday for the first time and like it BUT the previous owner told me the climate control did,nt work because the relays were blown-I FELL FOR IT,i,ve swapped the relays over for the ones that control the heated windscreen(i presume their the same)no joy.also the suspension drops overnight but goes to normal height quickly once fired up.and this is the BIGGY whilst driving yesterday the temperature suddenly went from 12oc to 1 oc,i,ve checked coolant this morning and i,ve had to put in half a litre(previous owner said he,d drained/re-filled).now i know what your goin to say what a PLONKA but bear in mind after selling the alloys that came with it for £500 the car owes me a grand but with the probs above i wont be happy until they are put to rest.any ideas on the above problems much appreciated and if anyone from around the b,ham could pop over and have a browse theres a few beers there for them.cheers craig

Do you have the book symbol on the climate control? If so, you'll really need to get that read before you can go any further with it fault finding wise. What is it doing / not doing exactly?
Suspension dropping overnight is usually due to one or more air bags leaking slightly and the self levelling then compensating for it every few hours. If you remove the delay relay (large upright thing under the pasenger seat) when you leave it at night, you'll be able to see which corner(s) are going down in the morning.
Temperature going from 12 to 1 o'clock is not disastrous in itself and could be something as simple as a sticky thermostat or the viscous coupling for the fan not performing as it should. Personnally, I would change the thermostat first. Once you know you have all the air out when you've refilled it, make a note of the level when cold and then keep an eye on it to get a better idea of how much, if any, you may be losing.

sell it and buy a classic.

The aircon is most likely the condensor leaking, no gas = no aircon function. The temperature rising could be a lot of things, as Derek say's viscous fan or thermostat, to which I would add water pump, some have plastic impellers and can shed vanes as they age. Does it blow out water from the overflow and are the hoses rock hard when it's hot? If so you might be looking at more serious problems like head gasket or cracked head. Make sure you have a good antifreeze mixture in as that also affect the running temperature, it will run hotter with plain water.

cheers lads,its in for the mot tues so i,ll get it all warmed up and check those coolant hoses.i,m hoping its has simple has lack of coolant that caused the sudden rise in temp-maybe the previous owner did,nt bleed all the air out.has for the blowers not working i thought that when a blend motor went it affected that part of the system only?i have no climate control at allwhich is why i thought fuse/relay.forgot to mention i have to cycle glow plugs 3 times before it will start-it has new glow plugs?thanks again craig

HI bart,

my folks' rangey dse started to get similar issues a week or so back, a new battery cured that straight away.

hope this helps
jt

jtonthebike said:

HI bart,

my folks' rangey dse started to get similar issues a week or so back, a new battery cured that straight away.

hope this helps
jt

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cheers matey,batterys coming out tommorow i,ll have it tested

If you don't fit OE glow plugs you'll need to cycle it. Mine will not start on first cycle but starts like a dream after second run.

SpudH said:

If you don't fit OE glow plugs you'll need to cycle it. Mine will not start on first cycle but starts like a dream after second run.

Click to expand...

cheers mate,not sure what g/plugs are in but someones pointed me in the direction of a glow plug timer relay?

Holy sh!t BoB, is that you knocking on the green room door??

Didn't realise there was such good surf "in the feckin woods"

Keep it up !!

bollox,bollox,bollox to it after reading up on heater matrix o-rings last night i got to thinking on could this explain my coolant lose,anyway i,ve been in denial all day telling myself the previous owner just did,nt top it up enough,but i,ve just been out to the car and confirmed my biggest fear-not only is the glow plug relay fooked,the climate control is fooked,the windscreen is fooked and now THE DRIVERS CARPET IS DAMP.is it worth moting like this?can the car be used,i,ve read about heater matrix going to pot,whats the simptoms of this?it now turns out the friendly chappie who i bought the car off is a complete w**ker.good job this car only owes me a grand otherwise i,d be calling on the boys and paying this tw*t a visit

dry it out, heater o rings no big deal

how big a job are these o-rings,do you have to drain/re-fill the coolant system.any spanner hands near the b,ham area willing to donate a bit of thier time for a few beer tokens please step forwardok don,t all rush at once,anyway is this car safe to drive the 40 mile round trip to the mot station.

If you do it the official way=pain in arse.
Do it as per rangerovers.net
2-2.5 hours when you have done it before-maybe faster,but you don't want to break anything

Coolant is dead easy even for somebody like me. I posted up about it just last week or week before. Glow plug relay probably isn't that hard either - at least you've identified the problems which 9/10 times in the hardest bit! You could do it in 30 mins if you are quick but if you have a few cups of tea then 1.5 hrs tops maybe?

Hi
If it is o rings then i did mine about 6 weeks ago

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f10/wet-drivers-carpet-93375.html

took me ages feckin about, decided on dash removal then changed my mind

reckon i could do the job now in a couple of hours
but the first time is a bit hit n miss

PM if you want step by step instructions

check out the link above, popping the clevis pin out of the clutch pedal gives u room for your head so u can see what u r doing ( they dont tell u that on rangerovers.net.)
also i got the screw from the front with a long screwdriver, whilst girlfriends dad hauled plastic ducting out of the way

drove mine for 5 days just kept topping up collant or checking it every morning, but mine only lost 1/2 inch a day out of expansion bottle


good luck, post or PM if you need any input