Have I made a costly mistake?

Hi, I bought a landrover freelander yesterday. It's the 1.8 k-series 1999. It's some sort of special edition with full leather and two tone paint.
Cosmetically this car is near perfect. Internally very clean an externally very clean.
It's got a little over 50k on the clock, genuine miles. Two previous lady owners, one a disabled lady who did less than a 1000 miles a year.
So on paper seeing as how it cost me 700 quid I felt I had got a mega bargain.
I'm pretty handy mechanically as my last car was an Alfa Romeo and that thing alrlways needed fiddling with. I bought it knowing that the exhaust Back box was blowing and would need replacing.
It's had no modifications in relation to thermostat etc. yesterday morning I changed the oil and filters and drained and flushed out the coolant. Replaced the thermostat with a standard one and have everything a tighten.
Yesterday I took it for a run from Brentwood to Milton Keynes for the foo fighters concert. I noticed it ran really rough. Almost as if it was low on power. It would get to 70 with any real issue but didn't want to go much faster. The exhaust was loud ( but I knew that and one is on order) gear changes smooth. At times it would sort of struggle to accelerate for a second then it would pull through. It felt almost like riding a two stroke bike and the power valve sticking slightly before opening.
Sat I traffic disaster struck and steam began coming from the bonnet. Managed to limp to parking and opened the bonnet to see coolant boiling out of the coolant cap. It was now also loose. I cannot tell you if I neglected to tighten it up properly or not.
I screwed it tight and after the concert filled the system with coolant and did my best to bleed the system and limped home. I didn't loose any further coolant as far as I can tell but I will need to check properly.
One thing I forgot to add was when I drained the coolant originally I put a flush additive in and left the engine running for 10 mins as instructed. On pulling bottom hose to empty I noticed the water was cold to start with.
The temp gauge never get above half way. Even when it was chucking coolant everywhere yesterday. Very concerned as I bought this Motor a family car. Also I found the fuel ecomomy to be poor. Maybe I'm wrong but compared to my old Alfa it uses a lot more fuel. It didn't come with any receipts, only old mots. Help please.

When you say Special Edition, is the paint a greeny blue colour
From your very limited description it could be a 50th Anniversary
Does the colour resemble that of the one in the picture?

http://www.geocities.ws/Baja/Canyon/7799/50free_5dr.JPG

Yes that's the one. It's greeny blue. It's got the 50th anniversary badge inside the doors. Sorry, it's the 5 door with beige leather seats. It's got alpine screens in the headrests with wiring for a playstation. So if I get this issue sorted at least the kids will be happy.

Head gasket guys?

Atlantis Blue Pearl paint code 632 FYI

Sounds like it may have been airlocked.

Did you follow the normal procedure for bleeding with the two screws? One is on the coolant rail underneath the throttle body and one is on the heater hoses.

Trying to think what you might have disturbed servicing it.

I'm wondering if someone radwelded it and your coolant flush killed it. Did you put the new thermostat in the right way around?

I take it the temp gauge never jumped?

Don't panic, at worst it'll have fried the head gasket. Which on these engines is a really cheap job and easy to do with basic tools. Takes two to three evenings.

I'm hoping not but I'm leaning in that direction. I don't think the water pump is working that's for sure.

Sorry to read this. I've only read that the K-Series motors had head gasket issues - there's lots of threads everywhere about that, perhaps some will be of help. Are you certain your new thermostat is working properly? It sounds like a classic malfunctioning if the coolant isn't circulating or maybe the radiator is blocked - have you pulled the hoses and run fresh water through the rad?

As it's an Anniversary model and seemingly in good nick it's worth fixing IMO.

Thanks I'll write that down as I will inevertably scratch it.

biggeeeee said:

Atlantis Blue Pearl paint code 632 FYI

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By the way, when sat ticking over on a day that isn't blazingly hot the radiator on a K powered freelander is capable of cooling the coolant down to practically cold.

Usually happens when the AC is on and the fans are spinning. (AC will come on automatically if there is air directed at windscreen)

Next question, is there anything odd in the expansion tank?

The gauge rises to the halfway point and just sits there. The heating works fine, even the air pushes out something just short of cold air.

I'm pretty sure I put it the right way. It's still on the original thermostat model and as far as I could see it only goes in one way.
I put a hose in the top of the rad and flushed it through.
I've ordered a new expansion tank and cap and I'll be ordering a new water pump. May as well start a stock pile of bits and it if does run out to be the head gasket I can do it all at once.

Hopefully its nothing major to fix thankfully, good luck hope it goes well for you mate

When you say odd? Just dirt. I think the mix was mainly water previously and it was a bit dirty. No mayo on cap or on oil filler. Oil was old but not showing any normal signs of water contamination. Haynes manual will be ne

I hope so too. I've always fancied a landy. I'm just hoping this hiccup is an easy fix.

Adam Gorsuch said:

When you say odd? Just dirt. I think the mix was mainly water previously and it was a bit dirty. No mayo on cap or on oil filler. Oil was old but not showing any normal signs of water contamination. Haynes manual will be ne

Click to expand...

A reddish brown sludge in the tank usually means someone has applied some form of stop leak. If yours just has the usual array of dirt in it I wouldn't worry.

Could be a lot of things here, if it was only a coolant change and oil change I'm inclined to say air lock. If the coolant cap was leaking it could have gotten air into the coolant rail fairly quickly.

Flush it out, grab your new expansion bottle and cap and make sure the system pressurises while sat ticking over when done. Even with the best coolant the system will pressurise as it warms.

Avoid the britpart coolant caps - the internals break the first time you torque them down.

I'm gonna get on this tomorrow. Working shifts doesn't really help. Does anyone know how to check if the water pump is working?

Ok, changed the expansion tank. When I went to refill it, it was near enough empty. Changed it and refilled, opened up bleed screws and its immidiatly began to pour out without bubbles on both. Closed them both and gave the pipe a squeeze and it still sounds as if air is in there. Can see any leaks so maybe it's just the sound of the water being forced into expansion tank. Unfortunately I cannot start the engine right now as I've had to remove the exhaust. The back box was full of holes and the middle pipe was rusty were it meets the back box. All very annoying as it seems it's all original parts so ive had resort to cutting through bolts etc.
now just waiting for the wife to authorise the purchase of a new Middle pipe and fitting kit.

Should I be greasing the joints in the drive shaft?

Have you fitted the thermostat the correct way up? There is a tiny V notch on the body between the valve and body. This V notch should be at the top. If not, it's a bugger to get all the air out of the cooling system.