help please, overheating problem!!!

hi all, i seem to be having problems with my p38 deisel range rover.

i can drive along fine and then see the temp dial slowly creep up, sometimes goes into red, light comes on and i get limited power and then with a second or 2 the temp goes down to middle again. then slowly starts to creep up. havent really noticed it but weather has been hot lately and is really showing.

could this be an air bubble???

i have noticed that the coolant keeps going down every couple of days as well, seem to be topping it up alot lately.

i need a reliable car, so i need this sorted. i'll be very thankfull for any advice.

Cheers

i have just drove it again to pick the mrs up and the temp is now going mad, before it seemed to happen when the coolant was moving around the system but now its just random, sometimes it does it sometimes it dont. was doing it all the way there and nothing on way home, this is so baffeling.

thinking i could have dodgy thermo?????

mikey!!!! said:

hi all, i seem to be having problems with my p38 deisel range rover.

i can drive along fine and then see the temp dial slowly creep up, sometimes goes into red, light comes on and i get limited power and then with a second or 2 the temp goes down to middle again. then slowly starts to creep up. havent really noticed it but weather has been hot lately and is really showing.

could this be an air bubble???

i have noticed that the coolant keeps going down every couple of days as well, seem to be topping it up alot lately.

i need a reliable car, so i need this sorted. i'll be very thankfull for any advice.

Cheers

Click to expand...

if its a reliable car you want,put yours on ebay quick before it blows up,and buy something japanese.i ride a motorcycle to work but if i had to rely on one vehicle it would,nt be a range rover despite the fact i love mine.i,d put money on a sticking thermostat.cheers

You said you were losing Coolant .... Where from ?? .. is it just Vanishing or leaking out somewhere

If its nor leaking out drive down to the local MOT testing station & ask the guys there to shuv his Exhaust Gas Analyser probe into yer expansion tank ... that will check the water/system for hydro carbons.... if it DOES register Hydro Carbons...


YER HEAD GASKET HAS GONE ..... Not a cheap job

Head gasket..........leaking/split rad.......blocked rad..........porous head/block......sheared water pump........stuffed stat.....
Go on pick 1 then!!
Could be anyone of them and prolly more to come.

everlatesparky said:

Head gasket..........leaking/split rad.......blocked rad..........porous head/block......sheared water pump........stuffed stat.....
Go on pick 1 then!!

Click to expand...

eeerrrrrmmmm............well i got wedding in 4 weeks so work will have to wait and i just have to hope whatever it is it holds out till then.

dont know when any of this stuff was last changed so im gonna check rad tomorrow see if some lil **** has sabbed it and go from there.

cheers peeps.

oh and i have never serviced a deisel before only petrol. can someone tell me where the hell the glow plugs are on this thing. must be tucked away cos i cant see them. pic would be good.

Thanx

Just had a thought....ouch! Have you checked the front drivers side carpet for damp, as heater matrix 'o' rings will soak the carpet/underlay and wick damp towards the BECM and loom running in the gulley along under the door shut trim, which could lead to intermittent electrical faults e.g. temp readings swinging about. Could explain coolant loss and strange readings coming/going.

Take out the thermastat i do... I know you should have one but i hate the dam things. you can get some magic in a bottle from challanger 4x4 in tongham surrey to fix a gasket problem. i used it and it worked well.

some people dont like it but i think the stuff worked well

Start with the cheapest fix first!!

Get all your cooling pipes checked for leaks/cracks.
Check your expansion tank for hair line cracks.
Is your expansion tank cap a servicable item?? If it it replace it (£9 ish), the seal on these go and doesn't allow a proper build up of pressure and you can lose water through it. Hard to spot as the water is very hot so vapourises right away.
Get the thermostat changed or checked. Take it out, stick it in a pot of cold water and heat it on the stove. Put a thermometer in with the water and see if it opens ok. If it does open check what temp the water is at. Not sure what temp the thermo should open on the diesel. Some better informed nice person will be along soon I'm sure but my thermo opens at 88 degrees.

All cheap and easy enough jobs. Don't fear them

Good luck

could low oil level be doing this, just noticed this morning that its jus below minimum, im off to buy a top up bottle now.
also i had to put about a litre and half of water in. im going to watch this very closely

and i will check for damp carpet.

If the engine is running hot - then I would expect her to use more oil (unless eomone better infomred off here corrects me). Therefore your oil usage will probably be secondary to the water usage.

ok well i have top oil and water up and i just gotta wait and see. but i have been noticing lately that there is lil spots of oil on floor. front passenger side rite underneeth the bumper. my mate had this on his range rover. i think he said it turned out to be a problem with suspension. but on mine there seems to be alot on old susty oil covering the power steering pipes - have no loss of fluid from power steering.

i dont need no more problems from this.

mikey!!!! said:

ok well i have top oil and water up and i just gotta wait and see. but i have been noticing lately that there is lil spots of oil on floor. front passenger side rite underneeth the bumper. my mate had this on his range rover. i think he said it turned out to be a problem with suspension. but on mine there seems to be alot on old susty oil covering the power steering pipes - have no loss of fluid from power steering.

i dont need no more problems from this.

Click to expand...

There no oil in the suspension so don't see how it would be coming from there.

If it's manual then your gearbox oil cooler pipes enter the bottom of the rad just there too, depending on when it was last changed this could be leaking red AFT (old spec) or clear MTF if new model or recently changed. The engine oil cooler pipes also come down near rad too, so it could be running down from a loose joint at the top of the oil cooler (mine did after disturbing the pipes slightly doing another job).

cheers for that last pos, i did say to him i didnt think that was to do with the suspension, didnt no about the cooler pipes tho. that could explain why im loosing oil very slowly.