IRD Cooler water leak

I have a 99 1.8 petrol Freelander. Yesterday - noticed a water leak from underneath.

Having got underneath, the water seems to be coming from the top coolant pipe where it joins onto the IRD cooler.

It seems frustratingly an intermittent problem, sometimes the car can be sat and not a drop of water to be seen, yet a short drive later it is dripping out constantly! I had to fill the water up before a drive home yesterday and the temp stayed stable all the way and so did the water level, yet 2 hours later, having parked it outside there was a very large puddle!

Has anyone come across this one before? Is it possible to replace the specific part? If so, what costs would I be looking at? Is it a big job and how does the part fit onto/into the cooler unit?

Any advice appreciated
Julie

may just need flexi pipe where it joins cooler outlet reclamping or new hose clip,the spring clips they use can often leak

It is leaking at the metal pipe going into the cooler, not the connection between the rubber and metal pipes unfortunately.

the cooler itself is replaceable and is tricky to remove without damage but wont matter with yours ,ird would need to be removed,i would do it sooner than later you dont want to get air pocket and overheat engine

LOL - ah yes, the over engineered IRD cooler (I believe it falls under the misc faults option)

Has the metal cracked?

As a temp fix, smear a liberal coating of industrial adhesive/mastic or chemical metal around the pipe(s).

or,,,, G-clamp the IRD rubber hoses (at the bend) between two pieces of wood, undo the spring clips, slide off the hoses from their pipes and insert an M8 (smaller hose) and M10 into the larger hose, then reclamp the ends with suitable sized jubilee clips (not the spring ones), undo the main G-clamp. This will leave you without a 'cooled'IRD. this is OK for the 1.8 and manual gearbox models, I wouldn't advise this on V6 or auto gear boxes.

See 1st attachment pic in link - http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f9/ird-removal-64890.html

To replace properly, the IRD has to come out, new coolers are around £100, give me a shout if you cant source one locally from the scrappy

Hi Northern Irelander,

You are say that the 2 hoses can be blanked off, this i am quite happy to do and was thinking about it myself, but the only queiry i have is that someone said if you do this the oil inside the ird will heat up and not lubricate as good etc, i myself don't see why the ird has to have an oil cooler (by way of the cooling system) anyway.

How long could you use the car for with blanking off the ird? weeks? months? Years? or is it something that would have to be a temp fix and get another cooler fitted asap?

Brian

pp Julie

JulieB said:

How long could you use the car for with blanking off the ird? weeks? months? Years?

Click to expand...

Indefinitely

I did this as a temp solution back in Oct 2008, still running without the cooler (leaky O-ring, see below)

During the MOT in April 2008, the IRD cooler decided to leak on me (engine on idle as they do roller brake test etc), coolant temp went up and so did the pressure......it was only after the engine was switched off and up on the car lift (see below) that it chucked about 1/2 litre, narrowly missing the MOT examiner.......................it passed.

It's been discussed on here about IRD warm up times, expansion of metal. IMHO the IRD cooler cause more harm than good on the 1.8 cooling system. If anything it should have its own inter-cooler.

Note I have a modified air scoop on the sump guard http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f9/undertray-modified-64075.html

It was intended to keep airflow over the exhaust downpipe/sump........it also cools the IRD nicely.................Im happy

I suspect that the cooler is leaking in my TD4 IRD as water level in coolant bottle drops. I read the thread as to blanking off the two coolant pipes to IRD with M8 & M10 bolt and spring clip and if I understand correctly read somewhere that the two pipes can be joined?

Question though, what do I do with the two exposed nipples where the two pipes were connected, do I blank them off as well?

Further question, is it easy to spot where the two pipes join the IRD?

Help will really be appreciated.

Iaan b