not f*****g happy!!!

just got my disco 2 back from a landy specialist, recon head, new oil cooler and power steering pump and over £2000 lighter. drove the 30 miles home, checked underneath to find drips of coolant everywhere. checked the header tank to find it empty. put in 1.5 litres of coolant and fired her up again. coolant ****ing out of the header vent pipe so screwed it up as tight as i could and it stopped. switched off and looked in header to find it black! rang him up and he reckons its residual oil from the cooling system still coming out. they apparently flushed it 3 times this morning. he did say to expect to see more oil appear over a couple of weeks but 30 miles??? also he reckons the coolant from the header vent is possibly due to the flushing chemicals attacking the seals in the pressure cap. he told me to bring it in next week and he'll flush it again.

does this seem right??

to me, if i've just spent 2 grand to have it sorted, this shouldnt happen!!

was your initial issue to do with oil in the coolant?

yes, emulsified grey foamy stuff, hence the new oil cooler.

mind you that was alongside blowing coolant hoses. and the trail of power steering fluid i was leaving everywhere!

Cant see why "residual oil in the system" cause the coolant to blow out?

What sort of recon head did they fit?

it was my head they reconditioned. however, just ran it up again to have another look and the header is not blowing coolant out now since i screwed it on tight. i then noticed a steady drip from underneath and traced it to the area of the thermostat. i thought maybe one of the hoses was split but upon looking from above, the big hose clip hadnt been replaced! 2 inches up the pipe from where it should be! ok, i've done that myself before but i'm not a 'professional'. they had (according to the invoice) changed the thermostat. schoolboy error...

are the pipes getting hard after a good run?

i think i'd buy a new pressure cap to be on the safe side. they do go and if yours is stuck and not venting then pressure could build up.

trax said:

are the pipes getting hard after a good run?

i think i'd buy a new pressure cap to be on the safe side. they do go and if yours is stuck and not venting then pressure could build up.

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no mate, i just picked it up from the garage today after all the work. after 30 miles it lost 1.5litres of coolant through the header vent so the cap is actually not sealing properly, allowing coolant straight out of the vent untul i screw it very tight then it works properly. as i also said earlier, they left a clip off the thermostat so it was leaking there as well.

actually, if the garage is right and the flushing agent has buggered the rubber seals then they should supply me with a new cap. it also occurred to me that if it can attack rubber seals, what about the rest of the cooling system, half of which is made of rubber hoses?!!!

Wow, fancy flushing chemicals, we used cheap washing up liquid or half a dish washer tablet.

i wouldn't be happy! have you paid them, for that sort of money you should have no problems!

discodrivercumbria said:

i wouldn't be happy! have you paid them, for that sort of money you should have no problems!

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yes. they said it was all fine and ready to go though he did say he thought more oil might appear in the header tank after a couple of weeks. i certainly wasnt expecting the exxon valdez in there after 30 miles!

£2000 wow you could have bought another car for that made more money selling yours couldnt you ?

The V8 man said:

£2000 wow you could have bought another car for that made more money selling yours couldnt you ?

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tell me about it! i paid just under £2000 for it but expected it to come back like a fresh engine with no problems for the amount i paid to fix it!

Just curious and ya don't have to answer but 30 miles from Horsham, is the specialist down on the coast?

AceB said:

Just curious and ya don't have to answer but 30 miles from Horsham, is the specialist down on the coast?

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not on the coast but not far from you.

sorted the thermostat hose clip, found that the upper seal on the pressure cap had split so swapped them round and no coolant coming out of the vent now. will get another cap asap.
the oil in the header maybe looked worse than it was, i stuck a piece of plastic tubing onto a Calpol syringe and sucked out the oil on the surface. not a lot in there but when i started it up again, more appeared. again not loads but its there. if i keep clearing the header every time i drive it, it might get rid of it and save me the 60 mile round trip to get it flushed. we'll see.
i'm just ****ed off that i'm having to do stupid things like this after paying all that money

update- top hose blew today, possibly due to weakening from previous problem but changed it and found a thick coat of oil inside it. took it back to garage for a flush but told him about the method of using dishwasher tablets to get rid of the oil. he'd never even heard of it. he dropped some in and lo and behold... oil is gone.
i bought the top hose from olly at inside out 4x4 who, when i told him about the oil in coolant problem, immediately said dishwasher tabs even before i mentioned it. he just said make sure you flush it clean as dishwasher tabs contain salt. he also said that the power steering fluid i had been using (dexron atf) was fine to use and wouldnt harm the system at all.
i nearly took it to olly in the first place but his quote was a little higher. i wish i had done now though, he seems to know his stuff and i will go to him next time i need any work done that i cant do

So which dwarf are you F******ng then?

MJI said:

So which dwarf are you F******ng then?

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i'm f****ng Grumpy...

Bobdog said:

i'm f****ng Grumpy...

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No wonder he is called Grumpy then