Range Rover Vogue LSE overheating...

Hi folks,

I've just purchased a 1993 RR Classic Vogue LSE 4.2 Auto in white, but I'm having some overheating issues. This is the first Range Rover I've owned, so I'm looking for some advice as to where I should start.

After half an hour or so of running at idle, or 5 miles of actual driving, the temp gauge starts to creep up and the car overheats. There's coolant loss from the expansion tank, and a red liquid leaks from the front right of the car, pooling under the radiator. I initially thought the red liquid was power steering fluid, but the level in the reservoir remains unchanged so I don't think it's that.

The radiator top hose is firm when the car starts to get hot, and there appears to be a missfire on light throttle. I suspect bad fuel as the likely cause of the misfire as the car has been sitting for a while before I bought it, but want to include as much info as possible.

Could it be a blocked radiator?

Thanks,

Brian.

the red might be autobox fluid ffrom the cooler in the rad if it has one.

you can try blocked rad/stat/flush/bleed etc but it may well be a HGF on that engine or even a cracked block slipped liner. try the cheapest fix first and work your way up

Does the coolant loss happen before the over heat or visa versa? Does your top radiator hose feel squishy or hard after running it a bit but before the expansion tank gushes? If so, your system could be being pressurized by a bad head gasket.

This could be simple (the space between the radiator and air conditioning cooler is filled with crap) or you could have a funky water pump. As stated start looking at the simple stuff first.

And this could have happened if you had '93 LSE in green. Stay here, handle the **** taking, stay cheerful and good luck.

And I agree with fett. It could be tranny fluid leaking at one of the radiator unions.

Sadly I'd call it as being a leaking head gasket.

West Slope Rover said:

Does the coolant loss happen before the over heat or visa versa? Does your top radiator hose feel squishy or hard after running it a bit but before the expansion tank gushes? If so, your system could be being pressurized by a bad head gasket.

This could be simple (the space between the radiator and air conditioning cooler is filled with crap) or you could have a funky water pump. As stated start looking at the simple stuff first.

And this could have happened if you had '93 LSE in green. Stay here, handle the **** taking, stay cheerful and good luck.

Click to expand...

No, I definitely think the colour is a contributory factor ;-)

I'm going to spend the day on it today to see if I can get to the bottom of it. I was going to start by removing the radiator etc to find out where the red fluid leak's coming from, and I'll test the thermostat too.

start at a new rad, headgasket and a colour change!

Ok, I've been out this morning for a play around to see if I can get to the bottom of the overheating...

I first went down the air lock route, letting the car idle with the top radiator plug off and the expansion tank cap off. The car would burp air and coolant from time to time, but did not overheat. I topped it up over a period of half an hour or so, then refitted the caps.

Air from the blowers was slightly warm but not as hot as I would expect. I also noticed the air would go cold from time to time.

After a lot longer than normal, it started to overheat again. As the gauge started to climb, I had a look, and the radiator top hose had pressurised, and I could hear occasional gasps of air from the expansion tank. The top hose was not pressurised excessively whilst the car was heating up, and could be squeezed no problem. When the car was switched back off, the top hose gradually returned to normal pressure.

Both top and bottom radiator hoses get hot, so presumably I can rule out the thermostat, or the radiator being blocked? With the rad cap off, a blip of the throttle forces coolant out, so can I also assume the water pump is ok?

There's no white smoke from the exhaust at all, and water isn't leaking from anywhere other than the expansion tank if the car overheats.

I checked the small pipe from the top of the radiator to the expansion tank, and this wasn't blocked.

Is it looking more like the head gaskets now or am I missing something simple?

As for the red fluid leak...

I removed the front grill, and there's a transmission cooler running along the car in front of the air-con rad. It's leaking at quite a rate from the right hand side - appears to have rusted through. Is there a known fix/replacement for this?

Cheers for the help folks,

Brian.

ok , check rad is hot all over to make sure cores arnt blocked.

if its ok then may be HGF or worse. take it for a run now you have bled it all up and if the top hose gets rock hard and a lot bigger then you can say cooling sustem is over pressurisning. dont go far from home btw lol.

of the cooler has rusted through get a used one as I dont think you can buy them new anymore (so my autobox man said)

fett said:

ok , check rad is hot all over to make sure cores arnt blocked.

if its ok then may be HGF or worse. take it for a run now you have bled it all up and if the top hose gets rock hard and a lot bigger then you can say cooling sustem is over pressurisning. dont go far from home btw lol.

of the cooler has rusted through get a used one as I dont think you can buy them new anymore (so my autobox man said)

Click to expand...

Is there an easy way of checking if the rad is hot all over, as i presume its the air-con rad sitting in front of the rad, and the rear is covered too?

I'll take it for a run now - and see, although so far although the top hose gets hard, it doesn't seem to get any bigger.

Thanks mate,

Brian.

how hard though? rock hard is bad.

turn engine off and feel back of rad

VogueLSE4.2 said:

Is there an easy way of checking if the rad is hot all over, as i presume its the air-con rad sitting in front of the rad, and the rear is covered too?

I'll take it for a run now - and see, although so far although the top hose gets hard, it doesn't seem to get any bigger.

Thanks mate,

Brian.

Click to expand...

Take the fan shroud off before the drive so you can get your hands on it after. Did your heater ever work at the right temp? If not, you could have a bubble in the heater lines (when I changed my radiator, that's where air got caught. I had to burp the system at the lines using the heater line filler, the highest point on the system) Even after that, it gurgled more air out for a couple of days.

You can by a new trans cooler here in the states from Atlantic British for $299.95 part #ESR1703

West Slope Rover said:

Take the fan shroud off before the drive so you can get your hands on it after. Did your heater ever work at the right temp? If not, you could have a bubble in the heater lines (when I changed my radiator, that's where air got caught. I had to burp the system at the lines using the heater line filler, the highest point on the system) Even after that, it gurgled more air out for a couple of days.

You can by a new trans cooler here in the states from Atlantic British for $299.95 part #ESR1703

Click to expand...

Thanks,

I'm goin to flush the system tonight using radiator flush etc.

Where is the heater line filler located?

Did you get it from eBay? Brooklands bodykit?

Khryztal said:

Did you get it from eBay? Brooklands bodykit?

Click to expand...

Yes, that's the one. Do you know anything about it?

NO. Was looking at buying it lol

Khryztal said:

NO. Was looking at buying it lol

Click to expand...

Lucky escape for you then ;-)!

I knew there'd be teething problems, so I'm not too fussed about what's happening. I certainly don't feel hard done by as I knew there may be a cooling system issue when I bought it...just hoped it wasn't serious.

The later classics were fitted with a filling point in a pipe that runs over the top of the (looking at it standing in front of the car looking into the engine bay) Left Hand Rocker Cover....

This is the highest point inthe cooling system, so bleeding is easier.

Found this pic and annotated it....sorry for the quality

Thank you

Man, yer charmed! Ya jumped in here at the the Looney Zone and ya got yerself help instantly with no **** taking.

I hope other noobs don't expect the same. We got carried away this time.