Why does it keep overheating?

I have a '99 Disco II, it's only got about 73,000 miles and is in good shape
Got it in Nov. 06. Started overheated a month or so after. Low on coolant
July 2007- Large hose bursts, spraying driveway with coolant. Replaced by stepfather. Runs fine. Goes on a few 200+ mile trips everything is normal.
October 2007-
Overheats while commuting onthe highway. After a 5 hour rest add coolant heats normally until I get caught idling exiting the garage.
Redlines. Left in Parkinglot &Towed to dealership. They replaced...
throttle body heater gasket, thermostat, and bled the system.
told me of various hose leaks, but i wanted to replace them myself due to cost($403.41 total. $225 in labor and only $67.50 in parts!?!) & bc I can.
November 2007
2 weeks later, waiting on parts to arrive it redlines again. leaving campus.
got it home, using the stop.cool.repeat. method, hoses burst, as i park. coolant was everywhere. towed in morning to dealership.
they replaced many hoses, serpentine belt, maybe thermostat.
It ran fine for weeks. Got me the 200miles back to my parents home over the holiday I traded with mom, left it on the farm.
Dec. 2007.
3-4 weeks later it overheats on my mother&stepfather. No visible leakage. smelled of coolant, but had smelled like that since the hoses burst in early Nov. Stepdad Replaced thermostat last friday.
Fine on the highway home (70mph, 200 miles) and through the city a few times. Thursday, it overheated as I idled at a redlight, on campus.
Got it home, stopping and cooling-repeat.
No leakage, added some water. added some coolant.
I've spent all day trying to bleed the system(not sure my stepfather did)
Not sure if I did it correctly. Overflow cap off, heater running, radiator on an incline? Still didnt produce heat and blew cold air. Began to start overheating after about 25minutes. Moves towards the red, if driven more than two minutes(testing, in my apartment parkinglot)
Coolant is disappearing. I can smell it, cant see it. There is the white steam/smoke coming from the tailpipe. However, there is no milkiness to the oil(which i just changed) and I didnt see any oil in the coolant(how to check properly?). The hoses are all connected and in good shape. Several mechanics have never mentioned anything with the water pump.
However, there is a little crud in the expansion tank (little, black bits) and I know coolant has been mixed (orange, pink, green, blue, water) I know also know this is a sin and only OATcoolant needs to be used.
it was horribly over due on an oil change, fixed that today.
Should I try a radiator flush, before moving on to something more drastic?

Hi, not wanting to sound doom and gloom, but it does all point to a leaking head gasket, which can lose coolant onto the ehaust system under compression, the problem may have occured due to water pump drive failure, water should flow into the header tank via the small hose at the top constantly with out any bubbles, try bleeding and see what you get there.

Peter

Thanks. I'll try bleeding it again. I was starting to suspect that might be the problem, but it's a hard thing to accept. It's almost tempted me to just chuck the damn thing, get responsible and get a mid-size sedan, but where's the fun in that.
When you bleed it, do you only have to open the cap on the expansion tank and let that run while the engine is on, or is there something i'm missing.
Getting information on it has been damn near impossible for me.

On the top radiator hose there dhould be a bleed screw, undo this with the engine running and the expansion cap on, when you get constant coolant here, replace the screw and check the flow into the expansion tank

Regards

Peter

Thank you so much. I'll try that in the day light. I really just want to know where the coolant is hiding. I filled the expansion tank to the line today, and after running a few minutes it all disappeared. It didnt leak and i saw no drips, but there was noting orange in the resivor.

good luck, let me know how you get on

Peter

Lindsey I had a Gremlin in my Engine Coolant system as Well. The Dealership maintained it was a leaking head Gasket problem and I refused to believe it. We traced the first leak to the hose clamps located at the junction by the radiator fan. The clamps used on my truck are the reverse tension type clamps so we replaced it with a screw clamp and it sort of solved the problem for a few days.

About a week later I smelled a sweet ozone like smell emanating from the engine and sure enough I was short on coolant. A second leak was discovered in another hose running at the top of the throttle housing unit. Again we replaced the reverse tension clamp with a screw clamp and the problem stopped.

It took about 3 weeks for that sweet smell to disappear. I spoke to an independent mechanic who said that it would take a while for the heat to burn off all the engine coolant that splashed around.

One more thing, the hoses are very soft when it is running. I let it idle for a bit in the driveway and heat was normal, but the hoses around the radiator were very hot and very squishy.
I'm kind of angry at the dealership on this one. I mean if they said it needed replacing I did, and it's been checked several times. But I will definately check all the clamps, because the hoses seem perfect.
Thank you so much!

lindsey_lavish said:

One more thing, the hoses are very soft when it is running. I let it idle for a bit in the driveway and heat was normal, but the hoses around the radiator were very hot and very squishy.

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sounds to me like there is no coolant in the pipes (hence being squishy) and that they are full of steam instead (hence being very hot).

Here's some picture's of where the problems were located, ps my engine coolant was originally green and the dealership replaced it with a pink fluid that seemed to run hot right from the get go for 8 years. When we replaced the fluid with the distilled water ratio, the truck's sensor's actually showed that the truck would start of cool and work its way to the middle, the way it should have been doing! It's my fault for assuming the dealership knew what they were doing but I ran it this way for 8 years.

My pipes could easily be squished as well, but keep checking the clamps and replace them, my truck is bedeviled with them and I think the extreme heat cold fluctuations -40 C - +39 just wreaked havoc on those retarded clamps over 8 years.

The last 2 pictures are of the same spot, but that's where the hardest leak was hiding. It leaked through the original clamp and would drip out all over the hot engine components. We couldn't see any fluids because it was burning off immediately! but it was leaving a tell tale smell.

Hope this helps a bit.

Why would there be steam instead of water flow? Blockage maybe?
There seems to be no evident cross contamination between coolant/oil, so no milk at least, although there is still a little white smoke out the tailpipe.
Tried to bleed her, but it just seemed as if nothing happened. The top radiator hose did get hot, but still remained squishy, squeezed it while running, also tried to feel a few of the others and they also seemed to lack pressure. Took it around the building, got above normal but no where near the red, still no heat though. After popping the hood noticed faint steam on one of the tubes running from expansion tank, cannot pin point. Where to go from here?

lindsey_lavish said:

Why would there be steam instead of water flow? Blockage maybe?
There seems to be no evident cross contamination between coolant/oil, so no milk at least, although there is still a little white smoke out the tailpipe.
Tried to bleed her, but it just seemed as if nothing happened. The top radiator hose did get hot, but still remained squishy, squeezed it while running, also tried to feel a few of the others and they also seemed to lack pressure. Took it around the building, got above normal but no where near the red, still no heat though. After popping the hood noticed faint steam on one of the tubes running from expansion tank, cannot pin point. Where to go from here?

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I think if you have white smoke out the tailpipe you've got yourself a leaking head gasket or a cracked head. If so, the "white smoke" is water vapour and will smell of coolant. Sorry!

I'm figure it's probably a combination of problems.
I thought that hgf caused too much pressure in the system.

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lindsey_lavish said:

I'm figure it's probably a combination of problems.
I thought that hgf caused too much pressure in the system.

Click to expand...

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ksetra said:

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Start a new thread and ask for help starting a new subject in someone else's thread is not polite.

Seeming as you have a V8 motor, it might just be that you are unlucky enough to have the infamous porous block problem and your coolant could be being lost internally and out through the tailpipe.
But I cant understand why you are not having overpressurizing of the coolant system as would normally be the case.
A good product to try, rather than go straight for a new block is a product called Irontite, readily available in the US.

I quote from; www.dieselinjection.net/BRUCE/06timing.html

Water leaks: We all know how much of a pain they can be. For many years we have been using a product called Irontite. This is a ceramic block sealer that does wonders for cracked upper counter bores and other leaks. Irontite comes in either a red or blue formula. The red is extremely powerful and must be drained in 24 hours. If you don't, you won't have a cooling system. Instead, you will have a solid white ceramic engine block. Here is the proper way to use Irontite. If the coolant leak is minor, dump two bottles of Irontite blue into the cooling system, turn off the water filter for two weeks and the leak will have a 90% chance of stopping. If the coolant leak is significant, flush the cooling system, install fresh water with two bottles of Irontite red and operate the truck for one day. Drain the cooling system and leave it open for 24 hours. Now install new antifreeze, water and two bottles of Irontite blue and go trucking. The reason for turning off the water filter is so the ceramic sealant doesn't get filtered out of the coolant. After you operate the truck for about two weeks, turn the filter on once again. Used car dealers buy Irontite blue from us by the case. This stuff works.

I've used it - it works....

I had the very same problem. Turned out to be a failed head gasket sending exhaust into the cooling system and locking it up. (I denied this for weeks, trying everything else possible), best to disconnect all spark plugs, turn the engine over a few times and then pull each plug one at a time and check for water/coolant on the end. All of mine were well charred except the last one I checked. It looked as though it had been steam cleaned due to the amount of coolant that was being vaporized in the cylinder.

Good Luck!
-Scott

lindsey_lavish said:

I thought that hgf caused too much pressure in the system.

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It depends where the pressure is vanishing to. Get the engine pressure tested at a garage. They will remove a plug and replace it with with a guage. then they will crank the engine over a couple of times. If the cylinder reaches and maintains pressure the guage will show it. Repeat the same process on all cylinders. If a cylinder shows a low pressure or drops in pressure you have found your culprit.

If this fails then get them to attach a guage to the top of the expansion tank and pump it up to pressure. Again it should maintain its pressure.

So it was a bit colder here last night and today. I just had a feeling, so I poured in a cupful more of coolant and drove for a bit, it worked just fine. Today, Did the same song and dance again and lo and behold if it did not run perfectly. The heater even started to blow again after a few miles. Drove to campus and back no problem. I don't really trust it, but I feel it's a good enough sign.