mortz1990

Member
Discovery 1 '95 300tdi - I've had a scout around on forums and just got completely confused so here are my symptoms: Sound of liquid moving around behind the dash on accelerating/ decelerating and cornering, not all the time but still very much there.

Engine temp needle stays at the constant of just below half way, where it always has indicated ever since i bought it one and a half years ago.

After about a month or two of the car after having this sloshing the heater started blowing cold when it was set to blow hot and then sometimes blew hot for a while then went back to blowing cold. Temp gauge stayed where it was though for town driving. Took it on the motorway a couple days after and the temperature needle suddenly started rising and was quickly getting up to the top of the arc within a few meters of doing motorway speed, I came off at the next junction and before i reached the end of the slip the temp instantly went back down to normal....
The next day temp was fine in town and then on the motorway a couple days after again the temp rose within a few seconds of joining the motorway and was very quickly up to hot within a few hundred yards, came off at the next junction cooled slightly but not instantly as before so parked it and allowed it to cool to normal temp which it did within about 4-5mins. Got it home on 30-40mph roads and it behaved.

Got home looked under the bonnet, saw liquid around the expansion tank cap.

Took it to the garage and they did a pressure test and topped up the coolant level as some had come out of the expansion tank the day before and said they took it for a fair drive on the motorway and the heater had begun to behave and the temp needle didn't move from just below half way.

The heater does blow warm but not as scaldingly hot as it used to, and if the engine is idling the temp of the air blowing into the cabin seems to drop but doesn't go cold. The sound of liquid behind the dash also remains....

What's the next step? A simple air lock or a head gasket problem, water pump?
 
I understand that, but what's the solution? How has it gotten there in the first place? Is it dangerous to the rest of my engine?
 
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The solution is to drain the coolent completly via bottom hose and thermostat housing and then refill slowly following the laid down procedure for a Tdi's as copied below.

Add correct mix of coolant into expansion tank
until radiator is full
5. Fit radiator plug.
6. Continue adding coolant into expansion tank
until coolant appears in thermostat housing.
CAUTION: Take care to avoid excess
coolant spillage from thermostat housing.
7. Fit thermostat housing plug.
8. Check coolant in expansion tank is level with
indicator post. Add more coolant if necessary.
9. Start engine and run for 5 minutes.
10. Allow engine to cool, check coolant level in
expansion tank; top up to level indicator post if
necessary.
11. Fit expansion tank filler cap.
 
Appreciate the straight forward advice discool, I've tried finding a simple solution on other peoples past posts but nothing sounded simple, I just came out of it worrying about it being a head gasket! The air had to get in there somehow?
 
Where in west yorks are you? I could run a pressure test on it for you, just for piece of mind if nothing else.
 
Appreciate the straight forward advice discool, I've tried finding a simple solution on other peoples past posts but nothing sounded simple, I just came out of it worrying about it being a head gasket! The air had to get in there somehow?

The heater matrix is the highest point thats why any air in the system moves to the maxrix and stays there, air entering can be from a faulty head-gasket or hasty refilling the system the last time the antifreeze was changed or a replacement hose fitted.

Air was aways a pain to remove in my old RRC I had to refil with the front facing up a slope so the top of the rad was the highest point and vented from the top of the rad.
 
The heater matrix is the highest point thats why any air in the system moves to the maxrix and stays there, air entering can be from a faulty head-gasket or hasty refilling the system the last time the antifreeze was changed or a replacement hose fitted.

That's what I'm worried about, the antifreeze or hoses haven't been changed anywhere near the time that this has happened...The bill for a head gasket will be what, £600? That on top of the £800ish MOT bill kind of makes me wonder if it's time to call it a day for my landy before I fork out for it to get through its MOT.
 
I'm only in sherburn in elmet. I could run a pressure test on it for you if you wanted?
Even while it's there, I could change the coolant and bleed her up for you?
 

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