It's wee'd all over the drive

[davidjmiller]

:(  :(

Hi Guys,

had a great day today. Greenlaning this morning and then at an off-raod site this afternoon. It was about a 50 min drive home (most of it at 70 mph) and when I switched her off I could here gargling from the engine compartment. Got out and she's wee-ing all over the drive from just behind the front off-side wheel.

Had noticed over the last year or so she'd been steadily using more and more water. Need o put 2.5 litres in tonight.

Any thoughts where to start? Hoses???

Cheers,

David

[SimonHarwood]

In order, I would check for the following:

* Splits in hoses.
* Loosening joints at ends of hoses.
* Splits in header tank.
* Loose core plugs :eek:

I would suspect the last - if that is the fault and it isn't fixed soon you will find that one day you suddenly loose all of your coolant (possibly while in the outside lane of a motorway) and have no way of keeping replacement coolant in until you source a replacement core plug.
If it is a loose core plug, make sure it is hammered back in good and tight, and make sure you get a spare of the correct size.

Simon..

[kevinf]

sorry to be the bearer of bad news but that sounds like a head gasket failure

obviously you would need to investigate further

good luck







kevin

[nakedbarra]

Its just marking its territory.

[davidjmiller]

after the refill last night drove into work fine this morning. 13 miles - temp gauge nearly hit half-way - completely normal.

Had engine compression tested before Xmas when I suspected head gasket failure - ok. Somebody told me this morning that such tests are not fool-proof????

David

[Mr Bump]

it's warming itself up.....pretty soon it'll start p1ssing oil all over the drive  :lol:

[davidjmiller]

All the hoses appear to be good. Can't see the core plugs at the mo (bad back an bad light).

However, I started it up and watched what came out of the exhaust. On idling for a long time just gas. Then I went and revved the thing and the water started coming out.

In the 28 miles I've done today it's used 400 mL of H2O.

I fear cylinder head gasket now - how much will it cost???

Given that it's booked in to have the rear X-member sorted later in the week for the mot - should I throw in the towel??

I've done alot to this car to get it towards where I want to be. And how much woud I have to spend to get new Landy that made me feel confident that the cylynder head gasket (and x-mamber) was n't going to go???

depressed now - time to go and eat !!!

David

[drmike]

Well I can probably cheer you up. I did the head gaskets on my old V8 and I'm a duffer with spanners. It's not hard and it's not expensive so get stuck in and just do it. You need a few simple tools and patience.

Do teh hoses pressurise when it's hot if so then your symptoms are excatly the ones I had when my head gasket went.

Mike

[davidjmiller]

Mike, thanks I'll check.

I'm not mechanically minded, in fact I've been back into autorepair for dunnies again tonight, but I'd love to have a go myself.

whilst I'm on (again) two other things that MIGHT be conected. firstly, when I rev her quite hard, she seems to rock from the engine - is that normal???

Secondly, mpg seems to be down maybe 10-20% - and being a v8 it were n't good to start with.

Cheers,

David

[skip]

If you've got a blown head gasket you MPG is almost certain to decrease.

As for the rocking, it's called torque reaction. It's caused by having a decent sized engine under the bonnet :D

[davidjmiller]

yep, I'm driving a 3.9L auto V8 range rover courtesey car now and that rocks when you rev it.

I mentioned to the guy fixing mine that the engine was a bit dirty. Unfortunately he popped the bonnet whilst I was still there. did not say too much abou tthe engine but the back of the radiator was so clogged up with mud it looked like part of a beehive. "That won't have helped" was his very astute comment.

Bet you it's still the cylinder head gasket though.

David

[age]

Sorry to butt in - just reading the posts.

Sounds very like head gasket from my recent experience - when hot the cylinder head just opens up the gasket, compression pumps up the coolant system and pushes it all out past the header/filler tank.

TD5 was best part of £160 including oil change - damaged head would be far more scary :shock:

Best of luck......

[davidjmiller]

TD5 was best part of £160
......

Age - did you really mean £160 quid or maybe £1600 ???

D

[Boddle]

TD5 was best part of £160
......

Age - did you really mean £160 quid or maybe £1600 ???

D

£160 quid, That's the cost of the head gasket not a replacement engine unless they make the out of platinum?

Oil not cheap too?

A quick glance at paddock suggest for V8 parts will cost about £12 +P&P
http://www.paddockspares.com/pp/DEFENDER/Engine_Parts/Head_gasket_set_-_3.5_V8_Carb.html
That should include head gaskets(2), V-block gasket(1), rocker cover gasket(2) but check that before buying.
it would be a good idea to change your oil and oil filter, as you will water in your oil.

[age]

Yes - got away with just the gasket (and had the silly nylon dowels replaced with metal ones given the 's' shape of those coming off) - new engine owuld have been nice at 120k but price was way too steep for current circs.  I'm afraid I did pay a very nice man to do the work, otherwise it would still be in bits on the drive.....  Cheers!

[davidjmiller]

£160 to fit a new head gasket - he was a very nice man!!!!

Up-date on my vehicle: a chemical test has indicated that the head gasket is intact (so why is there water coming form the exhaust then???).

MOT failed on minor things plus rear x-member (which I knew about). They are now suspicious of the radiator which they will send away for thorough testing.

David

[Boddle]

Thats the cost of a head gasket

Is it water not fuel
if the engine run very rich it can put fuel straight out the exhaust. tends to be very expensive to run to.

Is the water there when you start and goes away as you drive? this is normal particularly with V(v6, v8, v12) Engined vehicles as they get older and is not to be worried about.

[davidjmiller]

Good Q, at the mo I can only say no water on idleing and some water on revving. I'll keep a close eye on it when I get the vehicle back.

I must be more naive than I think though - I thought it was hours and hours of labour just to get into the head gasket???

Cheers,

David

[spy]

I would think its a good few hours a side to do the gaskets.  I have absolutely no idea about land rover job times, I could look it up in work easy enough though.

[davidjmiller]

just got it back yesterday after a week. They said the gasket was ok but it needed a new radiator and viscous fan along with the new rear x-member. It failed the mot on many other small but labour-intensive things. Total of 24h labour plus parts then the "courteousy car" charge. Then VAT. Plus the cost of the test of course.

Radiator/ fan knackered by mud and me not realising (drhhh!!!) that I needed to take the time and care to clean them out properly.

Hope I get to go out laning this w/e.

I'll leave you guys to guess how much that all came to but if you get within £20 then as a special prize I'll let you pay !!!!!

David