Gurgling Disco

[blacknight]

My Disco has recently started gurgling just after starting. It's a 1996 300Tdi Auto.

This gurgling happens for a few minuites after starting from cold, doesn't necessarily happen on tick over but mostly under acceleration. The gurgling comes from around the drivers footwell and obviously is from the heater hoses that come towards the heater blower from the engine bay.

Also had cool air blowing from the heater last week but its mostly hot now.

In my opinion this is an airlock in the heater element that doesn't want to clear. Have run the engine with no cap on the expansion tank and sqeezed pipes. Removed the plastic threaded plugs on the radiator and housing,and made sure that coolant is present. Don't seem to have any coolant leaks either.

Suppose I could possibly be clearing it and its returning overnight due to some unknown reason!!

Coolant temperature gauge is approx a third of the way up from cold.

Now, when started from cold and left on tick over, one of the heater hoses gets warm while the other gets hot. When the engine speed is increased, you hear gurgling and both hoses are hot.

As winter is almost here I did remove the viscous fan last week(which I do each year, without any problems, to aid quicker warm up). But after the engine has run a while, the air-con fans are now coming on which I think aids cooling when the engine gets hot!!

Anybody out there had this problem and sorted it, or any ideas on what the problem may be.

Thanks

[POTASH]

it does sound like an airlock to me

[bilge rat]

got blue about  a year ago with a blown h/gasket. fixed but ever since i get the same fault as you. never uses any water or blows out heater always works. the only thing i can think is that the head may have  a slight crack in it due to the head gasket failure first time round.  have posted this on another forum and someone else had the same prob and ran with no further probs. im still running mine and keeping an eye on it . iff anything happens will let you know . alan.....

[Ralph]

Mine does exactly the same thing straight after starting give it a rev an it clears. Has been like it since i had it 18 months or so and i do many miles towing heavy loads and have never had any temperature problems.
Does'nt use any water and heaters allways work.
I'd love to say dont worry about it but i cant because i dont know what causes it, tho i suspect when cooling overnight is sucking air in somewhere near the matrix.

[SteveGoodz]

Same problem with mine ~ been like it for about 2 months. The service manager at our local dealer reckons it's a fairly common problem and almost always is the head gasket.

It's going into the garage to have a broken glow plug removed on Monday and, as the head has to come off, a new head gasket too. Hopefully that will fix it  :D

[Ja1983]

did you have the head skimmed fully when you did the head gasket, as it sounds like theres pressure seeping in when its cold, then as it heats up andexpands, seals up... i`d take the radiator cap off and give it a goos rev... check fluids after, and check all pipes... it could ust be as said before, a bit of air floating around the system..

[lee celtic]

Before you start taking big stuff off and spending ,Have you tried just draining the system and refilling it  :?:

[blacknight]

Park Disco facing downhill and when started, it gurgles from what sounds like the heater pipes/footwell area !!

Park Disco facing uphill and this time when started, no gurgling!!

Any ideas

Thanks

[SteveGoodz]

Same problem with mine ~ been like it for about 2 months. The service manager at our local dealer reckons it's a fairly common problem and almost always is the head gasket.

It's going into the garage to have a broken glow plug removed on Monday and, as the head has to come off, a new head gasket too. Hopefully that will fix it  :D

Well, I got the Discovery back from a VERY expensive couple of repairs and despite a new head gasket (the head was skimmed too) it's still gurgling  

To top it all, it was a tad cold this morning and it was a pig to start  :(  With temperatures due to be -2 in the morning I'll probably still be cranking it into life at lunch time  :x

[jaws]

sounds like an air lock nige...take off bottom hose with caps off rad an expansion tank, get rid of the coolant. refit hose. take off top hose an start to fill untill it come out. fit top hose an fill rad. refit plastic bung when full. just top up the expansion tank an run with the cap off the tank till warm...it mite bubble for a bit but should be fine...

i did this when mine threw all the coolant out at tong. got no air locks an everything works as it should. if ya need owt give me a shout!

[blacknight]

Think I may have sorted it. Got the engine pretty hot earlier this week, found a very slight leak on the joint between the rubber coolant hose and the steel pipe that goes along the cyl. head to the heater. It was simply a Jubilee clip that had stripped and was passing slightly.

Heater has never been as hot in all the time i've had the vehicle!!

Thanks for the offer Jaws, we'll see how it goes now.

[blacknight]

Think I may have sorted it. Got the engine pretty hot earlier this week, found a very slight leak on the joint between the rubber coolant hose and the steel pipe that goes along the cyl. head to the heater. It was simply a Jubilee clip that had stripped and was passing slightly.

Heater has never been as hot in all the time i've had the vehicle!!

Thanks for the offer Jaws, we'll see how it goes now.

The coolant system gurgled again this morning and I could smell coolant. Had a look around all the joints under the bonnet and found no leaks.
Decided out of curiosity to look under the dash and found dampness under the mats in the footwell, worse at drivers side but I do park on a slope if that makes any diference!

Do you think we're looking at a leaky heater under the dash?? As said earlier, i've tried to have a quick look under the dash but cannot find anything leaking(not sure where to look for the leak though). If it is the heater any idea on the cost to repair and can it be done DIY??

Thanks - Nigel

[blacknight]

Heaters bust!!!

Have bypassed the heater by connecting the two pipes that fed the heater from the engine bay together. Any idea on the cost to repair and can it be done DIY (300tdi with aircon)??

Its cold in my Disco, any idea's on how to get some heat into the drivers compartment ie. a 12v heater??

[muddyjames]

You can buy ceramic 12volt fan heaters as I bought 2 when I had my series 3 to help warm up the windscreen. amazingly the heater was good in the S3!!!  :shock:

They didnt cost me much I dont think. Still have 1 somewhere knocking about. Try ebay.

As soon as I read the first post about I can hear gurgling under the dash I thought uh oh he's in trouble! I am no expert but I have  seen 200tdi's being stripped of the dash to get to the heater matrix and that didn't look pretty, and looking under my steering wheel the other day and all the pipes in there, I would cry if I had to take mine out. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news :(

[J.D.]

Muddyjames is right. I did a heater matrix on my uncle's discovery 300 about 3 months ago. Whole dashboard out and lot and lots of pipes and wiring!