2000 range rover 4.6 vouge lpg

There was a Reaaaaaly long thread on here a few months ago, started off buy someone who had bought of a trader, turned out to have all sorts of problems with the car, I don't remember the outcome but I seem to remember that with the help and advice from lots of peops on here the OP had some or all his money or repairs paid for (not 100% which way it went) back from the trader, it may be worth a look for the thread, I seem to think that 'Frantic' is your man for trading standards advice?

If a trader is selling for a "FRIEND" does that then give him immunity from the rules he is bound to trade under? Worth spending a little time looking into as I'm sure you have a fairly large bill coming your way to put that car right, If you can do the work yourself you will need to budget at least £1500 if you intend to rebuild your engine with top hat liners, new cam and gaskets etc, or perhaps about £1000 if you just go for a second hand engine, if you have to pay someone labour as well I would guess you can probably double it.....like I say only a guess as I do myself so no labour.....tooooo tight!!!

Steve

Well I spoke to local Landrover repair which is LAS in Bangor North Wales, they were undecided as to the fault, there suggested solution was to have the heads removed, preasur test and skimed at a cost of £190. To have new head gaskets and associated parts plus labour the total cost will be £850 + VAT, even then there is no guarantee that it will cure the problem, his words were that the liners could be passing as well, the 4.0 & 4.6 were a bottomless pit for money.
He suggested a reconditioned engine which will give me a 12 mth guarantee. either way its going to cost LOTS.
Do people agree with the garages advise or are they talking a load of toffee as normal

Does anybody have any suggestion were to get a good replacement engine and the cost please

is there no small pipe on the thor rad? the thing is that the little pipe is an automatic 'bleed' device.

plus you can tell from that if its pumping correctly.

sounds to me like its just boiling the water!!

do you still have your old stat, if so just try to cut the centre out of it to make it into a junction!! i dont think this is the issue tho!!

you could always get another sniff test done.

when my engine went the fella put the test on and knew instantly!!

the rac fella should have picked up on it if it had hydrocarbons in the water.

thats why i think it flow rather than failure!!

They do indeed have them Gav. This has to be blown through when filling the syste
To make sure there is no water in the pipe otherwise you get an air lock. Worth checking Op

yes there is the small pipe on the thor engined rad,i had all the same simptoms as OP needed a new engine in the end due to a porous block irontite did not work either,OP keep an eye on ebay some come up on there,if you can fit it yourself youll be ok if not its gonna cost you LOADS,get some advice from citizen advice about how you stand buying from a trader selling for a friend, sounds dodgy, if you got an invoice from his buisiness he should have put trade sale sold as seen on it not private sale

the only way a trader can bypass his/her obligations is to state on the receipt, "sold for scrap".nothing else holds water.

oops, i hadnt read all the posts and just re read it all!!


first things first get the issue assesed before you buy another engine!!

get another test done if that shows nothing then it cant be gasses in the water.

has the rad been checked for flow?

we still havnt established whether the small pipe is blocked. if the engine has ever had any of the leak fix compounds in you can bet yer last quid it will be blocked.

also check the top of the expansion tank where said pipe joins, take the cap off and ensure it is free, also the overflow should be free on the tank too.

if you do have a shagged block then get it top hat linered. look into it, they cannot slip and it also takes and combustion pressure away from the original aluminium block so if any water does find its way into the oil buy going behind the liners then irontite will fix that. ive never heard of that happening tho!!

a second hand engine could still fail within months so fixing the one you have with liners is the only way to ensure you dont have issues in the future!!!

i seem to have overlooked the heads, theres no way to quick way to test em.

after all that, if gasses are getting into the water an hydrocarbon test should pick it up. thats why they were invented!!

good luck!!

Thank you for all your valuable replies,

To answer your questions:

I have disconnect the rad at top and bottom hoses and flushed with a hose pipe, all ok, total clean as it looks like a recent new rad.

No blockage in the small pipe which runs from the radiator to the expansion pipe, have blew through this and also the water shoots through when I squeeze the hoses when the engine is cold.

The overflow pipe which comes from the expansion collar is clear also.

As I previously said I changed the top hose from the rad to the water pump with a spare one I had from a rover 25 diesel, the reason for this is that it has a built in vent bolt which I can undo when filling to make sure there is no air in the pipe.

I have not done a second gas test on the water, the first was done by rac on the roadside when it first overheated and showed no signs of gases in the water.

I have removed the new thermostat housing and replaced with the old which had been forced open and dislodged from its internal seating so that it is permently open.

Also cut the end of a plastic bottle and taped it to the expansion bottle filling collar, that way I can fill the expansion tank so it is full and give it extra height on the head of water by turning up the overflow pipe, this way I can force water into all the high level hoses by undoing the clips on the hoses and allowing air out until it runs free with water. I then remove the plastic bottle and reduce the water level to the cold level.

The rave disc tells me to start the car with the cap removed and continue topping up the coolant until the water level is staedy on the cold level, the problem I have is that I start the engine with the cap off, within 15 seconds I have water gussing out of the top of the expansion tank so I cannot sabilize the coolant level with the cap off as the rave disc says, perhaps this might give a clue to the fault.

So tomorrow, I am going to have a second test done on the gases in the coolant and also going to do a compression test to see if that can give an indication

the wter pump needs looking at, sounds like its just boiling the coolant straigh off!! this would also tie in with the cold pipes on the stat etc.

order a gasket from island 4x4 they are about a quid and it will only take half an hour to check it out, if the pump is dead then its a cheap fix, if not then its only cost a cpl of quid!!

the hc test is gonna be the decider. but if the water blows after 15 seconds then its gonna be a difficult test to perform!!

what happens if you let the water blow and the keep topping up?

just curious!!

also dangle the little pipe in the top of the tank then start the car see if it pumps through.

Sorry to say but the symptoms you have are exactly the same as I had almost to the letter........except I did manage a couple of months use from mine before it got to this!

I have my own sniff tester and tested several times....... not once did it show anything.

The signs of someone else having tried to fix it are there.... recent new rad and bodged open stat, then sell through a "trader as a favour"......... have you looked to see if the water pump has been removed/replaced recently as well? might be worth a look!

To decide between top hat liners, coscast block or pressure tested secondhand block is not a nice thing to have to decide, there are lots of arguments for all, I think you just have to do as much research and reading as you can then just dig into your pocket and go with what seems right to you. Either way unless you can get the trader to help you out either with a full refund or money towards repairs then you are looking at "loads" as you put it.

Oh and sounds to me like your dealer is being fairly honest.

Steve

if you can do the work yourself of removing and putting the new/refurbed engine in then you can considerably reduce costs!!

engine in and out can be done in 6 hours, thats with air tools and ramp/block and tackle.

its only a weekend's job if your doing it the hard way. beware though them engines are foooooooooking heavy.

i dropped a bottom end on my sisters foot, she still has the scar!! lol!!

Hi
I appear to have a similiar problem only mine loses the coolant and it appears to come out via the hose from the expansion tank. i have replaced the rad and pump but still seems to happen, did you ever find a solution for this?
thanks

Phil

what are the hoses like?ive known the inside to collapse and the outside looks ok ergo no circulation.its worth a look before a lot of expence.good luck

hi i have done many of thease prone for p[ourus blocks crack in cylinderheads and head gaskets yours sounds like combustion is getting in to the water system which will cause pressurizing the system and hot and cold syptoms defently. one cure you can try and it works i fixed qite a few and they still going till this day its called wonderweld. dont get that k-seal its ****. must be wonderweld. all you do is start engine for 2mins . take top hose off rad pour in start engine and within 2/3 mins cured jobs a gooden