Freelander 1 Coolant/heater problems

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RHILL1983

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57
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I did the clutch on my 1.8 petrol few weeks ago and had to replace the coolant after draining it. Anyway today noticed the heater is blowing cold air out when at a standstill. Hot air blows out when moving along. So tried bleeding it from the matrix bleeder port. Heating comes back on. Works for a few miles and then again stop and no more heating. Rebleed and it works fine again. Is there anything else I should be looking for?
 
The heater stops working when my L Series drops low of coolant. That is because there is a leak so the coolant bottle is empty and I need to top up and bleed.

If your coolant bottle is not emptying, I presume it is just air trapped in your system that is finding its way there as a high point in the system.

Others may have more specific knowledge.
 
RHILL1983 said:
Is that the one down behind the airbox? I did bleed from that one too.
Click to expand...
Yes. You bleed that one first.
RHILL1983 said:
also Nodge, is there a way to see if my car has had the Head gasket mod fitted?
Click to expand...
You mean the MLS HG? There are a couple of tags sticking out, which you can see so check the gasket colour, bkack being MLS, silver being the standard Elastomer gasket.
 
Its strange. I keep bleeding and bleeding from both vents and still after about 5 mins the heater blows cold when I sat in traffic. It then gets mildly warm until I rebleed.
 
Sounds like a leak, air getting in somewhere. No mayonnaise looking deposits under the oil filler cap and nothing looking oily on top of the coolant reservoir, is there? No visible dribble of coolant on or under the engine? No wet carpet in the passenger cabin?
 
As it was the bank hol thought I'd drain all the coolant and replace the thermostat while at it. Also did the oil as not done that yet. I tested the old thermostat and I'm wondering if it was stuck open. Heater seems to be red hot now, the top tube to the main radiator is also too warm to touch now. The heater does cool to warm air when stationery but I guess this may he normal as the engine is not doing much work. .
 
Back to cold air blowing out the heater when it's stopped and not very warm when going along either. I'm out of ideas what it could be. Blocked heater matrix or the water pump is weak?
 
You need the determine if there is air getting into the matrix. If it's continually picking up air, then you need to look for leaks, especially near the water pump/thermostat housing.
 
Right, the Heater has started to not work at all, even when moving. So this afternoon I stopped and looked under the bonnet. I could hear hissing coming from the header tank and when I opened the cap loads of coolant flowed in nearly overflowing the tank. This went back down to normal levels quite quickly, but the coolant now stinks of exhaust gas. So I'm guessing the Head Gasket has actually failed and is letting in exhaust gas to the coolant which is creating an air lock in the heater. Would this be right? I guess this weekend I am changing the head gasket hoping no more damage has been done.
 
Yes, test kit vial of blue liquid with a bung on the end you put in the expansion tank filler. Run the engine til it starts bubbling, if after a couple of minutes it doesn't go yellow you're OK no exhaust gases mixing. I suspect it will confirm head gasket
 
Just to update incase anyone searches similar problems in the future. I've replaced the head gasket myself and think whoever installed the MLS gasket before didn't bother to clean the block down. There was still elastomer residue on the block, I could also see clearly where the exhaust gas had been leaking from the end cylinder. Fingers crossed this has sorted it. Heater is now really very hot and stays hot when not moving.
 
RHILL1983 said:
Just to update incase anyone searches similar problems in the future. I've replaced the head gasket myself and think whoever installed the MLS gasket before didn't bother to clean the block down. There was still elastomer residue on the block, I could also see clearly where the exhaust gas had been leaking from the end cylinder. Fingers crossed this has sorted it. Heater is now really very hot and stays hot when not moving.
Click to expand...

What HG did you use? MLS or the Payen elastomer?
 
I went for the elastomer because I didn't have the equipment to check that the liners were within tolerance. Plus the engine is 120,000 miles old. I know its the lesser of the two HG designs but it has wider tolerances which I felt were better.
 
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