Freelander TD4 coolant flush

Hi I am not very savvy with Freelander or anything and was wondering if anyone could help me with a easy step by step on how to flush the coolant in my td4 Freelander? I have seen other threads but get very confused about all this talk of different hoses and temperature and whatnot

Why do you want to flush it? It's not really necessary to flush coolant unless the system is contaminated. The coolant needs changing every 5 years or so, but the just involves releasing the bottom rad hose and allowing the coolant to drain. Then simply add fresh coolant of the correct concentration up the the max mark.

As I want to replace the coolant reservoir as it has hairline cracks within it. So I pull out the bottom hose and wait for the reservoir to drain out but how to I bleed and drain the coolant within the rest of the system and how do I do this without trapping air inside? Thank you

Createdebate said:

As I want to replace the coolant reservoir as it has hairline cracks within it

Click to expand...

Just pull the pipes of the reservoir and allow just that to drain. Fit the new reservoir and top it up.
There's no need to empty the whole cooling system just to replace the reservoir, unless the coolant is past its best.

Thank you, but what if I wanted to make sure there was no air within the system - I have just brought the car and don't know when it was changed and sorta just wanna know the procedure even if I don't do it now . Also would I switch the car on at any point? And the heating?

Createdebate said:

Thank you, but what if I wanted to make sure there was no air within the system - I have just brought the car and don't know when it was changed

Click to expand...

The system is self-bleeding if just the reservoir is being changed. When you remove the old reservoir, only the pipes to it will drain and not by much. Just remove the old reservoir and fit the replacements and top up to max with new coolant of the same colour. When the engine is started, any air that remains in the pipes will purge out of the small pipe that goes to the top of the reservoir.

As for the age if the coolant. Take a look in any history for cooling system items being replaced.

Yeah that's the things there isn't any showing it has been drained and replaced - that's why I was wondering how to do it because at some point it will need to be done and it's better to do it as a precautionary measure - I'd also rather not pay Halfords 40 odd pounds to do it for me if it's easy enough

Big rubber hose at the bottom of the radiator. Unclip that, and the coolant for the whole system will drain out. Quite a straightforward job. If you have the undertray still on your vehicle, you’ll have to take that off to get access. Again not a big job.

If you don’t know the history of the vehicle as far as servicing goes, you may as well change the oils on the rest of it while that engine tray is off. At least do the engine oil. Then I would be inclined to change the IRD oil, and transmission oil. Then you know you are all good with some nice clean stuff in the system. (There are many threads on here describing how it is done, and how you can tell how good a condition the transmission / IRD are in by looking at the state of the oil)

Back to the coolant question, when you refil, do it slowly so as to reduce the air in the system, and use the bleed screw on the rear of the engine bay. Keep any eye on levels for the first few trips in particular to see if any more air works itself out, and top up if necessary.

Jim