Help Over Heating

Hi im new to this site so please bear with me, i have a overheating problem that is making me pull my hair out:

I bought the car and within 2 weeks i had severe overheating problems which rendered the car undrivable, it was diagnosed as a head problem and was skimmed, under warranty.

All was fine for months until recently, now the car is overheating every now and again, but if i stick it in neutral and rev hard the temp drops and lets me get on, sometimes it will be fine for miles others it will just do it again.

I had it into main dealer and they charged me £400 for viscous fan and other bits but i still have the fault, had it at a range rover specialist where it wouldnt perform the fault but had thermostat changed and radiator checked for blockages but after a couple of days same prob. The radiator hoses get rock hard and if i was to open the reservoir i think the whole contents would errupt out of the top.

Also when are the electric fans under the grill suppost to kick in i dont think i have ever seen them run yet even when overheating, how can i test these work and has this got anything to do with me over heating problem??

I am starting to hate the car i loved, so any help would be appreciated dont know what else to replace.

sorry to go on but any help advice would be appreciated.

i suspect a cracked head or something like that, especially as its pressurising, I take it its a diesel?

the electric fans are for the air con, not engine cooling

I had this problem during the summer, I was towing a caravan through France, just thought that it was working too hard BUT !

Within a week of returning home, the vehicle overheated and I had to get it recovered by the RAC.

I found that the thermostat was stuck, replaced it and still overheating.

I decided to pull the water pump out, it came out in two pieces, the impellor had detached itself from the rest of the pump.

On replacing the pump, the problem was solved entirely.

It looks to me as if the pump was failing for some time.

Could this be your problem ?

I think it is a possibility as when you rev the engine the temp drops i suppose it is the only thing i havnt had replaced mabe worth a try, any idea on cost of new pump??

I hope not sounds expensive? i have spent so much on the car and still having the problem, would a cracked head not of been picked up when the head was skimmed?

Also yesterday i was having a play with it i noticed that the expantion reservioir was full to bursting, someone told me to check the pipes going into the top of the reservoir was not blocked, when i removed the left pipe the reservoir drained completely and required re-filling. drove it breifly yesterday and no probs. And yes it is a deisel.

I think that I paid £65.00 approx for the water pump from Steve Parker Landrovers at Rochdale.

I have bought other parts from other places in the past, but the quality has been suspect.

The job itself took me about 3 hours as the radiator, intercooler etc all need to come off to get at the pump.

However, once the bits were off, the pump was the easiest I have ever changed.

I checked a few websites regarding tips and tricks, the most important is to make sure all the air is out of the system, I spent some time making sure.

No problems since on the overheating but I am just sorting out my EAS system.

I have a recon kit due in the post to do the compressor, and have a recon kit ready to do the valve block today.........

Good luck

Thanks for your advice i have driven it today and yesterday and it has been fine since i did what i did yesterday. Problem probably not solved but as soon as it plays up again i will take it for new water pump seems logical after everything else has been changed. I have had all the eas problems as well what a nightmare!

Before you get carried away changing all the cooling system and throwing £thousands at it - change the expansion bottle cap and then kick yourself.

hi it sounds like you have had a similar problem what were your symptoms did a new cap solve it, i have read about caps so often i will order one asap and will kick myself bigtime if this is what it is.

Symptons just as you have. New cap - problem solved. Let us know how you get on. These cooling systems do suffer with age though, It certainly wouldnt hurt to flush the system with a flushing agent. If a previous owner has used Radweld, this can gum everything up. Check for brown sludge when you empty the system.