Loosing Coolant

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So, things hadn't improved after all. Loosing coolant from expansion tank cap (costing me a fortune in anti-freeze). Decided to replace the thermostat in case it is the culprit (and praying it's not the head). Not having the LR tools for removing viscous fan, I've been struggling all day trying to get the thermostat out. Finally got it out but have skinned knuckles and exhausted my vocabulary of profanities! Not sure how I'll ever get the new one fitted. Anyone have any clever idea how I get the bloody fan out the way?
 
CliffordGarrett said:
So, things hadn't improved after all. Loosing coolant from expansion tank cap (costing me a fortune in anti-freeze). Decided to replace the thermostat in case it is the culprit (and praying it's not the head). Not having the LR tools for removing viscous fan, I've been struggling all day trying to get the thermostat out. Finally got it out but have skinned knuckles and exhausted my vocabulary of profanities! Not sure how I'll ever get the new one fitted. Anyone have any clever idea how I get the bloody fan out the way?
Click to expand...
I use one of these from Halfrauds: click
 
I made trip to Halfords and got myself a 36mm Fan Spanner. It still took a bit of effort holding the pulley still while clouting said spanner with a hammer, but when it cracked, it came off easily: made all the difference. I was able to get hands in and replaced thermostat and hose clips with jubilee clips.
I've given it a good test drive and so far so good. Fingers remain crossed firmly that this has fixed things. So far, it has driven like a dream, no power loss, toasty warm in the cab, temp gauge holding station, and no loss of coolant. I'll have to go on a longer drive and make sure.
 
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CliffordGarrett said:
So, things hadn't improved after all. Loosing coolant from expansion tank cap (costing me a fortune in anti-freeze). Decided to replace the thermostat in case it is the culprit (and praying it's not the head). Not having the LR tools for removing viscous fan, I've been struggling all day trying to get the thermostat out. Finally got it out but have skinned knuckles and exhausted my vocabulary of profanities! Not sure how I'll ever get the new one fitted. Anyone have any clever idea how I get the bloody fan out the way?
Click to expand...

If you have a pushbike tool-kit you'll find they have a head-set bicycle spanner that fits ... :D or like us have 3 bike mad kids that'll let you steal theirs ...:cool:
 
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CliffordGarrett said:
I made trip to Halfords and got myself a 36mm Fan Spanner. It still took a bit of effort holding the pulley still while clouting said spanner with a hammer, but when it cracked, it came off easily: made all the difference. I was able to get hands in and replaced thermostat and hose clips with jubilee clips.
I've given it a good test drive and so far so good. Fingers remain crossed firmly that this has fixed things. So far, it has driven like a dream, no power loss, toasty warm in the cab, temp gauge holding station, and no loss of coolant. I'll have to go on a longer drive and make sure.
Click to expand...

Hows that Thermostat working out, has it sorted it ? Im having exactly the same problem :(
 
Sorry, been a while but have not had to go anywhere too far from home so haven't had a chance to properly test my repairs.
Seems the thermostat has NOT fixed the problem: didn't think it would. Everything seems sweet when driving away from cold. Heater working, temp gauge working, engine running nicely. However, after about 60miles it becomes obvious that things are far from ok. Can hear the coolant spurting up out of the expansion tank and electric fan running. It looses coolant and will then overheat etc if not topped back up.
Today, having confirmed the problem, I parked the car for the day and let it cool back down. On my return journey (about 6 1/2 hours later), having topped the coolant back up and bled out air, it was obvious that power was down, acceleration was sluggish under load, and things definitely did not feel right: I thought it was a bumpy ride and wasn't sure if it was not on all cylinders? Not experienced the feeling before so not at all sure what's up but bloody sure something is wrong.
So, I guess this is all pointsto one culprit?
 
Have you had it sniff tested? AFAIK it checks for burnt combustion gasses in the coolant, it might confirm the HG problem.
 
Started taking bits off today. Rocker cover off, turbo about to move aside. Had to stop as late and dark and wet. Will resume tomorrow. The threaded plug in the head behind the exhaust manifold looks corroded and and good candidate for leak. Water pump could be leaking too. See better when I have the turbo out of the way.

Fingers crossed the head is not cracked or badly warped.

I still haven't had a definitive answer on the legitimacy of head skimming, valve seat re-cutting. RAVE is clear that it is not permissable to do either. I'm guessing this is because of the surface hardening of the aluminium casting. Presumably skimming takes this away and leaves an unhardened surface. The question really is how long will a skimmed head stand-up to the stresses of combustion before it fails? A 1 year warranty on a reconditioned head isn't much use really! Anyone have a recon head skimmed and cut that has been running for > 5 years?
 
I'm doing my head gasket at the moment. Decided to bite the bullet. It's been a slow process though due to lack of a good place to work and discovering I had far less of the tools needed than I thought I had. Followed RAVE diligently and discovered that just about each step was a feat of contortionist torture. How anybody works on these things day in, day out, is beyond me! I have the head freed and ready to lift out but had a classic fail when I asked a friend to help lift it with me. It wouldn't budge: still had a water hose attached underneath the fuel cooler. RAVE said undo 3 hoses and all the diagrams show 3 hoses, but I have 4! Not counting the 3 fuel pipes. Couldn't even see the bloody hose right underneath the cooler and behind mounting bracket, and the hose clip had one tang inside the gap between it and the inlet manifold. I bet the little bastard who fitted those at the factory thought it was a great wheeze to position it like that so it would be neigh on impossible to get off once inside the engine bay.
I'm set to continue tomorrow and lift the the thing with a winch. It would be easy with an engine hoist but hire charges are high and I have no transport to get one home. but I have a plan.
Can't see too much at the moment but certainly look like it's been leaking from head gasket onto the exhaust manifold. A fair bit of rusty looking witness marking.

Anyone know how I can identify whether I have the original head on?
 
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