New Owner - Questions

Hi, I'm new to the forums and have very little mechanical knowledge so please go easy on me.

I bought a '96 LPG converted 4.6 HSE Autobiography Range rover last week and while extremely pleased with it I have become a little concerned at a couple of faults.

1. There appears to be coolant leaking into the drivers footwell. I didn't notice it until I checked the coolant level (making a big trip tommorow so did the usual checks). Basicly the coolant level was just below the small tube (not the main feed) so I filled it up with a 50/50 mixture to the 'recommended' level and took it out for a spin. When I got back I let the car cool down and checked the coolant level again. It had dropped by about 1cm. This is when I also noticed that my drivers footwell carpet was damp and on soaking it up with kitchen roll I realised that it was coolant (green). I have had no warnings regarding coolant levels or the engine overheating (temp needle is directly between blue and red i.e normal).

2. Possibly connected to '1' - The handbook and '!' have appeared in the LCD air-con control panel. If I stop the car and restart it, it will go away, sometimes until stopping/restarting again sometimes not, a very irratic fault. What does this mean?

3. Possibly connected to 1+2 - The passenger footwell is also damp to the touch but not as bad as the Drivers side.

4. Cruise control - Basicly I can't get it to work, am I right in saying I press the dashboard button to activate cruise and then press the LH steering wheel button to enable it? Do I need to hold the steering wheel button in for any length of time?

I expected some faults with it being a landrover and I am lucky enough to have a 3 month warranty on the vehicle so I am not overly worried about the above...or should I be? I would just like some info on the above so the dealer won't give me some BS.

Apart from the faults I'm loving my first 'rover and I don't want it to stop coz of too many problems. Great forum!

you need the heater matrix cleaning out or replacing. if your lucky itll just be the pipe or the connections.

hi, welcome to forum,

fault one will be your heater matrix o rings leaking,

fault two is possibly an air con fault, is air con cold?

cruise works as you describe you only have to press and let go of left steering wheel button after main facia switch pressed, above 30mph. one of your vacuum pipes will be split,look at the rear of your air suspension compressor unit for the vacuum assembly, they normally split there.

Have a look at my " P38 Air Con ! warning sign " thread below yours

The ! sign could be very very expensive

Cheers

Mike

Wow! Thanks for the replies guys.

It does appear to be the O-rings on the heater matrix that is leaking the coolant into the Drivers footwell as I had a good look around that area. Just done over 1000m (holiday) and the coolant kept dropping and leaking into that area. I am however puzzled as to why it hasn't leaked in the 300 mile trip home (yes, there is coolant in the reservoir!). Its booked in at the dealers Tuesday for them to sort it.

The ! and book sign keeps appearing every now and then on the aircon but if I turn off the engine and restart it goes away. It only seems to come on when I have AUTO set and even then not immidiatley. There is cold air coming out but then the weather aint that great at the moment so it could just be cool ambient air - dealer looking into this too.

I think I have solved the cruise problem. For some bizarre reason it will not operate if I have 'RANGE' set on the computer. If I use any other setting (mpg/trip etc) and then use cruise it works flawlessly. Again not as it should be so dealer is looking into it.

I'll get back to you all once its sorted out (hopefully). Thanks again for the replies.

**EDIT**

Managed a paltry 14.3 mpg @ avg 70 mph motorway driving on LPG - Good??

Dealer rectified all faults.

It was the suspected O-rings which have been replaced and no further coolant leaks.

The book+! must have been something to do with the coolant leak as I have had no further recurrance and the dealer didn't detect anything with the testbook.

Cruise and everything else also works great now.

Managed a paltry 14.3 mpg @ avg 70 mph motorway driving on LPG - Good??

Click to expand...

Probably better than to be expected! Running LPG isn't as efficient - at least 10% down on Petrol. Most people report around 12/13MPG on LPG with the 4.6. Still cheaper than running on Petrol tho!

Matt

Great!

Gotta admit I get a grin on my face everytime I fill up and it totals £25.