Starting problems and radiator

Dear agents and gals,

Pity me, for I am a novice mechanic with a Land Rover.

In fairness, I hear a lot of people moaning about the reliability of old 110's, and I must say my old gal normally runs sweet. 5 years of ownership and no problems although I only do 1000 miles a year ( it's a v8) hauling logs.

But I've gained a dual problem this week, cannot seem to get her to spark into life. She turns over but take a good while to get the grunt to start....

At the same time I've noticed that the rad has dumped most of its rusty water out!! Is it normally the case that these would need replacement or can they be patched? What the best place to buy new if necessary and is it a big job?

I have been good on oil changes and filter changes over the last 5 years, but nowt else.

Your advice will be very very appreciated.

Mark

Check that you have sparks at the plugs. If there isn't, then;
1/. Remove the distributor cap and check that everything in there is clean
2/. Check that the coil is working
3/. Try it again
With your rad, to clean the system out, drain it all and fill it with Coca Cola, leave it for a couple of hors then flush through with gallons of clean water.
That will de-gunge the system, and you will be surprised at what comes out!
Reconnect your pipes , top it up and see the difference.

If the rad has dumped water spontaneously i.e. leaked then you can either get it repaired/recored, or get a new one off eBay for reasonable money (not sure about V8 prices to be fair). It isn't a hard job to replace even for a novice and it's all good learning It would probably be worth changing the hoses as well as these perish over time, and flushing/changing the coolant too.
Not sure how old your Landy is (I'm guessing over 20 years at least?) then it's probably due a new rad anyway.
In the meantime you could put some Radweld or similar to keep you going if you really need to.

Thanks for the advice gents.

To oldseadog, on point 2, is the coil obvious to see?

To simonm15, will the radweld work being put into the smaller radiator that pushes the coolant into the larger radiator?

Best wishes,

Mark

My 1985 110 V8 used to go through a new coil about every 3 or 4 years or so for some reason so could easily be that, change the plugs and leads as well but for gods sake take a photo of the routing of the leads 1st as they are routed in a manner that does not seem logical at first. I think from memory it was something to do with inducing a missfire between 3 and 5 cylinders or something can't remember now.
I had quite a serious leak in my rad that I kept at bay for 12 months by dosing with barrs leaks. I don't know what you mean by smaller/larger radiator, just pour it into the expansion tank before topping up with water. By the way these engines need a quality anti-freeze year round to stop internal corrosion.

if its the original land rover radiator, i would get it recored, will be much better than an aluminmium and plastic one .

i had mine recored at guildford radaitors about 2 months ago and it was a lovely job, they had one in store as an exchange, but they can recore yours on a 24hr turnaround if you pay. they can also pick it up if you cant get it to them.
Bit more than a plastic ****ty one but will last another 20 years easy. I paid just a shade over £170

oh and i am sussex based aswell if you wanted to look at my recore one before you decide

http://www.carradiatorsguildford.com

ProjectX said:

Thanks for the advice gents.

To oldseadog, on point 2, is the coil obvious to see?

To simonm15, will the radweld work being put into the smaller radiator that pushes the coolant into the larger radiator?

Best wishes,

Mark

Click to expand...

Follow the thick bit of cable from the middle of the distributor, and the coil should be on the other end of it.
As well as the thick wire, it will have two other bits of wire coming from the top sides of it, and opposite each other. One goes back to the points or contacts in the distributor and the other goes to earth, and they are both quite thin.