Symptom: Leak in foot well. Garage diagnosis: cracked radiator = help

After a long period with a small leak in the drivers foot well and a shortened ventilation fan also presumably due to the leak I have been told that the ‘rear radiator’ is cracked on our LH drive diesel Freelander (99). I have had no noticeable loss of cooling liquid but the liquid patch in the foot well does seem to contain some ‘oily’ looking substance and not just water. I live in France so the translation is likely wrong, and looking it up in the ‘Hayes repair and service manual’ it sounds like it is a problem with either the cooling matrix or the ‘IRD’- difficult to say as terms used in the diagram and those in the accompanying text do not correspond when read by somebody like me who have no mechanical knowledge.

What bothers me is that I have been quoted about £800 without tax to have it replaced by the regional Land Rover concession – my ‘normal’ 4x4 garage, who also diagnosed the problem, say they do not have the expertise to dismantle the front of the car in-order to get to the ‘cracked unit’. How they can see that it is cracked also seem weird considering that it is ‘inaccessible’; to a non mechanical person it might as well just be a badly fitted hose. Anyhow, as Land Rover took 8 months to supply the correct version of the before mentioned fan I do not feel remotely confident shelling out this kind of money with them. Also, though I am used to ridiculous prices for spare parts for the Freelander, it does seem to be extremely expensive, the part itself accounting for 50% of the quote.

Is there anything else I can do, like a magic liquid that will fill the crack, and/or does somebody have some good advice – like get shot of the leach, this is the first sign of a definite decline! The car has done 157.000kms, with many pricy repairs and replacements but so far the engine, suspension and the clutch/ gearbox have been broadly OK. Your comments will be much appreciated as I have already learnt a lot from previous threads here, thank you
‘At a loss in Gascoigne’.

Ayup, does sound like it could well be the heater matrix, its a dash out job to get to it, most of that bill'll be labour charges, its a bitof a long job....

Perhaps you could post some pics of where exactly they said the problem is.
I have also got a LHD 1999 l series diesel ( i live in Spain) and im trying to see where it could be originating from on mine.
Cant work out where the " rear radiator" would be i assume they mean the heater matrix.
And what sort of mechanics are your normal guys. Taking the front off any car is pretty straight forward, and i cant see the Freelander being any different. BUT if it is the heater matrix i cant see why they need to take the front off the car...in fact i cant see why they need the front off for any reason.
May be things have got lost a little in translation.
If you can get some pics might be easier to help, at least i can have a look in the right place then.
Hope this helps
D...
Oh and welcome from Spain.

Oh one last thing if the coolants not going down and you dont want to spend loads of money fixing it....Just buy yourself a new pair of wellies..and some rubber floor mats.
D

Hi and thank you both for explaining the lost in translation, eg dashboard, not front, and heater matrix rather than rear radiator, as well as calming my upset nerves - I will post pictures at the weekend and look forward to hearing your comments if and when you hopefully have a chance to look at them - BWs At a loss in Gascoigne
PS My normal garage has allways seemed straight and as far as I could telll professional, they often have the big expensive Range Rovers in there for repairs/services though they primarily sell Toyota's. I got paranoid in relation to their 'neutrality' this time as they showed an interest in buying the car when they saw how white I got when I heard their estimation of costs and that they could not repair the car and that I had to go to the dreaded Land Rover concession.

Just had a search mesen as heater matrix is a bit of a common problem, and found these, hope they help.....

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f9/freelander-heater-matrix-39994.html?highlight=heater+matrix

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f9/drivers-side-footwell-water-43409.html?highlight=heater+matrix

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f9/wet-feet-43350.html?highlight=heater+matrix


http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f9/replacement-heater-matrix-24466.html?highlight=heater+matrix

Thats a goodun cashybai ...especially the wet feet..could well be the aircon drain...especially as in the message, she said that the coolant seemed to be ok...and there seems to be an oily substance in it.
I think i would be tempted to go on that for a start.
Hope it is a lot less agg.
D

i've come across this with french " mechanics" if its not a renault, poogut or ****ron then it is, in their words, "too complicated". find a competant 'fred in the shed' and you'll be much better off.

my son works in a frog garage and they wont even check the steering on me jag as its too complicated and they don't want to take the risk of getting it wrong. its only a steering rack as per 80-90% of cars on the road but still they run a mile.

take it apart your self its not reet hard just time consuming and if you procede slowly and take lots of piccies as yer going you should be ok.


then sell it

Tatooboo said:

Thats a goodun cashybai ...especially the wet feet..could well be the aircon drain...especially as in the message, she said that the coolant seemed to be ok...and there seems to be an oily substance in it.
I think i would be tempted to go on that for a start.
Hope it is a lot less agg.
D

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unlikey to be the A/C if it has oil in it, as the A/C drain is for water that has condensed and therefore pretty pure.

Clamp the two heater matrix hoses in the engine bay, if the leakage stops then its your heater matrix.

Dash is around two hours to remove, 3hrs to put back in

Northern Irelander said:

Clamp the two heater matrix hoses in the engine bay,

Click to expand...

how practical is that? and harv yer actually done it?

another easier way to tell, does your windscreen mist up on cold days even though yer demister is working full blast, more so if you accelerate hard? if so yer heater core is shot.

Its only temporary, you'll have no heat to the cabin and engine will warm up very quickly. I would just let it idle until warm.

Small G-clamp with two pieces of wood either side of the hoses, they compress very easily and are only about 3/4 diameter .

Put it this way its a lot easier than removing the dash, only to find that its not the heater matrix.

am ot convinced it would work, you'd need to have the clamps in the first place, you'd have to be sure you have clamped them enough to stop all water flow, you'd have to have a dry carpet or some other means to detect if it was leaking or not. there is a chance that even if it was clamped tight that the water/coolant could still find it way out the heater core.

all in all its a pretty hit or miss method.

look at it from a practical point. if you have an oily liquid coming down from behind the dash there is only so much it can be. and whatever it is, is most likey gonna need the dash removed to fix it. so any flaffing about is just wasting time. get the fooker out and find where its leaking from

slob said:

am ot convinced it would work, you'd need to have the clamps in the first place, you'd have to be sure you have clamped them enough to stop all water flow, you'd have to have a dry carpet or some other means to detect if it was leaking or not. there is a chance that even if it was clamped tight that the water/coolant could still find it way out the heater core.

all in all its a pretty hit or miss method.

look at it from a practical point. if you have an oily liquid coming down from behind the dash there is only so much it can be. and whatever it is, is most likey gonna need the dash removed to fix it. so any flaffing about is just wasting time. get the fooker out and find where its leaking from

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Here we go again, people who do not even own a Freelander disregarding sound advice from a Freelander owner who has tried the method, had the dash out for other reasons. The tubes are not under pressure!!

Lotus boys put valves in the pipes to restrict the cooling from the heater matrix, due to removal or modification of the stat causing overcooling

How hard do you think it is to put your hands on a g-clamp? they are not exactly specialist tools, practically available in every hardware store, motor factor across the nation, for less than a few £ or Euro

The leak is more than likely the matrix, but could be anything from water ingress due to leaky bulk-head, loose grommet, window seal etc etc.

A load of paper towels stuffed behind the centre console will also show any new drips from the heater matrix.

Or are paper towels hard to come by on the continent as well

here we go again another know all that thinks he has the only solution . in most parts of the world rain isn't oily. water leaking in from outside will be rain. rain isn't oily. if its oily and coming from behind the dash what else can it be?
i've worked on enough different types of vehicles to know that all cars work on the same laws of physics. unless the ones in ireland are different then yours must do as well.
while it might be easy for an experience mechanics to be able to clamp the pipe enough to block them it might not be for a novice.

you don't need pressure in the heater for it to leak. all you needs is a means of escape for the coolant and a means of entry for the air.

i take it common sense is a hard to find commodity in ireland?

Unless you had your carpaets washed recently and the waters mixing with the soap to make you think its oily.....

or yu went across salisbury - eh Sirus?

slob said:

here we go again another know all that thinks he has the only solution . in most parts of the world rain isn't oily. water leaking in from outside will be rain. rain isn't oily. if its oily and coming from behind the dash what else can it be?
i've worked on enough different types of vehicles to know that all cars work on the same laws of physics. unless the ones in ireland are different then yours must do as well.
while it might be easy for an experience mechanics to be able to clamp the pipe enough to block them it might not be for a novice.

you don't need pressure in the heater for it to leak. all you needs is a means of escape for the coolant and a means of entry for the air.

i take it common sense is a hard to find commodity in ireland?

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Did I say its the only solution..........No!

Anybody who cant clamp two pieces of wood either side of two soft rubber hoses using a simple g-clamp, should not even be driving, never mind attempting to strip the dash out,

Remember to tighten the clamp its RIGHTY-TIGHTY, LEFTY-LOOSY


Its been done before on here, someone stripped the complete dash out only to find that it wasnt the cause of the problem and that certain individual got a slagging for it.

You'll find that because the system is pressurised the drips occur when hot, there will also be bubbling in the expansion tank due to reduced partial pressure of the coolanT.

Of course, there will be a residual volume of water in the matrix, but it wont be warm and the seepage will be less severe.

you still havn't said what else could be leaking oily water.

slob said:

you still havn't said what else could be leaking oily water.

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No cos the oil contaminantion could be from anywhere.

At a loss in Gascoigne said:

After a long period with a small leak in the drivers foot well and a shortened ventilation fan also presumably due to the leak I have been told that the ‘rear radiator’ is cracked on our LH drive diesel Freelander (99). I have had no noticeable loss of cooling liquid but the liquid patch in the foot well does seem to contain some ‘oily’ looking substance and not just water. I live in France so the translation is likely wrong, and looking it up in the ‘Hayes repair and service manual’ it sounds like it is a problem with either the cooling matrix or the ‘IRD’- difficult to say as terms used in the diagram and those in the accompanying text do not correspond when read by somebody like me who have no mechanical knowledge.

What bothers me is that I have been quoted about £800 without tax to have it replaced by the regional Land Rover concession – my ‘normal’ 4x4 garage, who also diagnosed the problem, say they do not have the expertise to dismantle the front of the car in-order to get to the ‘cracked unit’. How they can see that it is cracked also seem weird considering that it is ‘inaccessible’; to a non mechanical person it might as well just be a badly fitted hose. Anyhow, as Land Rover took 8 months to supply the correct version of the before mentioned fan I do not feel remotely confident shelling out this kind of money with them. Also, though I am used to ridiculous prices for spare parts for the Freelander, it does seem to be extremely expensive, the part itself accounting for 50% of the quote.

Is there anything else I can do, like a magic liquid that will fill the crack, and/or does somebody have some good advice – like get shot of the leach, this is the first sign of a definite decline! The car has done 157.000kms, with many pricy repairs and replacements but so far the engine, suspension and the clutch/ gearbox have been broadly OK. Your comments will be much appreciated as I have already learnt a lot from previous threads here, thank you
‘At a loss in Gascoigne’.

Click to expand...

Judging by the OP there is no mention of oil in the coolant and no apparent coolant loss.

The water is not coming from the IRD as its not near the footwell,