scottishsenator24v
New Member
Hi all,
1997 300tdi Auto 105k.
I ran it dry of fuel a couple of weeks ago (15 seconds from the entrance to the filling station!!!) which may or may not be a contributing factor to the issues below....
Since i got the car i've had to regularly top up the coolant (for every tank of fuel it probably takes 1/2 a litre to 1 litre). It has a slight leak but i've never had the time to trace it. Coolant clean and no water in oil so i wasn't too concerned.
Last week, the leak seems to have gotten much worse. For the first time, there is a puddle of coolant under the car in the morning. Not much though, just a cup full.
This morning it overheated becuase it ran out of coolant. I caught it right away as the heater went cold which made me look at the temp gauge and it had started to climb. It wasn't right at the top so i don't think i will have caused any damage.
I gave it half an hour to cool down, opnened the lid on the expansion tank and there was a lot of pressure - lots of bubbles/boiling coolant and the expansion tank just about overflowed. I also noticed the coolant pipes were hard. Then the bubbles stopped and the coolant drained back into the system and the expansion tank was empty. Took a couple of litres to get the expansion tank back up to half way.
I ran it home about 15 miles and it drove perfectly - no problems at all. Temp normal.
I think i found the source of the leak whilst under the bonnet. I heard a slight hissing and it was coming from the passenger side of the engine just above the alternator. This is my first Land Rover so i don't know my way about it that well but the best description i can give is it looked like where one of the pumps bolted on to the engine block. There appears to be a gasket between the pump and the block and the hiss was coming from there. As it was hot, the coolant was boiling off before it could drip out. Whatever device is bolted to the block had a pully on the front which had the main serpantine belt round it so i assume that's the water pump.
So the questions:
1) Any opinions on the leak? i.e. leaking water pump gasket is causing it to lose coolant - not too big a problem, just fix leaking gasket?
2) May be totally unrelated but since i ran it dry of fuel and since it really started to leak coolant badly, when it's too hot it starts to stutter/loose power. It only does this when too hot and it's only done it the couple of times i've let the coolant get too low. It's as if it starts to overheat and something gets too hot and affects the fuel delivery or fuel evapourates. When the cooling system is fully topped up, it doesn't do it at all. I can sit at 70mph for hours and it runs perfectly but as it looses coolant, when the expansion tank is almost empty and the flow of coolant is interupted as a result and it starts to get too hot, this strutter and loss of starts to happen intermitantly. Unrelated and just crap in the fuel system as i ran it dry or do you think it's connected to it running too hot when it runs out of coolant?
Both times it has lost too much coolant, i've caught it almost right away as i noticed the heater going cold and stopped immediately, let it cool then replenished the coolant and it's been fine for the next 300 or 400 miles until the coolant gets too low again so i donlt think i've caused any other damage. I just need to stop the coolant leaking and hopefully it will revert to it's usual totally relaible self!
Thanks,
Chris
1997 300tdi Auto 105k.
I ran it dry of fuel a couple of weeks ago (15 seconds from the entrance to the filling station!!!) which may or may not be a contributing factor to the issues below....
Since i got the car i've had to regularly top up the coolant (for every tank of fuel it probably takes 1/2 a litre to 1 litre). It has a slight leak but i've never had the time to trace it. Coolant clean and no water in oil so i wasn't too concerned.
Last week, the leak seems to have gotten much worse. For the first time, there is a puddle of coolant under the car in the morning. Not much though, just a cup full.
This morning it overheated becuase it ran out of coolant. I caught it right away as the heater went cold which made me look at the temp gauge and it had started to climb. It wasn't right at the top so i don't think i will have caused any damage.
I gave it half an hour to cool down, opnened the lid on the expansion tank and there was a lot of pressure - lots of bubbles/boiling coolant and the expansion tank just about overflowed. I also noticed the coolant pipes were hard. Then the bubbles stopped and the coolant drained back into the system and the expansion tank was empty. Took a couple of litres to get the expansion tank back up to half way.
I ran it home about 15 miles and it drove perfectly - no problems at all. Temp normal.
I think i found the source of the leak whilst under the bonnet. I heard a slight hissing and it was coming from the passenger side of the engine just above the alternator. This is my first Land Rover so i don't know my way about it that well but the best description i can give is it looked like where one of the pumps bolted on to the engine block. There appears to be a gasket between the pump and the block and the hiss was coming from there. As it was hot, the coolant was boiling off before it could drip out. Whatever device is bolted to the block had a pully on the front which had the main serpantine belt round it so i assume that's the water pump.
So the questions:
1) Any opinions on the leak? i.e. leaking water pump gasket is causing it to lose coolant - not too big a problem, just fix leaking gasket?
2) May be totally unrelated but since i ran it dry of fuel and since it really started to leak coolant badly, when it's too hot it starts to stutter/loose power. It only does this when too hot and it's only done it the couple of times i've let the coolant get too low. It's as if it starts to overheat and something gets too hot and affects the fuel delivery or fuel evapourates. When the cooling system is fully topped up, it doesn't do it at all. I can sit at 70mph for hours and it runs perfectly but as it looses coolant, when the expansion tank is almost empty and the flow of coolant is interupted as a result and it starts to get too hot, this strutter and loss of starts to happen intermitantly. Unrelated and just crap in the fuel system as i ran it dry or do you think it's connected to it running too hot when it runs out of coolant?
Both times it has lost too much coolant, i've caught it almost right away as i noticed the heater going cold and stopped immediately, let it cool then replenished the coolant and it's been fine for the next 300 or 400 miles until the coolant gets too low again so i donlt think i've caused any other damage. I just need to stop the coolant leaking and hopefully it will revert to it's usual totally relaible self!
Thanks,
Chris