well had the rr for nearly 4 weeks, and have been loving it,[4.4 vogue 2003 75k miles with decent history] had been trying to trace where I was losing/using water, no obvious leaks, no steam, no overheating no mayo in the oil, but have lost around 2 ltrs in around 400 miles, took it to my local 4x4 indie garage, and they gave it a good looking at,[owner runs a l322 and used to work with them] he came back with bottom of rad not getting hot, theromostat was throwing up a fault, which they couldn't get the diagnostics to talk to, the header tank was pressurising more than he thought it should , he also noted a very slight misfire at low revs, still couldn't find where the water was being lost, he suspects that there could be headgasket issues!!!!!!!!, picked it up for its rear brake pipes and a slight leak of the rear diff, and seeping rocker gaskets, also confirmed it had had the front diff recall done, all in all said it was a nice truck for the money, I had pre warned the dealer that I had bought it off it was using water and was going to take it in to see what the score was, at the time I was thinking either header tank or maybe waterpump, so the dealer is taking it back on sat for fixing under warranty, best case thermostat??[but where the bloody hell is this water disappearing] worst case headgasket job, hope the dealer doesn't go bandit as im sure getting the headgaskets sorted will be a dear do
fingers crossed cheers hammie ohh forgot to add, it has paper work with its history to show it has had k seal used on it a couple of years and not too many miles ago!!!

k seal?! I used that in my stupidity to try and sort a water issue

Ended up with needing a new rad, water pump, thermostat and aux water pump.

Not good. Will never set eyes on the stuff again. Cost me a lot of money!

+1 K Seal is a huge no no esp. on the Rangie.

Sounds like you have a bit of a duffer...

Headgasket is unlikely but get a compression check done in anycase it may reveal something.

The Most likely cause is either a split header tank (common) and the coolant is evaporating off meaning you can't trace the leak or a leaky waterpump (I had this, was losing water despite a new rad) until one day it gave out - luckily only half a mile from home...

The Rad is designed with a bottom hose that isn't at the bottom of the rad so they do get silted up at the bottom and hence why they are cooler at the base...that and the K Seal has probably finished it off...

The main engine thermostat is an Electrical Heated unit controlled by the Engine ECU, if the heating coil inside it is failing, the Engine ECU throws a fault.

My two biggest concerns with your motor (from what I have read) is the Leaky Rocker Cover Gaskets and the Radiator...

RADIATOR:
As above the bottom hose and K Seal issue - the lower part of the Rad also feeds the Transmission Oil Cooler, if this gums up with silt or K Seal, it will fry the Gearbox oil, and then you could be in a potential world of hurt...change the Rad, GB Oil Cooler and GB Oil Cooler Stat.

ROCKER COVER GASKETS

This *may* be caused by a gummed up PCV valve and collapsed Crankcase Breather Hoses...search for it, loads of posts - also check out youtube vids by malafaxdand about changing them and why - it can be disaterous. Basically they prevent the crankcase from over pressurising and forcing oil out of all the wrong places...one tell tale is usually the Rocker Covers...

On a final word - K Seal is mostly used either in an emergency to get you home or to a garage to do a proper fix, or it is used by previous owners to mask a serious problem before selling it - sorry!

Saint.V8 said:

ROCKER COVER GASKETS

This *may* be caused by a gummed up PCV valve and collapsed Crankcase Breather Hoses...search for it, loads of posts - also check out youtube vids by malafaxdand about changing them and why - it can be disaterous. Basically they prevent the crankcase from over pressurising and forcing oil out of all the wrong places...one tell tale is usually the Rocker Covers...

Click to expand...

Did my gaskets AFTER Pcv valve, they were just tired and brittle, and because of the V angle, they drip a bit... mine is all good now they're done.

myfirstl322 said:

Did my gaskets AFTER Pcv valve, they were just tired and brittle, and because of the V angle, they drip a bit... mine is all good now they're done.

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Very true, as you say when they get old and brittle they will leak from 'natural' causes and not necessarily PCV valve issues...but from the sounds of his motor it hasn't been looked after to well, so in anycase, I would change the PCV and hoses as a precaution.

Yep, definately do pcv and hoses,

If HG not gone, another area for water loss is coolant tube from pump to rear distribution manifold, or valley pan gasket, both these will leak out of a hole at bell housing i believe, sort of a tell tale hole, but if it leaks onto a hot transmission, you will never see it.

I have to say if your using a litre of water every 200 miles I'd think if the headgasket was banjaxed you'd be leaving a trail of steam after you as you went down the road.

doz said:

I have to say if your using a litre of water every 200 miles I'd think if the headgasket was banjaxed you'd be leaving a trail of steam after you as you went down the road.

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5ml per mile? Thats a teaspoon per mile,you'd never see that surely

You sure the rad is not just leaking and evaporating ?
I have recently changed my rad and the leak was only visible once I removed the rad from the car

They are common to fail

The RAD's also leak into the gearbox oil cooler allowing coolant into the gearbox.

Datatek said:

The RAD's also leak into the gearbox oil cooler allowing coolant into the gearbox.

Click to expand...

Sorry to disagree Keith, but the Rad and the cooler are separate units. The cooler mounts on a plastic plate with water ways moulded into it, also attached to this plate is a thermostat which opens at a set temp to allow coolant to flow into the base plate from two hoses which are tee'd into the rad hoses.

The base plate is the screwed on the rad cowling at the base.

But you are correct, the cooler has been known to crack between the waterways and the oil ways causing coolant in the box.

Take a look at my How To for oil cooler change and you can see how the system fits together.

Also are you using the correct coolant??

If you aren't using pink oat coolant that can cause corrosion and give you issues I believe

Is it LPG?? Where the installer cuts into the cooling system has a habit of leaking too if to done very well

I have been topping it up with the pink stuff, its not on lpg, its going back to the dealer tomorrow, for their mechanic to fix!!!!!!!!, I will take these possible causes with me, just hope they do a proper job, my local 4x4 indie has offered a free insp of their work when I get it back,[which I will let them know] pain of it is, the place is 80miles away, well fingers crossed eh lol, just hope we don't end up playing ping pong with the car coz they try and bodge it
cheers hammie

Don't discount the heater matrix. Any film on the windscreen ? They don't always leak bad enough to cause a wet carpet. I tipped a good couple of cups of coolant out of my vent hoses when stripping down to fix a handbrake ratchet.
Also as mentioned the thermostat fault will be the heater in the thermostat failing. This has been known to leech coolant up the wiring loom. Look for a " map cooling " fault.

Well it went back up to the dealers on sat [well the garage across the road from them that they use] briefed the mech re symtoms, and left it with them, got train and bus home, 80 odd miles, took the best part of 4 hours!!! now I remember why I don't use public transport lol, had the mechanic back onto me yesterday, could find no leaks, had pressure tested the cooling system, appears fine [albeit doing it cold] and cant quite remember what he said, but had been using something with dye in it and if it changed colour it proved a leak !!!! but bit vague on that im afraid, anyway, he cant continue until a fault is proved, so I said, no it doesn't leak water, but its using it, drive it for a 100 or so miles and it will prob empty the header tank again, obviously not practical for him to do that ,[plus he didn't fancy filling it a 12 odd mpg round town] so its gone back to the dealers for them to use, to prove its using water, phoned the landrover specialist in somerset who put the k seal in it in 2011, they obviously couldn't remember the car, but stated that's what we use if its leaking internally!!!!, not good, but the dealers not intrested in this, and has gone somewhat cool on me now, so I said well just keep driving it, and before long you will get the low coolent message, ive had it twice in 360miles, got a feeling this could get a bit smelly, they said they not going to do anything until its proved by them that its using water, just hope they don't whack some more k seal in and give it back, [ohh it was fine when we drove it for 200 miles sir] Best get reading up on trading standards just in case!! kinda took the shine of my new r rover thou
cheers hammie