I have had my 2002 4.4 V8 Vogue now or just a few weeks and starting to find some issues. After just a week my prop/diff coupling splines went leaving me stranded but managed to get that sorted for not much money.
Now i have two other niggling issues i want to sort out.
First, coolant loss. Ive done quite a few miles already and ive had to top up quite a bit, i would say a litre for about 400-500 miles. Absolute no running issues, temp rises normally (reaches mid temp after about 3 or so miles) and temp never moves, ive sat in traffic for some time, crawled round a safari park, and blasted 200 miles on the motorway. No overheadt issues whatsoever. But, im losing coolant.
Seems rads, pumps, hoses all poss culprits but i just wanted to check its not something more sinister liked Hg so just did a block test today. Fluid should turn blue to yellow is a blown gasket is suspected, but it went green, kinda dark green. I did it like 6 times and sometimes it took 4 mins to go green, other times longer. So im not convinced either way by that. No oil in water or sludge on filler cap, no obvious steam from exhaust, so im tempted to plough on and assume i might be ok, and focus on rad, pump and hoses. That said, i CAN see what looks like water under intake just about with a torch, so my first attack is valley gasket, but can that alone account for such a loss? Big job?
Now, my second issue is about warnings that appear randomly when ignition on. Does not happen all the time, perhaps more if i dont use car for a day. I get trans failsafe and/or hdc inactive wanrnings. Switch ignition back off and on and they are away. Im suspecting this could be a battery? The previous owner did say that he had to recharge it a couple months back as he was seeing hdc warnings, but charging it made them go away. Anyone think it worth a shot changing battery?
I dont have any diagnostics yet to run codes - thats my next shoping trip i guess. I did have a faultmate for my old p38 some years back, but sold it on selling the car. Anyway, any thoughts on my issues very much appreciated.
Now i have two other niggling issues i want to sort out.
First, coolant loss. Ive done quite a few miles already and ive had to top up quite a bit, i would say a litre for about 400-500 miles. Absolute no running issues, temp rises normally (reaches mid temp after about 3 or so miles) and temp never moves, ive sat in traffic for some time, crawled round a safari park, and blasted 200 miles on the motorway. No overheadt issues whatsoever. But, im losing coolant.
Seems rads, pumps, hoses all poss culprits but i just wanted to check its not something more sinister liked Hg so just did a block test today. Fluid should turn blue to yellow is a blown gasket is suspected, but it went green, kinda dark green. I did it like 6 times and sometimes it took 4 mins to go green, other times longer. So im not convinced either way by that. No oil in water or sludge on filler cap, no obvious steam from exhaust, so im tempted to plough on and assume i might be ok, and focus on rad, pump and hoses. That said, i CAN see what looks like water under intake just about with a torch, so my first attack is valley gasket, but can that alone account for such a loss? Big job?
Now, my second issue is about warnings that appear randomly when ignition on. Does not happen all the time, perhaps more if i dont use car for a day. I get trans failsafe and/or hdc inactive wanrnings. Switch ignition back off and on and they are away. Im suspecting this could be a battery? The previous owner did say that he had to recharge it a couple months back as he was seeing hdc warnings, but charging it made them go away. Anyone think it worth a shot changing battery?
I dont have any diagnostics yet to run codes - thats my next shoping trip i guess. I did have a faultmate for my old p38 some years back, but sold it on selling the car. Anyway, any thoughts on my issues very much appreciated.
