When coolant goes bad....

[Hastykiwi]

it sucks.

TD5. Losing coolant in dribbles over time. Finally started to become more apparant as it started to rise in temp when being driven. Twice the ECU limited the engine when the temp started to go up, but upon reducing revs to idle, we would drop back to normal.

First time, there was an obvious lack of coolant. Second time I had topped up prior to the journey home, and when the temp started to go up, I knew it should not be a severe lack of coolant unless a major leak had occured.

Getting home i followed the advice of the learned who had followed Eileens thread on cooling issues, and tested the top pipe for pressure. All good, still some give. At that point I looked down a eye spied coolant dumping on the ground.

Under the car I could see it coming off the pipe leadi9ng out of the coolant pump. Ahaa, split hose I thought. Easy fix. Got a hose and launched into the fix. Got the old hose off, and discovered it perfectly normal and unworn.

Hmmm. Figured I'd clean up the nozel from the coolant pump, as there was a reasonable amount of gundgy build up on it. Scraping away on this and whatho.., the screwdriver punches through the side of the nozel to expose this....

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/members/hastykiwi-albums-nicks-picture1040-coolantpump.jpg


This is supposed to be the result of 10 odd years of wear and tear, plus a reasonable amount of tap water going thru the coolant system. Quite common in TD5's at some point. Presumably, the loss had been a dribble while the gundge had partially blocked it. When the temp went up , and the pressure increased in the system, particularly after I had refilled, it probably blew it open.

Good news is that while LR are not noted for their forward thinking, they do sell the back plate, (pictured part) for the coolant pump separately, for around the $70 mark.

So not an absolute disaster, and very fixable if you remove the centrifugal oil filter first, but definitely worth a look, or thought if you're experiencing coolant loss or other temp related issues.

cheers
Nick:)

[Pedro_The_Swift]

:eek:

what colour was the coolant?

and how much tap water?

If you need to add fluid to a D2 its trying to tell you something;):p

[Hendrik]

If your waterpump inlet looks like that, you might want to strip off the oil cooler and have a look at the matrix. Because chances are it will look the same, and if it fails you will be stranded next to the road as the sump gets emptied into the cooling system in a matter of seconds...which results in a loss of oil pressure and you could do very expensive damage to your engine.
This happend to me and I was very fortunate to not have been driving the car on the road at the time.
How old are your coolant hoses, perhaps its time for a bit of a cooling system overhaul, new hoses, water pump and oil cooler inspection...seeing as the car is getting up there in the years.

[Ferret]

The products of all that corrosion over 10 years are also now deposited in your radiator. Maybe time for a cooling system birthday.

[strangy]

If your waterpump inlet looks like that, you might want to strip off the oil cooler and have a look at the matrix. Because chances are it will look the same, and if it fails you will be stranded next to the road as the sump gets emptied into the cooling system in a matter of seconds...which results in a loss of oil pressure and you could do very expensive damage to your engine.
This happend to me and I was very fortunate to not have been driving the car on the road at the time.
How old are your coolant hoses, perhaps its time for a bit of a cooling system overhaul, new hoses, water pump and oil cooler inspection...seeing as the car is getting up there in the years.


X2!!
and dont be surprised when the head gasket waves goodbye also. IMO its just a matter of "when" rather than "if".
All of your aluminium alloy components are suffering a similar fate in the darkness of your engine.

sorry:(:(

[5teve]

tap water [/B]going thru the coolant system. Quite common in TD5's at some point. Presumably, the loss had been a dribble while the gundge had partially blocked it. When the temp went up , and the pressure increased in the system, particularly after I had refilled, it probably blew it open.

Tap water... ouch.. no wonder!

Distilled water only please! and dont forget the red OAT coolant... the amount of discos / deefers i see with the green stuff in.. and its not like i work on them daily!

I only use tap water for flushing... then fill with distilled.. its only about 12 bucks for 20l....

Thanks

Steve

[Hastykiwi]

Guys,

thanks for the added insight. Fortunately the radiator is only a year old, so corrosion there should not be an issue, however i take the point about the depositing of material, a will flush away tommorrow.

As for the oil cooler, I will investigate this at the same time.

the tap water comment, was something suggested to me as a common cause of this. I have not used tap water since owning it, but, I couldnt tell you what went thru it for the first seven years.

Thanks all though for taking the time to post...

always appreciated.

cheers
Nick

[Spenboyd]

that is a real bugger Nick but I was recently warned to 'run don't walk' from any d2 with green coolant in it by a well respected Landy mech. Good you got it before it went completely pear shaped.

[woko]

Using green coolant is not a problem if it is done correctly. If the system is flushed totally and a cleaner used it causes no problems, but if coolants are mixed there will be nothing but problems. they blow radiators, hoses, heater cores, coolers, ETC. Must be cleaned well before using green coolant.

[Sprint]

i've found corrosion like that to be more common in vehicles that dont get thier coolant changed regularly, my XR8 and a friends '92 GT falcon have clocked up ~600,000 between them, both have been maintained to a high standard and you can still see the macine marks on the cast alloy components of the cooling systems.......

his EB fairmont, on the other hand, seems to have been neglected and the thermostat housing and water pump were both in very bad shape

[Hastykiwi]

Thanks again guys.

While there seems to be apparent issues with using green coolant, (could someone elaborate on this, as i have no idea), and tap water, what is obvious after examining the failed part, is that it has corroded from the outside in. The interior, where the coolant has run is fine, the corrosion has occured on the outside. Most likely from the sandy gundge build up under the lip of the hose. The interior of the pump itself is fine, so i have less of a concern with the rest of the system interior, and more with making sure the next time I'm on the beach, that i hose properly around the top of this hose afterwards.

cheers
NIck

[Sprint]

the problem isnt the coolant that flows through it, but the nasty **** that seeps in between the hose and the outside surface, the hose clamp does stop coolant escaping, but the nasties in the coolant still get between the hose and the alloy, where they sit and do the damage

on the inside, the coolant doesnt stay still long enough to cause any dramas

think of it as what happens with 2 sheets of steel laying on top of each other, wet them, the water on the top evaporates off quickly, but the water thats worked its way in between the 2 sheets doesnt evaporate so quickly and causes the steel to corrode faster than it would normally

[TJS-70Y]

This is a common problem on alloy parts. As sprint said it's from the coolant sitting between the hose and the alloy. You need to get some permatex aviation gasket number 3. You can get it from Bursons or auto 1 etc. Put it on the alloy part and then put the hose on. It stops the corrosion and helps seal it.

Thomas

[scarry]

Thanks again guys.

While there seems to be apparent issues with using green coolant, (could someone elaborate on this, as i have no idea), and tap water

cheers
NIck

Search is your friend,heaps on this site on this subject.

I always use demineralised water,get it from the supermarket or Supercheap,autobarn,etc.Its cheap.

Some of the LR specialists use top quality green coolant,see JC posts on this site & also Rick130,i think.

MR auto in Brisbane use Valvoline ,i think it's called G5,& its green.

Others swear by the red suff,LR use it in the TD5's from new.

Good luck

[Sprint]

This is a common problem on alloy parts. As sprint said it's from the coolant sitting between the hose and the alloy. You need to get some permatex aviation gasket number 3. You can get it from Bursons or auto 1 etc. Put it on the alloy part and then put the hose on. It stops the corrosion and helps seal it.

Thomas

only problem with permatex is that its a **** to get the parts off after a while!