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Markf
3rd October 2016, 11:22 PM
Do I have an "issue" or not ?


A little bit of history. Replaced the radiator, fuel cooler O rings, that stupid little c*** of a hose behind the turbo and had an afternoon of amusement doing all of the hose clamps. This was a month or so ago and since then my D2 ha been TOTALLY leak free...:-) A couple of days after I finished that exercise I looked at the coolant level and there was about a thimble full at the bottom of the expansion chamber. Topped it up thinking that it was probably because the system hadn't been bled properly. Since then the coolant level has not moved even a little bit. I am coolant leak free...:-)


This last weekend drove from Moe to Essendon (~160km) and then to Ballarat. When we got to Ballarat there was a slight gurgling hissing noise from where the heater matrix is but when I looked the next morning before startup the coolant level hadn't moved. Leaving Ballarat there was a little more gurgling but only after it warmed up a bit. It all went quiet after about 20km but came back for a very short time approaching Melb. Nothing more has been heard and the coolant level hasn't moved. There are no bubbles in the expansion tank.
The question is do I take the head off and get it inspected to within an inch of its life and give it a new head gasket and whatever else I need to replace ? Or do I let sleeping dogs lie and assume that the gurgling is an artefact of the dodgy bleed job when the radiator and hoses 'n stuff was done ?
I see a classic Land Rover gotcha here. Scenario one is I pull the head off and find nothing amiss and waste a pile of time and cash fixing what wasn't broken. Scenario two is if I leave it it'll properly die in the middle of nowhere and cost a lot of time and money to retrieve and repair.


Thoughts anyone ?????

flatpack
4th October 2016, 01:25 AM
I had a similar issue and put it down to not being bled correctly. It didn't happen again

alien
4th October 2016, 05:14 AM
It sounds to me like a little air is trapped in the heater matrix( many posts in the past with similar noises).
Ideally you would drain the coolant and refill following the bleed sequence.
When you have time try lifting the header tank up when all is cold and allow things to warm up, with the tank higher than the heater hoses you may get lucky and get the air out.

Pedro_The_Swift
4th October 2016, 03:26 PM
I'd buy a pressure bleeding kit before pulling anything apart,,

Markf
4th October 2016, 10:43 PM
I'd buy a pressure bleeding kit before pulling anything apart,,

Ta for that. That thought never entered my head.


Today I started it dead cold and let it idle and at intervals of a few minutes I did the "squeeze test" on the top hose and it remained quite squishy until it got pretty warm. My thinking now is that it's not a head gasket else the hose would've got quite hard quite fast. I'll just put it down to a not quite perfect bleeding when the radiator was done a month or so ago.
If I'm wrong, of course I'll bleat and blather here about what went wrong with my D2 here...:-)


And. As of last weekend my D2 has been renamed. It's no longer Belvedere it's now "Poppy's Big Car" according to 18 month old grandson...:-)


Thanks one and all.

Pedro_The_Swift
5th October 2016, 07:49 AM
There might even be pics and a part number in TGO,, :angel:

Markf
16th October 2016, 12:13 PM
I did the bleeding thing and it seems I did it properly this time. A couple of weeks and about 1500km and there's no signs of the gurgling heater.


My D2 now leaks no fluids and makes no suspicious noises which in and of itself is suspicious...:-)

biggin
16th October 2016, 04:26 PM
Mark, That truly is a great achievement. I wish I could say the same.

banjupb
30th April 2017, 12:28 AM
I'd buy a pressure bleeding kit before pulling anything apart,,
Hi.I'm about to replace the heater matrix in my 1999 D2 v8 and am wondering about the pressure bleeder you spoke of?
Thanks in advance
Brett

Pedro_The_Swift
30th April 2017, 07:50 AM
I'd buy a pressure bleeding kit before pulling anything apart,,


There might even be pics and a part number in TGO,, :angel:


Hi.I'm about to replace the heater matrix in my 1999 D2 v8 and am wondering about the pressure bleeder you spoke of?
Thanks in advance
Brett

What would you like to know?

banjupb
30th April 2017, 09:15 AM
Hi Pedro.
I'm new to this forum stuff and terms and observations so bear with me.
Looks like a few this I need to learn where to get Rave, parts manuals so I don't break this taking them apart.
Also some helpful tools like a pressure bleeder or Vac tester for coolant system.
I have had a few years experiences since my first series 2a back in 1977.
Can you point this old man (57) in the right direction please.
Cheers.

Pedro_The_Swift
30th April 2017, 12:01 PM
hey, us '59ers have to stick together![biggrin]

Funnily enough i just visited the post I remember [bigwhistle]
and after 6 years the link is broken.... [bigsad]

I'm sure it was a hand driven vacuum pump by snapon,,
they dont seem to have hand operated ones anymore,, all now by shop air.

The Good Oil forum link is
Refilling radiators, (https://www.aulro.com/afvb/the-good-oil/92065-refilling-radiators.html)

the figure I'm hearing is "20inches of vacuum" --
and this amount will re-fill your entire system from a coolant bucket..
without any air, anywhere.
sounds great!

there are home-affordable ones out there that run on shop air too,
and lots of $300 workshop varieties,,

lots of these things,, that a resourceful bloke could use...
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2017/04/31.jpg

whether they'll pull 20" ??