D2 TD5 losing water somewhere!

[eckolsim]

My D2 has been slowly losing water for a while. I thought I traced it a while ago with the water pump. Obviously not so. Then later on I ran out of water on a drive across town and when topping it up and bleeding the system, lost the threaded insert in the top hose into the water system (that was a tow home to pull it apart and find the missing bits). Now after having installed a new top hose I find myself still slowly losing water.

The trouble really is that I haven't been driving the car, my wife has. It never gets driven far and therefore she doesn't notice the low water signs. (No I don't have a low water detector installed).

The car still runs brilliantly and shows no signs of engine trouble. The water system, when up to temp, is holding pressure and there are no obvious signs of leakage. am probably losing about 1 litre per hundred k's.

Any thoughts?

[simonr23]

this may be no help at all, but in my disco td5, i have a small leak from the fuel cooler. fluid drips out onto the area above the right side engine mount. although i only lose a very small amount of coolant over a long period.

[Redback]

My D2 has been slowly losing water for a while. I thought I traced it a while ago with the water pump. Obviously not so. Then later on I ran out of water on a drive across town and when topping it up and bleeding the system, lost the threaded insert in the top hose into the water system (that was a tow home to pull it apart and find the missing bits). Now after having installed a new top hose I find myself still slowly losing water.

The trouble really is that I haven't been driving the car, my wife has. It never gets driven far and therefore she doesn't notice the low water signs. (No I don't have a low water detector installed).

The car still runs brilliantly and shows no signs of engine trouble. The water system, when up to temp, is holding pressure and there are no obvious signs of leakage. am probably losing about 1 litre per hundred k's.

Any thoughts?

If your using the red coolent, there should be signs of a leak in the engine bay or on the ground where the car is parked if it has a leak, if not, then i'd be checking the oil level of the engine for signs of water/coolent in the oil, which could be a blown head gasket.

The water has to be going somewhere, also get it pressure tested, if there is a leak this will pick it up.

Baz.

[LandyAndy]

Fix a 375ml coke bottle over the overflow tube and secure the bottle with a cable tie.
It will help monitor whats getting spat out.
If it is spitting out best case senario faulty cap,worse case head gasket starting to leak.
Other than that there are 12 coolant hoses in the engine bay,I know as Ive just replaced all of mine,they are in all sorts of places and hard to spot leaks if they are leaking.
GOODLUCK
Andrew

[scarry]

a litre over 100k is a lot of water to loose.i find they are easier to detect 1st thing in the morning while car is cold.run finger around all ends of all hoses,& check hole on side of water pump.also have a good look over radiator after removing plastic covers

do this a couple of times with engine turtle cover off...if no luck go to plan ..b

plan b.....try container on overflow as already said....no luckgo to plan ..c

plan c.....needs to go to a landy expert

get it sorted asap as td5's do not like running low on coolant:(

good luck

[2 rocks]

As previously said...

a) check fuel cooler - mine had a slow leak but suddenly got a lot worse very quickly...
b) if it is spitting coolant, don't panic straight away...you said you had bled the system, perhaps needs doing again - this happened on mine and since re-bleeding it, no problem.

Cheers
Mike

[simonr23]

sadly in my case, its also been found out that the head gasket is leaking coolant down the side of the block, behind the exhaust manifold. car runs fine and has apparently been leaking from here for some time...

[Discopug]

Fuel cooler will leak more when it is cold, lots of places for the coolant to leak from just follow the trails, but my money is on the head gasket.
Get it checked on a rolling road it should show up very quickly.
Just been through all this with mine. Its not a cheap exercise, part of the joys of motoring.

[Urban Panzer]

Hi,

Its also worth checking the radiator to. They quite often leak where the core meets the endcaps, in particular low down where it corrodes nicely.

[eckolsim]

Thanks for the tips so far. I am going to investigate today and check the heater element in the cabin. From there it only gets more expensive.....

[eckolsim]

It appears that my leak was from a loose hose clamp at the bottom of the engine on the cross pipe near the radiator. The only tell was a stain on the pipe. After a good going over of the pipes and tightening / checking all in sight I have not lost any water since.

I did notice a front drive shaft U/J needing replacing though.... bugger.

[Psimpson7]

good news!

If the front shaft is on the way out, I would be removing it before you drive any further..... (providing you have the cdl)

Rgds
Pete

[2 rocks]

It appears that my leak was from a loose hose clamp at the bottom of the engine on the cross pipe near the radiator. The only tell was a stain on the pipe. After a good going over of the pipes and tightening / checking all in sight I have not lost any water since.

Well that's excellent news - and cost effective too!

I did notice a front drive shaft U/J needing replacing though.... bugger.

A bugger, but better to know, than not, eh?


Cheers
Mike

[eckolsim]

Yes,

Good and bad news. The drive shaft is already out and under repair. CDL engaged and 2WD is in use. Very fun in the wet now!

[eckolsim]

Found a puddle under the car today again.

Traced to the fuel cooler. I have already had it out and apart this afternoon and identified that the 'O' rings inside the fuel cooler have perished. I am now trying to source some new 'O' rings. Until then I have lubed the 'O' rings with rubber grease and re-assembled the fuel cooler. So far no leaks.

2 'O' rings sure beat $650+ for a new fuel cooler.

[Tombie]

from memory BS221 ask for them in Viton

[jwb]

from memory BS221 ask for them in Viton

Can you advise what is involved in this fix - I see the cooler is pretty easy to remove, does it simply come apart to find/replace the O -rings

thanks in advance

[Piddler]

BS225 Viton I believe
may be wrong

Cheers

[jwb]

BS225 Viton I believe
may be wrong

Cheers

Thanks, where do they fit and how many?

[Piddler]

Thanks, where do they fit and how many?


2 off 1 each end

[Bilbo]

Mine is weeping from one of the 2 screws that hold the top of the fan shroud. There is a screw at each end of the radiaotr that goes through the shroud and then appears to ge straight into the top of the end of the radiator. I cannot believe that the screw really does go into the radiator, but that it where it is weeping from. I will post more after I get an expert to fix it.

[DavidB]

Bilbo,

I had the exact same problem.

Porgey, this site gave me the following fix

Dave My D2 radiator was leaking in the same place I cleaned out and tapped the hole with a Quarter UNC thread ( only tap I had near that size hole) and then Araldited the correct stud into it and used a nut and washer to secure the cover hasnt leaked in 12 months Cheers George

It worked a treat.

Dave.