Thread: Could roast a lamb under my bonnet :(

though i do lose perhaps half a litre-ish every 100 k's or so)...

You have a real problem . Probably your prostate. Or maybe too much beer.

However if your CAR is losing that much you have a crook head gasket or slipped sleeve or a secret leak like in the heater.

Look to a human 50C is "OUCH" hot so 88C is VEEERY Hot, so you cannot really take how hot it seems as a guide. Roast lamb needs about 150C so if the car was that hot it would now be one molten lump in the engine bay.
BTW, you have a RUSTY thermostat? This is hard to do as it is brass and the engine is alloy. Get a new one . They are around 15bucks which is only a fraction of what you will be spending.
Regards Philip A

yes rusty is right. Very damn rusty. I suspect the knob that owned her before me was running it with straight water in the system, plus i think he lived near the sea somewhere.....
Getting a new one anyway coz yeah, it's just stupid to put that one back in.

How easy is it to change a head gasket??

Depends on what experience you have.

IMHO it is relatively easy but a lot of steps involved makes it take a long time, maybe 12 hours. Have a look at posts by Khos ( Disco owner) as he DIYd it for the first time .
BUT of course you should do a compression test to see if it is needed, as the car will only use water if the gasket has failed on an end cylinder. If the end cylinders come up OK, then it may be a slipped sleeve.

If it has had plain water in it , your radiator will most likely be cactus, and there may be lots of corrosion in the engine, particularly the water pump.

One of the most important things with an alloy engine is good quality coolant at 50% changed regularly.
Regards Philip A

Well i recently had my cooling system slightly altered.
That being a different expansion tank which required the y-type bottom hose.
This for some reason caused an explosion from the bypass hoses.
It also took out the timing cover gasket.
Had that all sorted by andrew at LRA, and he checked out the radiator and it seemed fine.
Not long before that i had the system flushed with high pressure until the water ran crystal.
However there was some slight build up in the water elbow i noticed, but i would imagine that was coming off the thermostat.
I suppose there is a possibility of the core being blocked but when i drained it yesterday the speed of which the puddle formed under the car told me that there's no blockage worth worrying about.

As for the head gasket, wouldn't that be linked with loss of power and possible back fireing?
If so, i haven't noticed any power loss, nor any (noticed) back fireing. But having only driven 2 discoveries and my rangie, i don't really have alot of comparison to go by given the 3.9's have a couple of extra testicles.

What would the symptoms of a slipped sleeve be?
More to the point, what's a sleeve? lol <------ Ignore that.
Might've noticed my knowledge of engines is limited.
Cheers, buck.

Originally Posted by Buckaluckaducka

Had that all sorted by andrew at LRA, and he checked out the radiator and it seemed fine.

on top of the L/H rocker cover (drivers side) are the metal coolant tubes ... (1 has the metal fill bung on it) .... They have rubber hoses going to the cabin heater

Disconnect the heater hoses ... and install a new rubber hose to loop those 2 metal coolant tubes back together again

DONT BLOCK THEM OFF .... you must loop them


Park the nose of the car up on ramps .... Now refill the coolant system ... Keep it nose up till warmed + an hour




See how that goes .....


After that ..... Take out the thermostat and try driving like that for a while ....





But as Phillip has said .... The cooling system has been trashed, going by your 1st description .... I'ld rod the radiator regardless



BTW Phillip ... Good to hear that you enjoyed your O/S trip

I'll try that.
And when i can afford it, i'll be replacing the radiator along with other things. But for the moment, i just need a running vehicle. And preferably one that stays at temperature of course.

Originally Posted by Buckaluckaducka

I'll try that.
And when i can afford it, i'll be replacing the radiator along with other things. But for the moment, i just need a running vehicle. And preferably one that stays at temperature of course.

Personally, I would just bite the bullet and get the main radiator rodded properly ... about $150




I'm getting you to bypass the cabin heater so that the coolant flow is not restricted ... .. And a blocked cabin heater also holds air pockets ...


Also a blocked radiator can harbour air pockets

All these blockages, added up, will give the same affect as blown head gasket
and sooner (rather than later) ... if you keep running it hot .... it will pop a gasket $$$$$$$$$$




Cheers
Mike

I'd absolutely love to fork out for a new this and a new that, but unfortunately i can't even afford that at the moment.
As for running it hot, i'm not running it for anything other than testing which is basically not at all so i'm not worried about that really.
I'll be putting a new thermostat in next week sometime and if that don't fix it i'll do the bypass.
After that i guess i'll have to pull a few bucks from my arse somehow aye.
thanks for the advice anyhow. I'll let you know how it all goes.