Thread: Coolant loss worry

As far as I know the coolant flows through the heater regardless of if it is turned on or not.

I've just had a look in the Landrover Manual - for those that have the manual Section 80 Heating and Ventilation - Description and Operation Page 3.

"Heater and ventilation operation. The heating and ventilation system contains a heater matrix, which is connected to the engine cooling system, and a 4 speed fan for air distribution. Engine coolant is circulated through the heater matrix continuously, except when the temperature controls are set to COLD."

Cliff.

Just to clarify - my Discovery manual is "covers vehicles from 1995 model year".

Cliff.

Originally Posted by Cliff

I've just had a look in the Landrover Manual - for those that have the manual Section 80 Heating and Ventilation - Description and Operation Page 3.

"Heater and ventilation operation. The heating and ventilation system contains a heater matrix, which is connected to the engine cooling system, and a 4 speed fan for air distribution. Engine coolant is circulated through the heater matrix continuously, except when the temperature controls are set to COLD."

Cliff.

A very few D1's and RRC's in Australia came fitted with a heater control valve but most didn't. The valve concerned has four hose connections and is designed so that coolant still flows through the engine connections regardless of its position. The valve if present is clearly visible in the engine bay between the engine and the heater connections. Fords and Holdens used this type of valve too in various models.

i thought the valve would stop flow and without a valve, the water would go though the heater regardless. mine has no valve and without bypassing the heater it would continue to go though it.

i thought the dash controls just change the direction of air using flaps, which can bring air from the cold outside, or redirect it through the matrix if you want warm. but the coolant circulates through the matrix all the time.

if you look behind the firewall where the barbs come out, those barbs are the end of the heater pipes which navigate around things under your dash and then plug directly into the matrix, which is a radiator type thingy. all passive devices with no moving parts. so i cannot see how you can stop flow to the heater. if how bee utey says some have a valve at the firewall though, then i guess you could stop the flow.

i would not cap these off. just as easy to modify the heater hoses near where they join to the barbs and put a 90 degree brass bit to give it a nice smooth circular motion to cycle through. i cut about 3 inches from one of the them where it makes it easy to join to the brass fitting without any sharp angles

Ok..I have installed an aftermarket Temperature gauge ( a mechanical one, cause I like them better ) and replaced the kinked hose

I ended up having to put the gauge sender in the bung on the radiator as I did not have an adapter to place where the factory sender is

Wasnt hot yesterday but took it for decent drive and got it warm

One thing that I did learn was the fact gauge is useless ( as had been advised on here, but its always good to find out for yourself )

The highest the temp gauge was about 83-85*c but mostly sat under 80, and when back in town it was around 60* mark

One thing I did notice was that the manual gauge showed that the engine cooled down fairly quickly. After belting it up some hills to get it working and warm up to 80* +, letting it roll down the other side it dropped 10*c rather quickly

And it didnt loose any coolant.

Just need to wait for a hot day now

Originally Posted by Fausto79

i wouldn't go anywhere without a low coolant alarm. mine cost 150 and it's probably the number 1 investment on a d1. if you are replacing the head gasket i would not even drive it until i had a low coolant alarm fitted. you don't want to do the job all over again. it's such a small simple piece of equipment but worth more than anything else you can do to the car.

It's not semantics - worthwhile investing in an engine temperature monitor that keeps an eye on the temperature of the block (or wherever else you put the sensor) rather than a coolant temp/level monitor. It's the temperature of the engine you're interested in, after all.

Actually... I have been thinking about having a sensor direct into the head. Modern senors are not that bulky now so can be easily tapped into the head

And yes, I am more interested in the engine temp rather than when it gets low on coolant