Gurgling heater

**Markf** · 3rd October 2016, 10:22 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, 12:25 AM

I had a similar issue and put it down to not being bled correctly. It didn't happen again

**alien** · 4th October 2016, 04:14 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, 02:26 PM

I'd buy a pressure bleeding kit before pulling anything apart,,

**Markf** · 4th October 2016, 09:43 PM

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

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, 06:49 AM

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

**Markf** · 16th October 2016, 11:13 AM

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, 03:26 PM

Mark, That truly is a great achievement. I wish I could say the same.

**banjupb** · 29th April 2017, 11:28 PM

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

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, 06:50 AM

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

I'd buy a pressure bleeding kit before pulling anything apart,,

Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift

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

Originally Posted by banjupb

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

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