Thread: D4 Coolant Leak, No Visible leak or in Oil! HELP!

Originally Posted by RavenD

My D4 (2010 3.0 SDV6 166k) had a Low Coolant warning, after over heating and few other crazy warnings (Gearbox fault, Engine oil monitor system fault, Stability control not available drive with care, Emergency brake not available) we towed it to the repairer.

Since then, replaced the coolant tower and tank, reset the faults. All are gone and didn't come back. BUT after running the engine for about 30mins we can see coolant level start to drop and the Low Coolant warning comes back on.

Thermostat is working. Not leaking coolant from the EGR valves. No coolant in the engine oil. No visible leaks or drips from the engine. Can't be 100% sure if there is coolant in the exhaust, the Carbon Monoxide readings are not conclusive.

Repairer's suggestion is to put in a new engine suspecting a head gasket issue when the engine over heated. This will cost a pretty penny! $$$$!

Any suggestions, ideas before we go down this path?

Cheers!

Worst case just change HGs and use as an opportunity while in there to do injectors, oil cooler, various coolant bits, water pump and at 166km your due for timing belt anyways so dive in.

The EGRs can leak into the exhaust- you may not see the coolant if it’s going that way.

When you say it drops, do you mean - you top It up and each time it does this? How many times have you purged it?

Originally Posted by Tombie

The EGRs can leak into the exhaust- you may not see the coolant if it’s going that way.

When you say it drops, do you mean - you top It up and each time it does this? How many times have you purged it?

And how many top ups?
Don't **** the bed just yet, those CO2 radiator coolant things are **** in my experience.
Never conclusive unless the thing is so bad there is no doubt..

How much coolant are you adding, mine was loosing coolant for a while the AC compressor and diff were stained. Not the bash plate

Wow. Stop! Firstly is this a Land Rover specialist? Doesn’t sound like one to me. So if they aren’t they probably didn’t bleed it properly and it’ll probably drop level for some time yet as it loses the air in the system. There are a couple of common places they spring a leak - again if they’re not a specialist they don’t know this.

Don’t do the engine - it rarely is a head gasket on these.

Originally Posted by DiscoJeffster

Wow. Stop! Firstly is this a Land Rover specialist? Doesn’t sound like one to me. So if they aren’t they probably didn’t bleed it properly and it’ll probably drop level for some time yet as it loses the air in the system. There are a couple of common places they spring a leak - again if they’re not a specialist they don’t know this.

Don’t do the engine - it rarely is a head gasket on these.

My thoughts exactly.

From what I suspect are air pockets from incorrect coolant refill and a lack of bleeding to “you need a new engine” because it “may” be the head gaskets - wow - that’s a leap!

Go to a reputable indie for sure.

Originally Posted by RavenD

My D4 (2010 3.0 SDV6 166k) had a Low Coolant warning, after over heating and few other crazy warnings (Gearbox fault, Engine oil monitor system fault, Stability control not available drive with care, Emergency brake not available) we towed it to the repairer.

Since then, replaced the coolant tower and tank, reset the faults. All are gone and didn't come back. BUT after running the engine for about 30mins we can see coolant level start to drop and the Low Coolant warning comes back on.

Thermostat is working. Not leaking coolant from the EGR valves. No coolant in the engine oil. No visible leaks or drips from the engine. Can't be 100% sure if there is coolant in the exhaust, the Carbon Monoxide readings are not conclusive.

Repairer's suggestion is to put in a new engine suspecting a head gasket issue when the engine over heated. This will cost a pretty penny! $$$$!

Any suggestions, ideas before we go down this path?

Cheers!

what the others said, if engine runs without irregularities, then unlikely to be head gaskets. Also no coolant in oil or oil in coolant, so all seals around oil cooler would appear to be ok.

get a second or third opinion. Engine swap is way too drastic imho.

look for staining at cross over pipe over back of engine, coolant can leak from the plastic cap there and evap before reaching anywhere to pool.

Bleed the coolant system properly via the little tail hose near the main radiator hose.

Originally Posted by Tombie

The EGRs can leak into the exhaust- you may not see the coolant if it’s going that way.

When you say it drops, do you mean - you top It up and each time it does this? How many times have you purged it?

We have checked the EGR valves and replaced then anyways. Coolant drops about 4~5 cm after about an hour and the Low Coolant warning pops on.