Brilliant post to help the L322 community, thanks.
We have had a customer complaining that his Range Rover L322 with 4.4 BMW M62 V8 had inexplicably had 5 radiators replaced in its life, and another P38 private import with a BMW 6 cylinder diesel (rare in Australia) that had pressure problems in the cooling system.
One of the suspicions we had had was that the expansion tank caps were not releasing at the correct pressure - supposed to be 1.4Bar or 140 kilopascals (about 21 pounds per square inch). So, we made up a little test rig to check caps. Very surprising. The one on the wounded and baffling P38 released at over 2.5 bar (the gauge only went up to 2.5 on the test tool) - 40PSI plus, 250 kilopascals. No wonder the hoses on the thing were going as hard as a rock and it had started bursting things!
So, we tested three non genuine caps that we'd had on the shelf but had never been game enough to use- all opened at around 250 Kilopascals, one kept bleeding off pressure until it reached 60kpa. That one would have opened late enough to destroy 5 radiators in the life of a car, and then bled off all the coolant quite happily.
We grabbed the 2 Land Rover genuine caps we had wondering if they would be the same, and both opened exactly at 140kpa, and held pressure at that. You have to love the Germans - who made them.
The non genuine ones are stamped with 140 on the yellow piece underneath. Problem is that their manufacturers' quality control has not appeared to have caught the fact that this is far from accurate. I can see it now - some little guy and his wife in their home workshop in the back streets of Shanghai somewhere, pretty much knocking out counterfeit products - just like a copy Rolex you can buy in a street market. The knock off ones even say on the top "Do not open when hot - Nicht Offnen wenn heiss" (complete with umlaut on the Offnen), exactly the same as the genuine one. The only difference I can see is the manufacturer's mark "Reuter" on the genuine one, on the very bottom of the cap near the yellow part. Herr Reuter runs a quality show obviously.
Really easy to confuse (see pics) - we chucked the non genuine ones and will continue only using genuine ones at our shop. We will still test the genuine ones anyway after this little discovery just to be sure, not that we don't trust Herr Reuter, just that we believe in quality control just as he does. Just a heads up though - if you're bursting radiators or springing leaks - check the cap.
I hope this is helpful to someone
Brilliant post to help the L322 community, thanks.
Made this sticky so it doesn't get lost. Very useful info to keep at the front of everyone's mind.
If you need to contact me please email homestarrunnerau@gmail.com - thanks - Gav.
After replacing every hose, connector, and gasket, as well as knowing the radiator had recently been replaced when I bought mine, I'm going to check the cap tomorrow.
Thanks for posting.
Sent from my GT-P5100 using AULRO mobile app
Excellent info.
I've actually had the opposite problem with non genuine Tdi caps.
They didn't seal at all!
The genuine (German) ones seem fine.
Ron B.
VK2OTC
2003 L322 Range Rover Vogue 4.4 V8 Auto
2007 Yamaha XJR1300
Previous: 1983, 1986 RRC; 1995, 1996 P38A; 1995 Disco1; 1984 V8 County 110; Series IIA
RIP Bucko - Riding on Forever
The car was just serviced for a trans problem (blocked cooler) and I noticed they changed the pressure cap to a 140.
Ron B.
VK2OTC
2003 L322 Range Rover Vogue 4.4 V8 Auto
2007 Yamaha XJR1300
Previous: 1983, 1986 RRC; 1995, 1996 P38A; 1995 Disco1; 1984 V8 County 110; Series IIA
RIP Bucko - Riding on Forever
I've noticed that my car's coolant level keeps dropping. I hadn't found any obvious source of leaks until last Saturday.
My coolant expansion tank is leaking down the RH rear corner - there is a tell-tale white streak which, after being cleaned off, returns after the next run.
Looking at the Full Fat RR forum to see if leaking tanks are common, the general consensus is that the BMW M62 4.4 V8 cooling system should have a 200kPa cap, obviously to allow a higher pressure and thus higher operating temps.
Perhaps this is the reason for coolant leaks. I'll replace the expansion tank but I'll leave the 140kPa cap in place for the moment.
My L322 runs at 99-100 deg C on the motorway but soon rises to 103 deg C in traffic (temps according to both ScanGauge and the L322 Message Centre).
Edit: I just had a look at MicroCat and found the cap specified is:
Up to VIN (V)1A001049, it is PCD100200L (which is probably the 200kPa cap)
From VIN (V)1A001050, it is PCD100070 which is the 140kPa cap.
My car's VIN is 34A145nnn so I don't know why it had a 200kPa cap.
Ron B.
VK2OTC
2003 L322 Range Rover Vogue 4.4 V8 Auto
2007 Yamaha XJR1300
Previous: 1983, 1986 RRC; 1995, 1996 P38A; 1995 Disco1; 1984 V8 County 110; Series IIA
RIP Bucko - Riding on Forever
Most likely because someone has said, What's this here for? These always use a 200 cap! Without checking the Vin or maybe not even knowing there had been a change. Happens more than I like to think.
Cheers Scott
I mentioned earlier leaks from my expansion tank. Here are the pics. You can just make out the crack in the curvature where the tank vertical and horizontal surfaces meet.
Ron B.
VK2OTC
2003 L322 Range Rover Vogue 4.4 V8 Auto
2007 Yamaha XJR1300
Previous: 1983, 1986 RRC; 1995, 1996 P38A; 1995 Disco1; 1984 V8 County 110; Series IIA
RIP Bucko - Riding on Forever
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