Tdi 300 losing water

[sumo]

Hi, I'm loosing water in the defender, about a ltr in a 100ks.


For the life of me i can't find where its going,There is absolutley no water seepage externally anywhere. The thing is i replaced the header tank, and water pump together and imediatley though ive upset the p gasket, as its happened before, but as i said theres not a sign of any water leaks anywhere,Is this symptons of a headgasket on the deefers?,Its running great ,oil is clean,no excess smoke, I just Dunno

Any Ideas as to what it might Be? Thanks.

Cheers Sumo

[eddy]

The first thing you would think of,having changed the water pump, would be the P gasket.If that has checked out ok....the next likely spot could be the heater hoses at the back of the head.Take the sound deadener cover off and check where they run behind the head.They tend to become soft from oil/heat,before you know it they split.Also the hose clip area which is hidden by the cover.
Hope you have a low coolant alarm!

[Spel1]

Sumo. My 300TDI was losing water too, was only using plain water at the time so couldn't find the leak. Switched to coolant, just the cheaper premixed one. Couldn't see anything on the side from the P gasket or from the hoses, but a few weeks later spotted green streaks under the water pump pulley, so replaced the pump and the P gasket. (I will never again replace a water pump without this, just wasting time from previous experience). Strange though, coolant was not leaking from the weep hole but from a tiny crack in the pump body just under the bolt that holds the top heater hose bracket, never seen this before - no erosion just cracked. Wasn't a cheapy either, OEM - just one of those castings I guess. Wasn't until using coolant that it was easily visible.

One other thing though, I was losing significant coolant previously, about what you are losing - so went ahead and replaced the head gasket. It was a composite one and was showing signs of water tracking towards the cylinders. Replaced with the same 3 hole gasket but in stainless steel, head was not warped so decided to just bolt it back on and see how it went, which is why I was just running water to test it. Its been a tedious search but I think am finally getting on top of it.

Good luck with tracking down the leak. Simon

[sumo]

Sumo. My 300TDI was losing water too, was only using plain water at the time so couldn't find the leak. Switched to coolant, just the cheaper premixed one. Couldn't see anything on the side from the P gasket or from the hoses, but a few weeks later spotted green streaks under the water pump pulley, so replaced the pump and the P gasket. (I will never again replace a water pump without this, just wasting time from previous experience). Strange though, coolant was not leaking from the weep hole but from a tiny crack in the pump body just under the bolt that holds the top heater hose bracket, never seen this before - no erosion just cracked. Wasn't a cheapy either, OEM - just one of those castings I guess. Wasn't until using coolant that it was easily visible.

One other thing though, I was losing significant coolant previously, about what you are losing - so went ahead and replaced the head gasket. It was a composite one and was showing signs of water tracking towards the cylinders. Replaced with the same 3 hole gasket but in stainless steel, head was not warped so decided to just bolt it back on and see how it went, which is why I was just running water to test it. Its been a tedious search but I think am finally getting on top of it.

Good luck with tracking down the leak. Simon

Thanks mate process of elimination, Landrovers!!!, Sigh!