Thread: TD5 + gurgling + water + oil = ????

if it hasnt blown the expansion tank or cap you have a holed oil cooler.

fill it up with clean water (and I mean rain water not tap water) by doing the coke bottle trick then start it and run it with the cap off. IF the water surges your screwed and its the head gasket. if it doesnt its the cooler.

assuming its the head you can go $5K replacing everything.

hit the search pages it can be done cheaply if your good with the spanners.

There may be a glimmer of hope.

Thanks Dave.

What is a "coke bottle test" ?

Originally Posted by snook

Hello All,

Newbie here, although been hanging around for over a year. Originally came to this site to see what I could be in for if I purchased a 2001 Discovery Td5 7 seater.

Enjoyed all your enthusiasm and stoic approach to adversity. Nothing seemed to be to much to for an AULRO member.

Was a bit scared by some of the stories floating around here but went ahead and purchased a beast. (had a soft spot from an early age for the Land Rover)

No problems with the beast then got those three lights in the dash after a bit of quick shifting of the Auto stick while getting into a tight parking spot.

Have not bothered to get those sorted out as it seemed not too serious (I hope).

While that has not got me to post here, this has

Feeling sick now...

Anyway, there was this gurgling sound appearing to come from dashboard. I thought, and explained to the wife, it was probably the air-conditioner.

Left it for a couple more rides in the beast then thought....maybe not the air-conditioner

Checked under the hood:

• no water in expansion tank
• engine oil down below the LOW marker
• a leak from the top coolant hose by the head

Very worried.

Pulled off top radiator hose and a mix of oil and water came out !!!!

Okay, I know I am in trouble. How much trouble is dont know and feel sick just thinking about.

Now for you gurus and those with past experience please offer your advice.

I obviously need to get this fixed (or donate to the army for target practice)

Suggestions most welcome for:

• what could be the extent of damage
• other work that should be done while in the shop
• good mechanic (that does not take a pound of flesh)
• ball-park costs
• options to reduce costs if any

Is this really happening or am I dreaming ???

Bits in red suggest head or head gasket, bubbles in the coolant running through the heater core, and the fact that you have a blown radiator hose explains the loss of water and hopefully the reason for air in the coolant causing bubbles in the heater core.

As for the oil in the cooling system, the chances of two seperate faults i.e., radiator hose and oil cooler leak while possible I think less likely than a single fault. To me I would expect that you have lost the coolant resulting in overheating the engine and warping the head or at least the head gasket has gone. The oil and water mix is what I would expect from a head/headgasket fault. The early Td5s had plastic dowels locating the head, these tend to get the blame for head gasket failure however in this case a radiator hose I don't think you could blame the dowels.

Best case as Dave said, new radiator and radiator hose. I however suspect that your up for a head job. If this is the case I suspect that you best brace yourself for $3-5k.

the coke bottle test is just a quick and easy method of filling the cooling system.

basically grab a 1.25 or 2 l coke bottle fill it with the required coolant (water for short term testing and OAT if you're going to be refilling the system properly) fill the cooling system till its full then fill the coke bottle and invert the bottle into the filler neck and start the engineif the bottle goes empty pull it out and refill it.

if you've got oily residue in the cooling system then you essentially need to fully dismantle and then individually flush Every component of the cooling system.

Doesnt sound good Snook, but dont dispair. Even if it is worst case scenario and the head is gone with help from people like Dave on here and a RAVE CD you can do a fair chunk of the work yourself and save some coin.

Good thing is if you need new Cylinder head and components bits are cheap from the UK at the moment so you'll save more cash there.

This sounds similar to what happened to mine before the big end went bang. An occasional gurgling sound, a small amount of oil in the coolant. The oil in the coolant will weaken the hoses and they will go soft. My oil cooler had been replaced before I had it, but it probably either ran low on oil, or the water contaminated the oil causing the big end failure. It cost me around $12,000 to fit a new low km TD5, it was quoted $15,000 to rebuild my old one.

Jeff

Very much appreciate all your advice.

Will have a few days to contemplate my actions and settle down.

Looks like a thorough investigation is needed. Last thing I need is to get HALF the job done then a few months later end up where I started.

Any mechanics around Perth that can be recommended ?

Fortunately I dont need a rush job on this and would be prepared to wait for a methodical mechanic to "look at"/"work on".

should have had the problem pre xmas last year, then I could have had it apart for you