QuestionQUESTION: My 03RR started to heat up while driving around town yesterday. The "check coolant" msg was also on. My wife pulled over and let the engine cool down a bit, before she continue to drive it home, about 5 min. worth, and the temp. shot up again. This morning, I checked the oil level and had also put in 2 gallons of water. She then dropped my son of at school and came right back, about 20 min. worth of total driving. When she got outside of the car, she can hear a boiling water sound.
My questions are: (1) what could be the cause? (2) what do I need to check? (3) When I fill the coolant, how would I know if I get 50/50 of coolant and water when I don't know how much is left in the radiator? (4) Do I really need 50/50 mix or a guestimate is ok? If so more water or more coolant for California. (5) Do I really need to use a coolant that is "ethylene glycol based anti-freeze (containing no methanol) with only Silicate based non-phosphate corrosion inhibitors" as suggested in the book, or can I use any? (6) How can I check blown head gasket when there is no visible oil leakage?
ANSWER: First of all, I must warn you: If you drive this car while the engine is overheating, like you said, you will destroy the engine and face a $15,000 repair bill.
If the car lost two gallons of coolant, there is a leak or an internal failure. Do not drive it until that has been addressed.
As to coolant . . . that engine uses a special coolant available from any Land Rover or BMW dealer (it has a BMW engine). It's blue in color and should not be interchanged with traditional green antifreeze.
You ask how to know if you have the correct mix . . . a professional parts store should be able to sell you an antifreeze tester that measures specific gravity of the coolant to get the 50/50 mix.
Always take overheating problems seriously. These cars are very unforgiving when it comes to that.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: My RR has been parked since. Thanks for the suggestion Jonh. It's definitly a leak. Because the second time that she drove, as mention before, and hear the boiling sound the temperature gauge was in operation range as before this was happening. Please answer these follow up questions.
(1) How do I know whether the leak is due to a hose or a damage gasket that would allow the coolant to get in the engine?
(2) Is there a typical area, on the 03RR, where the leak could be?
(3) Where can I find a service manual, so that I may know what I'm doing? I've looked online and at the local shops (LR dealer, Kragen, Autozone, etc.) without success. I'm planing to hit Baja this coming summer and a service manual will be very handy.
Thanks again.
Answer(1) You fill the system with coolant and then use a pressure tester - a hand held pump that takes the place of the radiator cap - to pressurize the system while it's in the shop. Then, you see where the coolant comes out. It may come out a split hose, or at a hose clamp. It may come out the water pump or some other engine gasket. You should see the leak. If you don't, warm the engine up and try again. Sometimes we see Rovers that only leak cold, or only leak hot.
(2) There are quite a few possibilities, but the 2003 motor does not have any areas I'd say are prone to chronic failure. Pressure test it per (1) and see.
(3) You can go to Land Rover's official stire, www.landrovertechinfo.com and buy access to anything a dealer had for $18 a day, and you can download the stuff to yor own computer.
