Yox ... Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 Hi folks Hope we have all had a good Christmas and all that .... Got a problem with my 2003 Freelander Kalahari 1.8 petrol 61,000 miles: Driving home yesterday, the engine stalled a few times when it should not have done. Following this, when we arrived home, there was a clattering / shrieking noise coming from the front of the car - fans obviously. This stopped after a few minutes. Maybe half an hour later I went out to the car to have a look to see why this noise had been coming from the fans. Lifted the bonnet and started the engine - all appeared normal, and after a while the fans cut in. It was then that I noticed - shock horror - that the water header reservoir was completely empty. I'm certain that it was normal (about two thirds full) only a few days ago. At this point memories of Hillman Imps start to come flooding back! So far I have refilled the reservoir - and watched it half empty itself again, started and run the engine. I can see no sign of a leak anywhere. Holding a bit of paper over the exhaust shows traces of vapour. My questions are as follow: Am I looking at a blown head gasket?? What else can I check?? If not, Where has the water gone?? If it is a blown head gasket, how much money are we looking at??? Any help, advice, abuse, comments much appreciated!! Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yox ... Posted December 27, 2008 Author Share Posted December 27, 2008 ..... Had another look this morning .... oil filler car showing some signs of "sludge" - there's not a lot there brownish yellowish stuff - but the engine has done over 60k miles. Had a look at the dipstick too. Reddish brown colouration, and slightly overfull. The oil has been in the engine for a year - maybe 12,000 miles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exmoor Beast Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 Sounds like the head run the engine with the cap off thwe water reservoir, rev to 3000 or so and if the water bubbles when you back off the throttle its the head. my brother paid a local garage to do his Freelanders head last year and it cost £600. I did our Discovery one myself for the cost of the head skimming £25 + £80 or so for gaskets/bolts and stuff. The Freelander is a bit more involved, I think Les did a thread in the Tech Archive here... Will Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yox ... Posted December 27, 2008 Author Share Posted December 27, 2008 Sounds like the headrun the engine with the cap off thwe water reservoir, rev to 3000 or so and if the water bubbles when you back off the throttle its the head. my brother paid a local garage to do his Freelanders head last year and it cost £600. I did our Discovery one myself for the cost of the head skimming £25 + £80 or so for gaskets/bolts and stuff. The Freelander is a bit more involved, I think Les did a thread in the Tech Archive here... Will Thanks Will ..... Small world or what - I used to own the Rising Sun!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Henson Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 The water pump may be leaking (look for drips coming from the bottom of the timing belt cover). You may also have a pressure leak, which only loses water when the engine is up to temperature. Freelander cooling systems have to be bled if there has been significant coolant loss, so you may have filled the header tank, but there is likely to be air in the system, which has now reduced, so the water level has dropped. If the head gasket was leaking into one of the cylinders, the engine would start on three cylinders from cold, and then the 4th one would catch up and it would run seemingly normally. Additionally, compression would leak back into the water jacket and there would be bubbles rising in the header tank or the radiator hoses would become rock hard once the engine has been running for a few minutes. If you have no obvious bubbles, and no sign of water in the engine oil (where is usually goes), and no sign of any leaks, then add K-Seal to the cooling system, bleed it properly, and see how it goes. The only other invisible leak I can think of is the inlet manifold gasket - the cylinder head bleed-off pipe passes through the inlet manifold and once I had an engine that was leaking on the manifold gasket and sucking water into No1 cylinder, so no leak while the engine was parked, but was losing it while the engine was running. Les. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 Just to add, for flip's sake don't let it overheat as you will b*gger the head up, better to stop and just have to do a head gasket than carry on and need a new head as well. Bear in mind if there's no water in it the temperature gauge will not read correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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