I have had 1000 gentle perfect miles with my new 03 disco and was just starting to feel like the exception to the rule until the temperature gauge crept up today. I want to explain the scenario and then as a few questions: I was driving and going down hill at about 30 mph and slid the truck to neutral and accidentally slid it into reverse. I immediately realized my mistake and pulled it back to neutral and into drive. I was suprised that nothing immediately seemed to be wrong (does a rover disengage reverse when moving forward at speed?) the truck drove fine for miles to the gas station then after I finished filling up, I noticed that the temperature gauge was up to 60 percent and creeping. I threw on the heat and it leveled off and got me home 3 miles away and then started creeping slowly up in park. I shut it down and popped the hood and there was a gargling sound near the left corner of the car and I could see a few drops of coolant spattered and a few drops on the pavement. the few drops of coolant on the pavement in the morning and when I leave work has happened sporatically for the last week or so. My Questions: Does the dropping into reverse have anything to do with it? I know you are supposed to do the reservoir cap, T stat and water pump, is that the best course of action at this point? Thank you for any assistance

 

If you are leaking coolant, that is probably your first concern. You didn't mention if you checked the coolant level or how many miles are on your truck. The 'gargling' noise sounds like air in the cooling system.

1. Check the coolant level and top it up with Dexcool if it is low.
2. Find the leak an repair it
3. DO NOT drive the truck until this is done. If you overheat this could get to big $$$.

Let us know how much coolant was left and where the leak seems to be coming from.

 

Ditto ^ what he said. It MIGHT not be the end of the world if it's a simple cracked hose or something that let air get in there.

Also, did you happen to notice if your aux fan was functioning up front? ..just something to think about since you said it started overheating again in park (but probably more a function of coolant FLOW rather than cooling capacity) - I always wondered if it was better to rev the engine to ~2000rpm to disable the coolant bypass on the tstat and flow some decent water through the system (since at idle the temps are high on my car but drop INSTANTLY when I rev it) or if the extra RPM generates more heat to offset it in an "overheat" situation. Considering the engine isn't under any load, I'd think it would actually be better to rev it up a bit. I ended up doing this in the summer when it was ~100 degrees out and I was stuck at a long stop light or in traffic since I knew I could bypass the heater loop and bring the temps down.

Unfortunately with OEM coolant temp gauges, there's a significant "dead zone" in the middle. My gauge never went past the middle but my aux fan will stay on when I'm sitting still (literally after like 20 seconds after I go below a certain speed) and a code scanner showed higher than normal temps.

Oh and I wouldn't worry about the reverse thing - but isn't reverse on the opposite side of "drive" as "neutral" on the selector?

 

before you go topping it off with dexcool what color is the coolant in your tank? i would use peak universal if you are unsure what coolant is in your truck right now to avoid any other problems. Are you handy? you need to wipe everything down and find out where the leak is coming from, if you can't figure it out then go to an auto parts store and get some coolant dye and that will help you see the leak. check all your hoses for loose clamps and stop driving it until you find and fix the leak. then properly bleed the system using the directions in the "how to" section of the forum.

 

The truck is a 2003 and has just over 70 k miles. Just to clarify, the gargling was after I turned the truck off, and seemed to be coming from the upper left had corner of the radiator, dont know if that helps. The coolant leak has just been a few drops every other day or so but I will definitely track down the leak and check how much coolant is in the tank.

With everything I have read, I am kinda surprised that no one is pointing to the T-Stat as the issue? And I guess if the water pump was bad, I would be red lining the temperature and not coming down, correct?

Thank you again.

 

True - if you want to run with the tstat theory then it's possible that the gargling noise you heard (and the leak you saw) is simply due to the pressure release on the coolant fill cap, and the resulting overflow of coolant that leaks down/around that area. That would eliminate a "leak" and could justify looking into the tstat. You're correct with the water pump though, generally speaking they should either work or fail. I've seen tstats stick open, closed, and inbetween (the M3's tstat died and would creep up at idle then un-stick if I started moving, then a few days later got stuck fully closed )

 

Ed, thanks for the help. This is my first rover but I have been fixing up old 3 series bmws for a few years and have some good mechanic friends for when I hit a wall. Off topic: what is a chalk board headliner?

 

with that kind of mileage I would replace all the hoses and t-stat and go from there....

 

So it sounds like the best course moving forward is a thorough leak check and changing out the T stat - any options for a better T stat? I know some forum members alter the standard one, is there a better one you can just buy?

 

First, do you have any of the trucks service records, if not, how mechanical are you. Look at my service list at the top of the section and plan on doing all of it, with no exceptions, also plan on rebuilding/replacing your front drive shaft if it hasn't been done and before it fails, taking out your tranny at the same time.
As for the coolant/possible over heat, you first want to have a coolant pressure test performed at 18 pounds for 15 to 20 minutes to verify the coolant systems possible leak/over heat. As already asked, have you checked to see if your front electric cooling fan is working while in town driving and or when the ac is on, if not do so.
Check and get back to us.