So it’s raining here in NJ today and I drive my three week old Defender 90 up the parkway to attend my wife’s aunt’s funeral. I park the truck and go inside the funeral home for about an hour and come back out start the truck and steam comes billowing out from under the hood, The steam is rising around five feet into the air so I turn the truck off for a few minutes and start it again and bam more steam. I hit my service button and Land Rover sent a tow truck to pick it up. A couple of hours later I get a call from the service department and they say my truck is fine. Am I losing my mind? This was not just a little steam it looked like a hose came off. Has anyone had this happen before?

 

How was the coolant level after the steam?

 

I don’t know but they are keeping it over the weekend to assess the problem. Also, temperature gauge didn’t show signs of over heating.

 

Ok. Some of the 90’s (like mine) have issues with heater core leaking / coolant level but they seem to be located by the heater core (under the seat area). Interested to see what they come up with. At first they told me that my coolant problem (which was a massive leak) looked fine when they drove it around. It passed the pressure test. Uhhhhh huh. Eventually fixed, but without the car for about a month. Hopefully your issue is something more minor...perhaps a faulty overpressure release valve or something.

 

Also it’s helpful to see if you can detect the sweet smell of antifreeze / coolant anywhere around your 90.

 

They did tell me it passed the ol’ pressure test. I’ve wrenched lots of cars back in the day and it looked like was overheating. Hopefully it is just a minor problem..... but damn I’ve only had it for three weeks!

 

Oof ya, I bet. I had mine 6 days and 270 miles before I had to have a truck come get me in the middle of god forsaken nowhereland.

Interesting though that it would overheat after just sitting for a while in a parking lot and also that your gauge didn’t register that. Sending positive thoughts your way that it’s just an over pressure valve and an easy quick fix.

 

Nope, it was the first thing I checked. I’ve replaced radiators a few times and know the smell quite well. Another problem I’m having the dealership look into is sometimes when I put the truck into drive there is a clunking sound.