I've had my discovery for 3 months now, it's had a very minimal coolant leak since I got it. Doesn't leak enough to spot on the ground.

Today while driving I noticed the temperature went up and the light came on. Got it home and popped the good to find coolant pouring out of the back of the engine. I could only see the flow coming down and not the actual leak, it was coming out on the drivers side.

So my main question is, what do I need now? I'm going to do the work myself, I just want to take care of all the possible causes in one shot.

Thanks

 

You need to pressure test. Check that the lower intake bolts are not lose on the backside. That is a common issue and when they get lose you'll get a slow leak down the back of the motor. Could also be a failed head gasket.

 

Check the two little hoses that go up into the manifold on the top manifold.
There is a littlle heater in there that uses two small diameter hoses to run hot coolant thru that device.

the device can leak

The hoses can come loose and or rot.

You can chop off the 1/4 inch and put the hoses back on and be all leak free.

go for it.

There is nothing else to leak on the driver's side.

Will if you are in the UK, the driver's side has the heater hoses.

 

Well, there is a coolant hose right in the middle. Goes off to the passenger's side.
Check that it is bolted to the manifold.
There is an "O" ring under it which has to be in good shape.

 

Thanks guys.

I'm in the US so drivers side, so the steering wheel is on the left...

I'll check the hoses in the back, which I assume are the lines to the throttle body plate? It seems like it was something that just ruptured/rotted out. There wasn't any coolant in the oil when I checked.

I'll get my hands on a pressure tester tomorrow and report back.

Also, how the hell are you supposed to see this stuff? Whats the first thing I should take off to get a better view?

Thanks again guys!!!

 

You can see the hoses from the front of the truck.

Look at the yellow sticker on top where the black meets the aluminum
You can see the throttle cables.

below that are two hoses and silver hose clamps.
Check those hoses.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7082/6...3bf52733_k.jpg

 

the throttle body heater is in the front of the engine, so if you leakin from the rear your choises are intake gasket, head gasket or in the rare case a freeze plug. But preasure testing your system is the only way to know for sure.

 

And if you have not made the ritual offering to the Rover gods in the recent past, you may be looking at this - an HG failure spot on the rear of the engine, where gasket has the least "meat" horizontaly. To be fair, there have been posts about intake bolts at the rear found finger tight.

 

Thanks for all the responses guys. Got a pressure tester on today, barely makes it to 4psi before it starts whistling out the back. Squeezed my fingers back there and it seems as though the leak is coming from inside the V on the drivers side. So intake manifold gasket is my best guess, right? From what I've read on here, I might as well do the head gaskets while I'm in there.

Thanks guys

Also the motor sounds pretty diesel-y when I started it up.

 

Have the head gaskets ever been replaced and how many miles on the engine? I'm leaning toward if they're not leaking leave them alone. I'm not much for heeding my own advice as I always try to do the most preventive maintenance I can which with these Disco's I'm not sure is the best thing in many situations. Sometimes a good thing left alone is better then messing with it and creating a new problem not discovered until its all back together of course.

Replacing the intake is a piece of cake. I'm not a big fan of replacing the head gaskets while the engine is in the car because its not the easiest thing removing the 10 bolts especially the bolts nearest the firewall or torquing them to yield for that matter.