I have a 2001 D2 with the Bosch motor, got it with 106k last January, now has 118k miles on it.

A couple weeks after I got the Disco, I was sitting in the parking lot after a Patriots game and was confused when my truck gave off ZERO heat, even with the car nice and warm according to the temp gauge. A few minutes later, the thermostat shot up and I noticed coolant pouring out from the engine. Turned the truck off, popped the hood and there was coolant everywhere. The heater hose had busted and cleverly sprayed coolant into the radiator fan which dispersed it throughout the cabin. Got that fixed, and no problems since.

In late September, I was driving to the store and noticed my temp gauge rising very quickly, into the red zone and the red light came on. Pulled over, noticed the coolant tank was bone dry. Snagged some random prestone coolant from a passerby as an emergency and filled it up and everything was fine again except then the car started slowly leaking coolant. Now, two months later, it is leaking coolant at a very rapid clip filled it up yesterday afternoon and today the tank is totally empty again. Looks like it's coming from the back of the engine, which, from reading these forums, is probably the head gasket though my mechanic couldn't get a good enough view of the back of the engine to confirm it.

So, knowing all that... I should be fine to drive the truck in the meantime as long as I top it off with coolant every day, right?

With 118k miles, what else should I have done while the mechanics are tearing apart my engine? I only have two other problems with it, one is the cruise control doesn't work (and I checked the vacuum hose near the alternator and that's cracked, so that's an easy fix) and the SRS light comes on sometimes. Generally it comes on when someone sits in the passenger seat and then stays on for a few days after that. That's of bigger concern.

Second question: What's a good Land Rover mechanic in Boston? I live in Lowell, north of the city.

 

welcome to my world... I have a 03 d2 and this coming week, it's off to head gasket work we go. I have been briefed on this site in the last week about what mine could be... Coolant leaks down from top of bell housing and drips quite fast... I go through a litre of coolant fairly fast depending on how far I drive... Seems the farther I drive, the less it leaks, generally every day I am topping off like what you are doing. I just received the head gasket kit along with new head bolts from Atlantic British Yesterday (250.00) and plan on tomorrow being a beginning day for getting down to the matter. I have been told it could be a valley pan gasket or head gasket... Never went this deep into an engine but I have close friends who have, not to worried about getting it done... So, I will let everyone know as to what I find in a couple days...

 

As soon as I get back home in early December my D1 is also going in to get new head gaskets. They are just starting to leak at one corner on the front of the driver side but since it is needing a new water pump also I am going to have the mechanic do all the work at the same time. My was going through about a quart of coolant a day.

Have you had a pressure test done on the cooling system? This will tell for sure where your coolant leaks are coming from. My mechanic charged me for a half hour shop time to perform the test and left no doubt where the leaks are coming from. Definitely worth the money.

 

The only other thing to have done is a tune up. Make darn sure that you use Magnecor plug wires or you will be doing the tune up again in a month.

 

Up date the top radiator hose if it hasn't been done yet, replace you plug wire, replace the t/stat.

 

Yeah, I have a great mechanic who, while he won't work on my LR for big stuff, will help me out with little stuff. Did a pressure test for free the pressure held but we got a few drips from the back of the engine. Couldn't quite see exactly where the coolant was coming from but it wasn't a huge leak but in the right vicinity to be the head gasket, and which is why I'm partly surprised that it drained so much yesterday. When I went out today, I had dropped about an inch below the cold fill line.

When I filled it up, I took your advice Disco Mike and filled to the cap line do you mean fill it until coolant starts coming out the overflow drainage line? Because that's what happened or did I just fill it too much?