Hello all--I would really appreciate some help figuring out a leak.

So, I just bought a new (to me, bought at 102k in June) 2002 disco ii and took it to a mechanic to flush the old fluids, give me a run down on what I might need to do to get her into top notch condition (I new to LR/being into taking care of cars myself so I don't have my own tools yet...thus took to mechanic to get a better understanding). Before taking her in to the shop I owned the rig for 3 1/2 weeks, rarely drove her as I was getting to know the engine bay, etc....long story short, I checked the coolant levels everyday just to make sure there wasn't a leak even when I didn't drive. Everything looked pretty solid to me.

After getting back from mechanics, I noticed there was a zip tie on the coolant housing that wasn't there before...thought no big deal but then after a few days I saw my coolant levels dropping and discovered a bunch of brown, oily fluid soaking my passenger side floor.

I haven't driven her in the past week since getting back from the mechanics and she's been parked under covered parking in the desert so I don't think it's a sunroof leak...

Could the coolant leak into my floor like this?

Also, is the zip tie a normal thing to loop around the tank in this manner? I'm trying to figure out what exactly it is attached to. Currently printing out related pages of the RAVE to see where my leaks are coming from...and how to stop them.

Thanks in advanced for any input.

 

The zip ties looks to be holding the overflow tube tight onto it's nipple on the tank. That would not cause a leak onto your floor.

The amount of coolant in the tank looks low.

The floor issue could either be the heater matrix which is on the firewall under the glove box or the AC drain tubes being blocked... Those are located on either side of the center console underneath. if they clog they can back up and leak out into the floor pan. The fix to that is finding their exit points underneath and poking a thin rod up into the drain tube releasing the clog. If a large amount of water comes out then you have found the source of your issue... and hopefully that is it, otherwise start looking into the heater matrix... Do you ever hear a waterfall like sound behind the glove box? If there is a leak there it usually means air is also being introduced into the cooling system. If no waterfall sound then probably no air entry but worth checking into anyway.

 

Thanks for the quick reply--makes sense with the zip tie! I figured it wouldn't be causing harm I am just a total newbie. I have never heard a waterfall like sound behind the glove box.

My throttle housing has been bypassed by the previous owner...but I think it may be the heater matrix as I just found this leak which feeds directly into the matrix:



Going to check out the AC tubes first thing tomorrow morning when I get sunlight back again. Cheers!

 

Do you have anything dripping out of your truck? I'm also chasing a coolant leak but I don't have the stained/wet carpet. However I do have coolant dripping from the bottom of the car body sill, right below and inboard of the driver's door hinge. It appears to be coming from the seam where the inner and outer shell of the body meet, with the Disco facing nose and driver's side downhill on a sloping driveway. Everything looks dry outside the cabin so I'm guessing the leak is somewhere in the pipes between the interior firewall and the heater matrix, or the heater matrix itself.

May have to take the vehicle to a mechanic anyway; Rave manual says I have to evacuate & recharge the air conditioning system before removing the heater assembly (if it comes to that), and I have neither the tools nor the facilities to do that. Anyone on here with experience in leaks in this neighborhood--if I'm lucky enough the leak is in the pipes or O-rings rather than the heater matrix itself, do I need to purge the air conditioning system? And is it even worth trying to fix before I sell the car (moving and need to downsize the fleet...) or would it cost me more than I would get out of it?

 

I've never heard that you need to evacuate the HVAC system to check the heater core coolant lines.

 

i am not familiar with this specific issue but I can tell you that the a/c or hvac lines should have nothing to do with the heater core at all. Unless they are referring to the lines that flow coolant into the heater core as hvac lines you would probably be wasting Freon not to mention it is ilegal to just release Freon into the atmosphere. If I am wrong some let me know 👍 like I said, not an expert.

 

There's a black plastic clip, that holds the coolant reservior...yours is broken..hence the black plastic zip tie. The clips are readily available at any of the LR suppliers...and easy to change.

Heater core is leaking, if you have coolant inside (which it looks like coolant and your coolant is low). Someone posted a nice video recently about replacing core, maybe do a search. Didn't watch entire video, but l don't remember them mentioning A/C lines being involved. Truthful, from what l do remember, it didn't look like an awful job to do.

 

Looking again at the Rave manual for removal of the heater "assembly" (as opposed to the heater matrix or core itself), step 2 is to evacuate the ac system, and step 4 is to "remove 2 bolts securing air conditioning pipes to evaporator, release pipes and discard 'O' rings." And that's the last reference to anything with the ac system until reinstalling the heater assembly. The only thing I can think of is these steps are required if I'm removing the entire heater assembly--apparently the ac system ties into it. Since I'm hopefully only dealing with the core, which can be removed/replaced with the assembly remaining in place, I'm going to operate under the assumption ac system steps are unnecessary for what I'm working on.

 

I know that there are threads on this forum that describe how to remove the heater core without removing any of the other components, and that they don't require any disruption of the A/C system. Try searching a bit.
Once you have taken care of this issue, switch your coolant to the standard green stuff you find in any auto parts store. The orange Dexcool can cause problems over time, especially if your system has any leaks.

 

Yes, I am planning on swapping out my heater core this Saturday. My rig is over the 100k mark and still has a lot of her original parts which have probably well served their time. I will take a look for that video -- and will document as I go. I don't think any A/C lines will be involved with what I am working on but, again, I am a total newbie. I think it will be a "job" but unsure if it will be as much of a pain as some have written in previous forum posts. ? Only time and my patience will tell.