I'll sniff the tail pipe while I'm at it too.

 

You should be able to tell the condition of the oil by looking at the end of the dip stick.

Good Luck!!!

 

Thanks guys. SO... no real odor at the exhaust other than exhaust smell. I could try and convince myself that it smells sweet but it seems like exhaust. No white smoke. I checked the oil level and it is over the fill line. My husband added some the other day but this is suspiciously high...

It looks like oil to me. No frothing on the stick. I think I'm going to go to an oil change place and get the oil changed and see what they see. Valve cover gaskets are leaking and the oil seems thinner looking than normal where it's seeping out. There is no green color though (which I thought was odd) but who knows. I'll report back and thanks again.

The bubbling and sudden loss of coolant is concerning. I drove to the store and back, the level was down some (2 inches?) and I added more to top it up again. Temp gauge is holding steady in the middle.

 

Let it sit for awhile, sixty minutes, then remove oil plug and see if anti-freeze comes out first. Anti-freeze is heavier than oil, so once it has sat for awhile...it should be the first liquid out...if in there. Sounds like it's in there, if the level is high. Don't be driving it to much, if there is...you will just cause more damage.

Hopefully, it's just a head gasket.

Brian.

 

Oil tastes sweet when there's coolant in it. A dab on your pinky touched yo your tongue is all it takes. Just dont swallow any.

 

Ok, so I don't know about tasting oil on my pinky...

...but I did finally get the oil cap off with channel lock grips at work. There was a little moisture on the inside of the cap but nothing that 'poured out' and the oil reservoir didn't smell sweet. No frothy looking stuff either.

I headed over to the quick lube to see if they could take a quick look. I would have done it myself but was freaking out and was thinking about having it towed to an independent joint in town. I didn't see your post, Brian, until I got home tonight.

So the verdict is still out. The level was high (over the fill mark - quite a bit) and the guys at the quick lube were puzzled because they didn't think the oil looked like there was antifreeze in it but the consistency was a little thicker than they liked (hmm.. maybe because of me?..). They said that the oil sizzled quite a bit when they drained it (more than they thought it would) and thought that maybe it could indicate that there was moisture in the oil. My hubby added oil last week and told me it was above the mark and that I should take it in to get the oil changed soon. I was thinking that maybe the fact that the oil level was higher than normal, stirred stuff up and that is why it was sizzling?

Maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part.

Regardless, the oil has been changed, the coolant is holding steady (for now) and I'm going to check both in the morning. The temp gauge stayed steady the entire ride home but I noticed that the coolant reservoir is still bubbling.

Thanks for all of your advice. I'll check in later with any updates.

 

Just a thought..

Everything seems so hot right now. Is it possible that the coolant isn't flowing as it should, resulting in very hot coolant bubbling in the reservoir and escaping out the overflow/relief tube while I drive? I recently started having the hot transmission oil light flicker on and off as I drive - could these be related?

I've never had my radiator changed, nor the thermostat. I'm the second owner and have had Bertha a little over 10 years. Could the water pump be going?.. it was replaced 5 years ago this autumn.

163,000 miles and original radiator and thermostat. What do you guys check to see if it's too hot? How are you reading your temps? I'm always reading your posts about temps but have no clue how you're coming up with them. Ultra gauge? Infrared heat gun? What are you pointing it at besides your wife's head?

 

Wow! You are way past the recommended service interval for your cooling system!

Get an OBDII dongle that hooks to your phone, around $20 or get an Ultra Gauge for about $80... Note your current operating temperatures and any codes. This itself will save you hundreds in diagnostic costs and keep you ahead of failures instead of behind them.

The key to Land Rover ownership is preventive maintenance, not reactive maintenance. Once you go reactive you are at the mercy of the mechanic with a boat and ex wife payment.

 

Diagnosing vehicles over the Internet is a tough gig...

Basically, we can only go on what you are telling us. There are basically three place your anti-freeze could be going.

1) Internal leak (head gasket/cracked block or head/lower intake manifold gasket).

2) External leak (hoses/water pump/radiator/expansion tank/head gasket, etc).

3) Burning it in the combustion system (head gasket, which then exits the exhaust system...which would also be an external leak).

So...

You said there are no visible leaks...so we rule out number two.

You said there is no hint of coolant smell in the exhaust...so we rule out number three.

That leaves us with number one (internal leak). Because your cooling system is pressurized, that allows the coolant to be heated to higher temperatures without boiling away/off. But, once it enters the crankcase...through blown head gasket or cracked block...it's no longer in a pressurized state and boils off inside the engine and exits as vapor through PCV and gets drawn into intake and burned off through combustion cycle. Usually, engines that are boiling off coolant internally smell "extra hot" or "different" when you open the hood. Now, the boiling off of anti-freeze usually happens with a somewhat small internal leak, if the leak is extensive...you'll get anti-freeze build up in the oil pan.

A cylinder compression and leak-down test would help evaluate the issue. Also, pressuring the coolant system would help detect an issue. However, to determine if it has a cracked block...normally you pull the oil pan and watch for coolant running/dripping down from one of the cylinder walls...while coolant system is pressurized.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you aren't seeing a external leak...odds are...someone's going into your engine at least head gaskets deep.

Brian.

 

Hi KD

It very much sounds like the water pump or the thermostat is crap. Is the water/coolant circulating through the reservoir OK, you can normally see it moving through? If not, it's usually the water pump or stat playing up. Don't take the temperature indicator as read, they are often wrong or crap.

If your transmission light is illuminating it may be a blocked radiator or the transmission cooler.

I'm guessing a bit but unless I see the truck it's hard to diagnose.