just bought a used 02 land rover disco 2 series 7 a week or so ago....no leaks, had a huge amount of snow here and it ran like a champ, like I knew it would... Felt good about the purchase.. ..went to get oil change which was to include an air filter check.... tech came out said he screwed up and thought he pulled wrong cap and drained atf....they took it to another shop they said the cap wasn't to the atf ( they didn't say what it was to-i will be calling them in the mornin, BTW) and they did go on and check it and it was OK..the transmission fluid that is....so next day, noticed it was leaking coolant... Topped it off and drove ten mules, pulled in driveway and it allllll drained out..WTH???!!!

 

You have three possibilities
1) Expansion tank is cracked
2) one of the hoses into the expansion tank is cracked (you will some times get some coolant coming out of the overflow hose
3) bad cap

Whomever you took the car to for an oil change should never be allowed near you rover again.

 

Mine has three hoses attached. One on top coming from the radiator overflow. That can get hard and brittle. The second is larger on the bottom on the outer side - I believe it goes to the t-stat or heater core. Third one comes straight out the bottom corner nipple to the throttle body. My plastic nipple was cracked open inside the tube. That's another one that gets brittle. You should be able to isolate where it is leaking at the tank.

 

First of all, I'm so sorry that at least the first shop you took it to apparently had at least one idiot working there.

As for the coolant leak, you said it drained out quickly. Odds are the leak is from the smaller nipple on the bottom of the coolant reservoir, nearer the passenger cabin. It is a known, common failure point. The nipple for the larger hose on the bottom of the reservoir is much more robust.

As matt3502 said, it could also be the coolant reservoir cap failing to hold the required pressure, but if the tank was empty after just 10 miles I'm guessing it's the tank nipple.

If you try to inspect it it may very well break off completely. When that happened to me I simply filed down the stub on the tank to create a flat surface and inserted an appropriately-sized screw, wrapped with Teflon plumbers tape. That plugged the leak very effectively. The tape may be optional.

You can then also plug the short length of hose connecting the tank to the nylon line running to the throttle body heater. You could run it like this indefinitely, or you can order a replacement reservoir from an eBay seller for ~$35.

 

the leak seems to definitely be coming from the bottom of the expansion tank...it has not ran hot at anytime, but i definitely have to add coolant before i drive it each time because i am trying to prevent it from overheating until i can get it fixed.

 

Well, they offered to look at it today, they apologized repeatedly, and said that they will do what is necessary to rectify the situation. i feel stupid because i took it to WalMart service center, only because my husband has a 2000 and he took his there for oil changes before with no problem. With mine, the bolt was too tight so they couldnt even do the oil change for fear of stripping it. The manager, however, understood and admitted it was out of their league to do anything with the coolant situation but they will refer me to somewhere if necessary and foot the bill...

 

That explains a lot, Good to hear they will do the stand up thing and take care of it. In the future I would not let Walmart do anything except maybe replace a tire in an emergency, but then they may not have the right socket for the lugs we have. I would on the other hand, find a reputable independent shop, and have all your fluids changed. There is a thread which contains a comprehensive list on proper maintenance at the beginning of this D2 section. It is a sticky, you should read up on it so your mechanic can take care of the those things that you cannot.
Good Luck with your new to you Disco.

 

Where are you located? Perhaps someone on the forum can recommend a reputable Rover shop near you.

 

I had all of the above just 3 months ago.

 

When Joemamma says "reputable independent shop" He means independent Land Rover specific shop, not a LR dealer and not a "foreign car shop" or "import auto" shop.

If you live in an area without one, then you must take this on yourself and learn to work on these or you will be paying someone else lots of money to learn on your truck.

You can order a new expansion tank online and replace that yourself, even if you are a girl and have never done such a thing before. Pretty simple task.

Also there is something called RAVE... you need to find that online and download the D2 version. It is the workshop manual and explains most everything on these trucks. There are several links to the RAVE on this forum.

Good Luck!!!