Intermittently Overheating NEED HELP PLEASE!
 

I'm so frustrated with this issue, someone help me please! I have a LR Disco II. When I got it I was told that it overheats intermittently. I drove it home w/o any problems and actually drove it for a few days with no problems. One day I hit a bump and WaaLa it overheated very quickly. Since then the mechanic replaced the radiator (bought from a salvage yard), thermostat, water pump & hoses and also bled the system. He idled it for two hours and it was good until he drove it, and it overheated in a out 2 miles and the reservoir was dry. According to the Mechanic, he's 99.98% sure it's not a head gasket problem. He did a pressure check and no leakage at all. After all that work was done the mechanic said he got it to stop overheating but then the oil light came on. Today I go get it ant he said it overheated again and this time he found a leak at the bottom left side of the radiator. He says he's blaming it on the used radiator (although I had been driving on it when he fixed it the first time). I'm not a mechanic but have some common sense about cars and two suspicious things I noticed were: #1 the reservoir would have lots of bubbles coming up to the top as I filled it with water (was tired of paying money for many jugs of coolant). #2 after putting my hand up the exhaust it left my hand feeling oily. I checked the oil and it's normal. I'm lost as to what the problem is.

Can anyone help guide me or if you've had this problem before please tell me how you fixed it. I look forward to your advice. read thorough many of the overheating posts and see that mine is not the only one with this type issue.
THANK YOU...

Look up the bypass thermostat mod and do it but leave the thermostat out to start with. Oreilly auto parts has the coolant exhaust gas test kit you can use for free -do it. If it comes back negative you likely have plugged radiator -take your old radiator to a radiator shop and have them test it -if it is ok put it back in.

If you have to keep adding gallons of coolant, then you have a leak.

If you aren't seeing huge puddles underneath, then you have to think that the leaking coolant is being evaporated by the motor.

Well, how can coolant leak inside the motor? Head gasket? Cracked block? Cracked heads? Other?

I had intermittent overheating on mine and it ended up being the viscous clutch fan, it would work as it should sometimes and not right other times. I ended up replacing the radiator, thermostat, etc. and nothing helped until I replaced the fan. Also make sure you have a good thermostat, you'll read a lot about ones that were bad right out of the box.

NEVER get a plastic tank radiator from a junk yard/salvage yard! You can get a brand new not beat up, brittle, clogged up, or busted D2 Radiator off of Ebay for 50.00 with free shipping. I've installed several and haven't had a single issue, it was exactly like the OEM unit it replaced.

If it's leaving the reservoir tank empty you have a massive leak somewhere. The reservoirs are known to split, or crack, reservoir cap can also fail, TBH lines can pour out coolant, line from the radiator to the reservoir can also leak. Not to mention all the other coolant hoses or water pump. You can rule out HG's if the inside of the cylinders have carbon deposits on them. If any of them look steam cleaned = coolant is leaking into a cylinder. That coolant either left the system via a leak or thru the engine.

There are coolant passages at the rear of the head and the headgasket can leak without mixing coolant and oil. The coolant can leak from this area and evaporate before any major leak is noticed. Coolant may drip down on the exhaust and all that is noticed is a slight smell of coolant on occasion.

Thank you all very much!!!
 

Everyone thank you very much for the wealth of information that was given. Louts of knowledge posted here and I thank you once again. Now it's time to go out and put this into action.

Advice well taken, thank you.
 

Thank you for your advice I greatly appreciate it. I did look up radiators on eBay and found two companies that had radiators close to the price that you stated above. Most of the reviews of those companies weren't good so I did not order from them. Would you mind sending me the website of where you bought your radiators from? I will feel more comfortable buying from them knowing that you have installed several of their radiators. Thanks again, I appreciate you.

Nissens. I have used this one twice with no issues, I think it's the consensus radiator around here, check the interwebs for best prices...