I'm trying to figure out why my truck wants to overheat . I know I have a leak in the back of the motor near the coil packs, but I can't see exactly where it's coming from. I have been using Bars Stop leak pellet formula for a couple years. It usually takes stops the leak for a few months . It might have overheated once in a while if the coolant was low. Or I will see a leak maybe on a hot day, put in a new bottle of Stop Leak and top off the coolant and it's good . I might lose about a quarter inch of fluid in my reservoir every two weeks. My mechanic told me I needed a heater core and the repair would cost $800 +. I need my truck every day and don't just wanna spend $800 dollars that I don't have, on a repair that might not be needed. I'm saying I think he misdiagnosed it because I don't have an inside leak, I don't smell antifreeze inside my vehicle and sometimes I could feel warm air trying to come out of the heat vents. My oil looks good, the antifreeze is green, I have no real loss of power

Well the current problem is that my bleeder valve started blowing steam once in a while. No overheating though. Then one day it spit out antifreeze. I turned it and it kept turning and was loose. The next day after a 10 minute drive on the highway, once I stopped at a turn lane after exiting the highway it overheated. The bleeder had popped off and leaked a lot of coolant out.
So I had to get the new upper radiator hose with the T connection, plastic coolant expansion hose (which I broke), and a thermostat. The leak in the back of the motor leaves almost a half of gallon of coolant on the ground when I park it. But sometimes it would be good in the morning to work. Then leak out when I get home.
Now it wants to overheat minutes after I start driving. The leak wouldnt stop like it used to.

So I think the thermostat is no good. And when I dissasembled the thermostat and hoses, I still had coolant sitting in the reservoir that wouldn't run out of the hose I took off the reservoir cap, then the coolant rushed out of the hose into my bucket on the ground. It's a Motorad thermostat. I think I need one from a strictly Landrover Parts dealer. I ran boiling water into it and the other one I already had installed. The Motorad was hesitant to open. So I ran the truck with the original thermostat, with the bleeder open and coolant cap off. I closed the bleeder when I saw coolant spit out. I left the coolant cap off till it kept burping coolant all over the place. The hidden leak by the coil packs wasn't leaking. The heat started running once it warmed up. When I closed the reservoir cap after 30 minutes, because of the coolant splashing out, the truck started overheating. Please give me some advice on how I can stop this overheating so I can at least get it to a mechanic shop without a tow truck

 

you probably have more than one issue. start fixing them. do the obvious first. then pressure test or get some uv dye to find the hard ones. system is probably gunked up and inefficient, especially with the regular introduction of the pellets that do just that.
replace that t section (you can get a brass screw) go from there. if you don't fix your cooling system, you are going to end the life of the engine

 

Three lessons I learned:


1) I had a firebird formula that would lose coolant like you explained. Mysteriously. After changing a bunch of crap, I eventually found out it was a pin-hole leak in the radiator that was shooting a stream of coolant at the exhaust manifold and vaporizing. Only while releasing pressure about 30 minutes AFTER the car was cooling down. So extremely hard to diagnose.


2) I had a '94 Jeep Cherokee that blew an upper radiator hose. Fixed it, then the water pump leaked. Fixed it. Then the radiator leaked. Fixed it. Then the lower radiator hose, fixed it, all the time spending so much money on coolant that it wasn't worth it. Not to mention 1 year of wondering if the Jeep would get from point A to point B, not unlike the stress you are having.


3) I eventually had an '02 540i which blew an upper radiator hose. I parked it. bought all rubber hoses, new expansion tank, new t-stat, new radiator, new radiator cap, everything. On one Saturday, I replaced it all. And the car ran great, and it cost me only one coolant change and one weekend (instead of multiple for the Jeep.


What I'm saying is, it's time for your coolant overhaul. EVERYTHING is old, and it could be one or many things causing your issue. You need to replace EVERYTHING: Rubber hoses, radiator, thermostat (180 degree please), expansion tank, fan clutch, etc. I'm not sure the rate of your shop, but if you do it yourself it should only be $800~1000. Granted, you won't get the heater core, but like you said; it's not the heater core if your foot well isn't wet.


With the rover, I'm half over-hauled, but I have everything else (except the radiator). But that's because the PO replaced the water pump, then a head gasket (overheated), upper radiator hose, and then he sold it to me. Come to find out, it was the $70 T-stat all along causing his issues. So again, another testament to just DO IT ALL.


Good luck.

 

i would suggest you pressure test your cooling system, but if you were going to do that you probably would have do it sometime in the last two years.

 

Unless you didn't share this part of the story it doesn't sound like you are bleeding the air out of the system at all before trying to drive it.

Any air pockets will cause instant overheating.

Are you bleeding the system when stone cold by elevating the overflow tank?

At least get the air out before trying to diagnose your other issues.

 

I put the old thermostat back on because it opened faster than the Motorad when I stood both up in a sink and poured boiling water through them at the same time. I opened the bleed screw while I poured coolant into the expansion tank till it was FULL. I heard air come out of the bleeder when I first opened it and when I idled the truck I opened the bleed screw till antifreeze came out. The temp stayed normal. I drove two blocks away and the temp gauge rose a little. I stopped and put some gas in it because it was low. Then I drove through city streets stopping at every light, rode the highway for a mile or two. And it didn't overheat. The gauge stayed normal. My idle fluctuated a little when I parked it.I drove it the next morning and the temp gauge did the same thing. Then it stayed normal for 4 miles of stop and go and highway driving. I'm thinking that I need to bleed it some more and get a new set of spark plugs for the idle.

 

I put the old thermostat back on because it opened faster than the Motorad when I stood both up in a sink and poured boiling water through them at the same time. I opened the bleed screw while I poured coolant into the expansion tank till it was FULL. I heard air come out of the bleeder when I first opened it and when I idled the truck I opened the bleed screw till antifreeze came out. The temp stayed normal. I drove two blocks away and the temp gauge rose a little. I stopped and put some gas in it because it was low. Then I drove through city streets stopping at every light, rode the highway for a mile or two. And it didn't overheat. The gauge stayed normal. My idle fluctuated a little when I parked it.I drove it the next morning and the temp gauge did the same thing. Then it stayed normal for 4 miles of stop and go and highway driving. I'm thinking that I need to bleed it some more and get a new set of spark plugs for the idle.

 

I put the old thermostat back on because it opened faster than the Motorad when I stood both up in a sink and poured boiling water through them at the same time. I opened the bleed screw while I poured coolant into the expansion tank till it was FULL. I heard air come out of the bleeder when I first opened it and when I idled the truck I opened the bleed screw till antifreeze came out. The temp stayed normal. I drove two blocks away and the temp gauge rose a little. I stopped and put some gas in it because it was low. Then I drove through city streets stopping at every light, rode the highway for a mile or two. And it didn't overheat. The gauge stayed normal. My idle fluctuated a little when I parked it.I drove it the next morning and the temp gauge did the same thing. Then it stayed normal for 4 miles of stop and go and highway driving. I'm thinking that I need to bleed it some more and get a new set of spark plugs for the idle.

 

I put the old thermostat back on because it opened faster than the Motorad when I stood both up in a sink and poured boiling water through them at the same time. I opened the bleed screw while I poured coolant into the expansion tank till it was FULL. I heard air come out of the bleeder when I first opened it and when I idled the truck I opened the bleed screw till antifreeze came out. The temp stayed normal. I drove two blocks away and the temp gauge rose a little. I stopped and put some gas in it because it was low. Then I drove through city streets stopping at every light, rode the highway for a mile or two. And it didn't overheat. The gauge stayed normal. My idle fluctuated a little when I parked it.I drove it the next morning and the temp gauge did the same thing. Then it stayed normal for 4 miles of stop and go and highway driving. I'm thinking that I need to bleed it some more and get a new set of spark plugs for the idle.

 

My antifreeze stays full with no leaks. The stop leak worked. I don't know how to bleed out air with a full coolant expansion tank