Hey all!

I recently bought a 2002 Discovery series II with 97k. The vehicle had had 2 head gasket repairs so I'd hoped most of the expensive stuff was behind it for the time being. I'm afraid I thought wrong.

From the beginning there was always a waterfall sound in the dash. But that was explained to me as just being some air in the lines I could have a shop bleed out.

As it turned out the heater core was obstructed and needed to be replaced to eliminate that sound and improve the heat. The thing was all gorped up with something like stop leak.

All was well for a couple of drives - but unfortunately the waterfall sound is starting to come back.

Any ideas on what might be going on? Cracked block? Blown head? Nothing?

The truck doesn't leak coolant that I've noticed - or very little if any. And it doesn't overheat on me - the temperature is always at the dead middle of the gauge.

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Just a guess but Iwonder if more ''gorp'' became dislodged and worked its way back into the heater core. Was it flushed or drained?

 

The whole system was not flushed and drained - apparently that's difficult to do w/o removing the radiator. But according to my mechanic there are no little metal flakes floating around in the coolant.

The heater core itself was flushed and vacuum bled.

 

No you dont need to remove the radiator to drain the cooling system, just remove the lower radiator hose.
Your system has air in it still and needs to be bled.

 

Thanks for your input Spike555

Trouble is - I've had it in the shop twice now to be bled. The sound will go away. But it comes back after a couple of drives.

 

Ahhh, now we get the rest of the story. lol
You have a leak, I am assuming once you start to hear the sound you have to add coolant?

 

Spike - this is not a lol situation - lol

I haven't had to add any coolant yet - to this point I haven't noticed it losing much if any. I checked the levels in the expansion tank just a moment ago and will get back to you tomorrow after I drive it a bunch.

Thanks

 

There is a chemical test that will change color if bubbles in coolant are exhaust gas. The test is a little over $50 from parts store, and can do maybe 15 tests.

 

I'm not making fun of you or your situation, so please dont take it like that.

You have a leak, you need to find it, the chemical test will tell you if it is a blown head gasket or not.

 

Sneaky leaks can be found with a borrowed or rented pressure tester, pump it up to 15 PSI in the coolant system and let it sit. The leak will reveal itself. Sometimes something leaks around a clamp, like under the coolant bottle, and is hard to see.