My 04 Disco II has 122k miles on her. Head gaskets were done once at 94k miles already.

Car was perfect in every way - except few drops of oil after I park here and there. ONCE it gave me low oil pressure light, which disappeared after I added 1qt oil - that was like a month ago.. No funky sounds, V8 running like a V8.

I was 130 miles away from home. Got in the car, started driving, got on the highway and about 10 minutes after driving, I smell something funky, look at the temp gauge, it's all the way up with the red light on.

I pull over right away, shut it off, open the hood. Coolant burst thru the expansion tank cap and it was boiling.

I got a tow into a buddy's driveway and used alternate transportation to get back home.


Now;

- I don't have any color smoke coming out of the exhaust
- my coolant is clear orange
- engine sounds perfect - no evident liner tapping, grinding, squeaking etc.
- head gaskets were done at 94k so I highly doubt I got blown gasket
- radiator and hoses seemed hot
- don't know the maintenance history ont he thermostat
- I had AC running when it happened - around 70mph speed.


I'm thinking and thinking, is there any way, my car ran out of oil (only issue was slow drips here and there) and the block got hot, which increased the coolant temperature, so the car overheated and coolant (gases - steam) forced it's way out of the expansion cap?

What should I be checking on the driveway? I will need a long distance tow and I have one from AAA premier, but I hope my car is not toast.

Thanks

 

If you were on the highway at 70mph, check the back of your truck. The back window will tell you whether your were spilling oil or coolant while driving.

Pull the oil cap off and check for yellow in the oil. Also I would drain the oil to see how much you actually have in there. If you're not way low, then that's probably not the problem

Those DiscoII engines are known for being crap, you could have blown that gasket again.

Mine did this a few years ago and I swapped in a P38 Range Rover engine.

 

Nothing to worry at this point. Just replace the cap if the spring is loose and wont keep pressure. Change your oil if possible. Overheating degrades oil. Oil light appears when its low and sometimes when you park and the front of car is elevated but turns off when you drive. Always check your oil when theres a drip.

 

LRO3NJ, right. No need to panic. Unless you know for certain how old the coolant reservoir cap is (and even if you don't) replace it. It's a ~$15 part available at any auto parts store. Refill and bleed the system.

I see this was your first post on the forum. You may not know how to bleed the system. There are several people on this forum who write as though bleeding the cooling system is akin to sorcery or is a dark art. It's not.

If you don't have it I (all of us here, actually) recommend you download a copy of the DII workshop manual loving referred to as the RAVE. It's linked here. Follow the procedure described on p.429 of the PDF. Follow the procedure EXACTLY and do it with the engine stone cold. I have never had a problem getting the cooling system in my truck bled correctly using this procedure.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

 

You mention that your coolant is clear orange. If it's still Dexcool then you might want to consider flushing that and replacing it with green coolant. The Dexcool apparently has a bad habit of gumming up the waterworks on these trucks.

 

Thank you for the answers guys.

Let me try to answer some of the questions;

- My coolant is the Land Rover XLC - Orange stuff. I didn't use anything different.

- I've had this car for 4000 miles now and never had coolant/overheating issues before. It sits exactly at the max line when it's cold. Now, after the incident, it probably went down, but looking at the amount of coolant leaked (or shot under the cap), it's definitely not a lot. Maybe 2-3 cups max.

- With that said, if I top it off, do I still have to bleed? (I have the RAVE)

- I'll drive to the car with oil change tools and supplies, change the oil and filter on the spot, top off coolant and check what happens first.

 

You shouldn't need to bleed it if you're only topping off the reservoir but it's never a bad idea to check the bleed.

For a run-of-the-mill, slow-mo leak you see happening over time a bleed is not necessary.

Given the drama you described and the fact that you don't yet know what's going on I would probably check it in this circumstance.

 

You should also invest in a new Bleed Screw. Just amazon yourself a BMW brass bleeder lol
I suppose I would recommend this (based off my experience)
1. Change that crap LR coolant out for some green stuff. Any coolant that's green will vastly improve things (2 gallons of concentrate, don't mess with that 50/50 crap) - $30-40
2. Get you some water wetter. 1 12oz bottle will do your entire coolant system. $10
3. Buy the 180 grey t-stat. It's cheap $40
4. Buy expansion tank cap $15
5. Buy BMW brass bleeder $10
6. Install it all and Flush coolant system - If you need a guide, there are tons out there. Make sure find the one where old boy sticks the garden hose in the top radiator hose to flush. That's the ideal way to do it

You're going to want to this because these coolant systems are super prone to failure on our vehicles. I'm trying to tell you that spending $100 & 1-3 hours of your time can prolong or save you from spending $1000-$2500 on a head gasket job down the road.

You'll also likely drop running temps significantly by doing this, as well as get a marginal gain in fuel economy. Likely enough to offset the cost of the job in a year or so.

 

Others here are giving advice that is mostly sound, but my objective is to help you do the initial diagnosis and get your truck home safely.


To me that still means buy a new coolant reservoir cam, top up the coolant (plain water is fine for what you're doing right now), start the truck and see what happens.


Look for any leaks and let us know what happens.