Hi all,

I recently bought a 2001 Landrover Discovery II TD5 which had done 200,000 Kms and appeared to be in good knick. However, I found out the coolant was leaking, and took it to a mechanic who said the whole cooling system needs replacing due to rust, since someone put straight water in it years ago. The repairs will be costly but the seller has agreed to contribute.

The car seemed to run fine, no plumes of smoke coming from the engine, power seemed normal.

What I want to know is whether it is worth replacing the cooling system, or are there likely to be intermittent problems for the rest of the car's life due to the rust that's already in there? Thinking of flushing the engine block myself...

I have always wanted a Landrover. I absolutely love the car and am quite keen to keep it.

Cheers,

DE

 

As long as you thoroughly flush out the cooling system (and maybe replace the radiator and water pump depending on how bad the rust issue is), the car is probably going to be ok.

 

Thanks. Water pump is getting replaced, and the radiator acid cleaned. The mechanic said he couldn't flush out the engine completely in a city because of the pollution. How hard is that to do?

 

Not hard just time consuming - if there was no anti freeze there is no pollution. If you had anti -freeze you have to catch it - pretty easy if you have a lift. A pain in the driveway.

Ideally you want to pull the drain plugs in the block but you can do it without.

Pull your lower rad hose off the rad and direct into something to catch the fluid, I used a flat basin and a couple of buckets.

Pop the cap off the expansion tank

Wait for everything to drain.

Empty your containers

Pull your upper rad hose off the thermostat.

Put a hose in, aimed at the engine, on LOW water pressure maybe a quarter turn or a little more.

Fill your buckets, turning the water off as needed, keep going until the water comes out clear with no particles in it.

You should be good.

Now you can pull the drain plugs, and run more water through and anything that comes out should be pretty clear so no pollution worries.

 

Don't have a lift, just a driveway... but thank you for outlining the procedure, sounds really doable.

 

Opps forgot one thing before pulling the drain plugs flush in reverse.

Put the hose in the lower rad hose and let run out the top. You sometimes get a bit more stuff out, just hitting stuff with a different flow direction.