Was at the store a mile from the home and the car stated back up without issue. I noticed the A/C didn't appear to be working, but figured it might need a new charge. Right before I got home, I noticed the engine temp light came on and there was slight noise when I slowed down to pull into the driveway. As I turned in, there was a slight puff of smoke that came out of what appeared to be the front right wheel well. I shut down the car and it sounded like a fan was on for about five minutes.

After letting the car cool down, I started back up and it's slow to start and I'm getting an ABNORMAL ENGINE CONDITION alert. I'm planning on having the car towed to my repair guy tomorrow. Any idea what the issue could be?

 

I'd guess the cooling fan (or it's control module) stopped working, or maybe the water pump failed. Smoke might have been coolant vapor venting.

Hopefully you didn't damage the head gasket by overheating, that's a risk. On this car I would not drive it any further if the temp gauge ever moves above the normal position.

Since the AC was affected, I'd guess cooling fan but it's possible that if the ECM detects an overheat that it shuts off the AC to reduce heat load.

 

How about you let the mechanic take a look and tell you what's wrong?

 

I would love to have the mechanic check it out. It is a 15 year old car, so if it's a head gasket repair I'm probably not going to pursue it. The coolant reservoir is now empty, so I refilled it and drove it around the cut-de-sac. It's leaking pretty aggressively, but I cannot pinpoint from where. does not appear to from the radiator or a hose in the immediate vicinity of the radiator. My guess is the water pump, but I'm not sure how to confirm.

 

Undo the 10mm nut that holds the radiator filling and overflow plastic container and examine the hose at the bottom. It may have come loose or developed a leak.

Aside from that, if you have never changed the coolant hoses on the truck, now would be a really good time to have the mechanic change them ALL, every last one. The hoses in the LR2 have life expectancies and 15 years is really pushing it.

One other way to check where there is a leak is to put some UV coolant dye in the reservoir tank and let it circulate. A UV light will clearly show where the leak is coming from.

 

Thanks. I'll give that a try.

Hard to see in the picture, but it's still wet from the coolant leaking. That's the front right tire.

 

This could have been caused by a coolant leak, but the reservoir has a level sensor and you should have gotten a low coolant level warning on the dash long before enough coolant leaked out to cause an overheat.

I'm guessing the coolant leaking was caused by overheat resulting in too much pressure in the system, I don't know offhand where the relief valve is but there must be one.

The overheat could be caused by a failed thermostat or an non-operating cooling fan. Also possible, worst case, that the head gasket failed and combustion gases over-pressurized the cooling system and forced coolant to leak out.

 

Lots of little coolant hoses and connectors all over on this thing. I replaced all of ours, including the radiator, last year. Based on the location of the leak on yours, which seems to be on the front passengers side area of the engine, I agree with the others here that it's potentially the coolant overflow bottle or one of the hoses connected to it. Or, since the thermostat housing is plastic, that could've given way as well.

Here is a diagram of the system - at least the parts not hidden by the radiator, along with a drawing of the thermostat and where it mounts to the engine block.

 

Thank you for the diagram. I'll give it another look when I get home tonight. I left cardboard under the car and the leak is almost dead center, rear side of the engine.

 

There is a complex coolant hose right there.