Hey, this might sound kinda stupid, but I cannot find the coolant bleeder valve on my 2005 4.4L petrol LR3. I even went out of my way by ordering the really nice brass valve by falconworks (although it has been a couple years, I’m sure it’s still good since it was just sitting on my shelf this whole time), and now I’m stumped on where the damn thing is on my car. I consulted the LR3 Bible, the 4800 page workshop repair manual, and it clearly shows that the bleeder valve is right above the thermostat housing.


Here is the bleeder valve on the 4.4L engine in the workshop manual, the manual even has the giant black arrow pointing to it's exact location.




But when I actually look at the tubing, it’s not there.


Here's my engine. Notice the lack of bleeder valve.

I found a photo from an auto auction listing, albeit kinda blurry, of a 2008 LR3 and the bleeder valve is very visible above the thermostat housing.


a 4.4L engine from a 2008 LR3 with the bleeder valve present.


Is it possible the early 2005 4.4L petrol engines did not have this bleeder valve? I'm pretty sure the previous owner didn't do a “bleeder valve delete”, as literally everything on the car was stock, and the previous owner was the original owner and barely put 50K miles on it after 15 years of ownership. If my LR3 just doesn't have a bleeder valve due to it being the first model year, then I don’t really need the brass bleeder valve that I bought and am more than willing to just ship it to anyone that’s interested (in the continental USA of course). Hey Dakota, you interested in replacing your hardware store DIY bleeder with a nice machined brass one? Almost every problem I have with my LR3, it seems like you already have a post about it.

 

And you checked the entire length of the small coolant hose running back behind the TB?
It isn't hiding tucked under or behind the other visible hoses?

If you don't have one, just wait til you need to change the coolant, and cut/splice the bleeder in there if you want.
There are ways of changing coolant where you don't need a bleeder.

Abran did my coolant change with some power/vacuum setup, and he had no problems with my brass straight pipe.
Which is essentially the same as no bleeder/solid hose. Zero air pockets with his method.

 

I have an '05, not sure how "early" it is; I took delivery in June of 2005. It had the bleeder valve. I bought the same Falcon Works bleeder and took it to my Tech at the Dealer (yes, the dealer, he is awesome and they treat me right, price-wise) and he was like "oh....for that plastic bleeder valve? I bypassed that thing years ago; they break." ....so, not sure the PO of your vehicle had a guardian angel top-flight Tech like I am lucky enough to have, but he removed my bleeder without me ever asking him to do it, nor did he charge me anything.

Not very likely, but still more likely than your 4.4 simply not having it. All that said, if you really don't want to hang on to it, I have a buddy with an LR3 that has been trying to source one. They are sold out currently.

 

I followed the entire length of the tubing, and it just wasn't there at all. I would rather leave it as is, since I don't want to create another failure point on the almost 20 year old coolant tubing.

I'm almost 100 percent certain that it's probably just a freak accident, either "deleted" by the dealership or maybe even by one of those lube shops during the previous owner's last coolant flush, as they probably broke it and the owner might not have even known about it.
As for the falconworks bleeder, the "blemished" ones are out of stock, those are just machine shops screw-ups anyway. The "nice" ones are always in stock, albeit kinda pricey. https://www.jewellamberoil.com/sales...roducts_id=327

 

Thanks....maybe my buddy looked in the wrong place.

 

The bleeder "T fitting of death" was removed at some point. Not sure if a rolling production change or if it was a silent recall (an item changed when vehicle came in for service). I doubt silent because of the work involved, by the book, to change the hose. But I have seen a few LR3s, like the pic above, that simply lack the bleeder with no signs of removal. My neighbors current daily LR3 I believe is lacking one too. Funny thing is I bought a brand new hose and installed it when doing my water pump and t-stat housing - since it was much easier to do it then versus later on when I do the rest of the hoses. My new one, Rein aftermarket, came with a fitting. I will have to upgrade it - its a plastic OEM fitting (the fitting has a brand name, I forget it now).

edit: Maybe they were never installed in early production runs, just realized my neighbors LR3 is an early 05.

 

What are we calling "early" 05?

 

@Land_Rover My 4.4 LR3 doesn’t have the bleeder valve on the hose either. There is a bleeder valve on the top of the coolant reservoir that I have used when draining and filling radiator.