After a couple months of shopping, I bought this D2 in NJ on Friday and was driving it home to FL. I thought I had found a good one since they said it had a new radiator/thermo, head gasket job just done, and low mileage. It seemed to be running great, no leaks visible, no weird noises, everything worked, etc.

After about 300 miles I noticed the temp gauge was going up a bit, but it was still "inside the lines" and not close to the red so I just chalked it up to a hot summer day and didn't think much of it. I know now that anything over halfway should have gotten my attention. About 50 miles further, the temp gauge quickly shot up to red and the light came on. I immediately pulled over and killed the engine.

I let it cool down and noticed the coolant tank was empty, a good Samaritan stopped by and gave me a half gallon of coolant, so I put it in and drove < 2 miles to the nearest gas station and filled it the rest of the way. I looked for leaks and didn't easily notice anything (I'm new) - so started driving again, but after about 20 miles saw the temp gauge starting to go back up, so stopped again to investigate further. Coolant level had already gone down significantly.

Long story short, I found a local mechanic and he said I needed a water pump. I could see the leak visible coming from the pump and coolant all around it. I paid him to install a new one, and was on my way.

The truck seemed to be running great again with no overheating, temp gauge pegged in the middle. But when I checked coolant when stopped for gas it was once again low. I discovered a previously patched together hose with loose clamps coming from the expansion tank that was dripping coolant, so thought that must be the problem. Also saw some coolant coming from the hose off the throttle body heater, I was able to tighten the clamps and seemingly stop those leaks and I continued on my journey.

Next stop, still losing coolant, this time it looks like it's coming from the overflow hose off the expansion tank and cap is hissing. I only had a few hundred miles left to go and it's the middle of the night, so I continued to top it off every 100 miles or so, and eventually made it home.

Apart from having to put coolant in constantly, the truck seems to be running well, not overheating, no smoke visible from exhaust, idles stable, oil level is good and oil looks clean.

So, how screwed am I? I don't think the mechanic properly bled the system after replacing the water pump because this truck is missing the bleeder screw. He said something about using a tall funnel to bleed it, but that doesn't sound like the right procedure. Could these symptoms be caused by just needing to bleed the system properly, or am I totally screwed and need something like new heads or head gasket?

All I could think the whole way home was, my girlfriend is never going to understand why, with all this trouble, I still love my new Rover.

Thanks for any advice.

 

I'm a little late to the party but wanted to welcome you to the forum. Looks as if you have a handle on things and have posted quite a bit more. Your post made me laugh as I've been there and done that and actually said the same thing!

Welcome again