Discovery 2 TD5 coolant

[Blobber]

I know there are a few Discovery lovers on here so a quick question, to drain the coolant is there a drain point/rad tap or is it just a case of pulling the bottom hose off and draining it into my sleeve?

 

[reb78]

Theres a drain 'bolt' in the front pipe that runs across the vehicle. The bolt is roughly central behind the rad under the fan. Its a solid section of pipe (i.e. not rubber)

 

[Blobber]

Great thanks for that, I will have a scrabble under it tomorrow

 

[reb78]

I cant remember how it seals. Possibly a copper washer or o ring. I think mine sealed up fine last time bit just so you are aware.

 

[Kayos]

I think it's a copper washer as per @reb78

I drained mine to replace a section of hose and fully delete the EGR cooler. No issues with sealing

 

[reb78]

If folk get stuck for copper washers like I did when I was doing a rear caliper on the D3 and melted the one I was annealing.. screwfix do a 'not so cheap but very useful' box of them in a selection of sizes. Handy to have on the shelf for emergencies.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

Great thanks for that, I will have a scrabble under it tomorrow

It will be tight.
Nip it up a bit tighter, then it should free off nicely.

 

[Blobber]

It will be tight.
Nip it up a bit tighter, then it should free off nicely.

Keep an eye out tomorrow in the "stuff I've broken" thread!

 

[Craigrob]

Perhaps teaching granny here but consider getting a vacuum coolant refill tool for the refill. makes the job a doddle & saves you getting an irlock in the heater matrix. pretty cheap off Ebay but you do tend to need an air supply to run the venturi.

 

[Blobber]

All done no dramas and it bled out ok, thanks for all the pointers, it got big bottle and little bottle though!

 

[reb78]

Oh no. Why the k-seal?!

 

[Blobber]

Oh no. Why the k-seal?!

Its always used a little bit of water, never been able to see/find anything obvious, the head gasket was "done" before we got it supposedly and always had good result with K-seal so thats what it got!

The next tool to be used will be this one if I get anymore issues

 

[reb78]

Its always used a little bit of water, never been able to see/find anything obvious, the head gasket was "done" before we got it supposedly and always had good result with K-seal so thats what it got!

The next tool to be used will be this one if I get anymore issues



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Its often the coolant filler cap if its slight loss. They can often leak from the core plug under the exhaust manifold amongst other places.

 

[Craigrob]

My initial response would have been “ take off your sleeve!”



Is one really needed? I’ve re-filled a few radiators in my time but never yet needed a more expensive gadget than a spanner or screwdriver. If the system is subject to an air-lock it will have a bleed at an appropriate point. Cheaper to read the manual (or watch youtube?) than shelling out for an unnecessary and expensive gadget that is not needed - and possibly a compressor, too, for the air supply?

Its a real pain on the disco td5's because the heater matrix is quite high up and does not have a bleed point. Even when following the manual to the letter I struggled to get heat through to the interior because of an airlock in the matrix which would not self-clear. Seems that this is a regular occurrance on this engine. Not all cooling systems are the same and the only bleed point is the top hose which requires the heater matrix airlock to go downhill for a considerable distance.
The tool was about £20 which I would not consider expensive for the amount of effort saved. Sounds like the OP was successful which is all that really matters.

 

[Blobber]

Its a real pain on the disco td5's because the heater matrix is quite high up and does not have a bleed point. Even when following the manual to the letter I struggled to get heat through to the interior because of an airlock in the matrix which would not self-clear. Seems that this is a regular occurrance on this engine. Not all cooling systems are the same and the only bleed point is the top hose which requires the heater matrix airlock to go downhill for a considerable distance.
The tool was about £20 which I would not consider expensive for the amount of effort saved. Sounds like the OP was successful which is all that really matters.

The heaters never been spectacular so perhaps its always had and still has an air lock, will just run it for a bit now and see what happens

 

[armalites]

I hate to say this but if the heater isn't very good and you are losing water I suspect there is a chance it's had a leaking heater matrix in the past and someone has put some sort of leak stop in there before. I understand why people do it but in my experience once you put any kind of leak stop in a system it will never be the same again.

They commonly leak from the fuel cooler, you can replace the o rings but you need the right tool for clips if you want the job to be easy, often with these it is the path of least resistance so you fix one and another appears root cause being head gasket especially on earlier engines with the plastic dowels.

We have 3 TD5 Disco, on 2 the heater is good and hot the other is a bit lack lustre, the one where it's not very good was bought very cheaply and there was Radweld or similar in the expansion tank. Truck runs absolutley mint so I suspect it's had a leaky matrix in the past. We should get to the bottom of it as we have the body off and fitting a galv chassis.