[desertdude]

Ok long story short, car severely overheated, so much so after opening the oil cap there was smoke coming out from there as well, the pipe from radiator going to the trans thermostat came off. Its been a week since and I'm still not sure if the head gasket is gone or now.

There is no sniffer test available so I have to go on my own diagnosis. Car does not overheat, thermostat is not an issue, fan, rad etc etc but seems to me the system is getting over-pressurized but holds the pressure for more than a day, as in if I let it cool down overnight and then the next there is still pressure in the system. No oil in the coolant but can smell some new smell in the expansion tank every time I open it.

Maybe I'm not bleeding the system right although I've had Land Rovers and Range Rovers for 10 plus years now and never had an airlock issue, and am following the official procedure of refilling as mentioned in Rave. I did see coolant seeping out of the expansion tank when at temp and hose pipes hard but I am thinking that could be because I overfilled the tank.

I can hear and see bubbles along with coolant when engine switched off after a drive and I loosen the bleed screw, and takes a while for only a steady stream of coolant.

Temp doesn't go over 100C but pipes are rock hard and I don't drive it for too long fearing I might blow. But it drives just fine temp needle stays in the middle and the secret menu as well as the car soft ( no codes btw ) always show temp below or close to 100C

So no overheating, no steam from exhaust, no oil in coolant, holds pressure overnight just over pressurized ( or what i think is over pressurized )

I read in one of the posts while searching that it has taken some people a couple of days to get rid of all air the system, drive a few miles, the bleed the air from the screw, repeat this over a couple of days, maybe thats what I need to do to?

 

[kg74]

Desert Dude: Do you have coolant in the oil? Does the RR smoke white? Does the RR run properly?

Why did the pipe come off? Maybe you have an issue, like a stuck thermostat, which caused the pipe to come off.

Do some more digging and report back with your findings.

 

[desertdude]

Desert Dude: Do you have coolant in the oil? Does the RR smoke white? Does the RR run properly?

Why did the pipe come off? Maybe you have an issue, like a stuck thermostat, which caused the pipe to come off.

Do some more digging and report back with your findings.

I already stated all of this in my post.

 

[kg74]

Desert Dude: I missed the "no steam from the exhaust", but you do not say whether there is coolant in the oil, only oil in the coolant. It can go both ways. Look at both and smell both.

You do not answer why the pipe came off - only that it did. Unless you had a pressure problem before, the hose pipe was not installed correctly or the hose pipe came off because of age/failure the hose pipe should not come off.

How do you know all of the items you listed are fine? From half way across the world I can only tell you what I would do to diagnosis the problem.

You state you have what you feel is excessive pressure now, post incident, but I am saying you may have had it all along. That is what you need to eliminate.

I did not try to help to be dismissed.

 

[desertdude]

The pipe probably came off most probably because Ive had been fiddling with it recently. I know the other things because Im always on top of things and what to look for have had relatively trouble free 20 yrs of Land Rover and Range Rover ownership, but this is my first rodeo with a L322 so have been even more cautious than normal.

Only this was a very hectic day, was moving to a new place in an emergency with the family out of town and me having to pack and take care of everything in under 6 hrs, more like an evacuation than a move, so maybe in all that stress that I missed something.

Anyways Ive been monitoring the car like a hawk since then, I know you are trying to help by going down the proper troubleshooting route of checking every item one by one but in the 2 weeks since the incindent I have double tripled checked everything, and everything seems to be fine.

Maybe like you said Im just not used to pipes being hard and to be honest I cant remember what they were like before, although Ive checked them many times before Ive read in many posts that these cars usually do have.

Like I said I everything seems fine to me, no cross contaminations of liquids, no bubbles, no steam, no stat or fan issues. Car drives fine, doesnt overheat. Just that I feel the system is getting more pressure than it should.