All my Woes, Engine Rattle, Air Susp Disabled, Coolant

1822 Views 10 Replies 4 Participants Last post by gisham, Aug 19, 2010

wdalyinnh

Discussion Starter · Jan 17, 2010

My last Rangie was a 91, sold it about 6 years ago with 160K on it. Best car I ever owned. So this 03 is much nicer, but she's got some problems.

1. Misfire detected cyl no 6. I get this alot, cold start, check engine light flashes and usually goes off when engine smooths out. Sometimes the light turns to solid. Always same fault. Swapped spark modules, new plugs, same cylinder. New oil, happens less (pretty cold in NH these days, 0-10 degrees F). Did a leakdown test on 6, nice and tight.

2. New engine noise. Can't hear this in the car even with radio off. With all the noise panels off though got a fairly discerning rattle. Much worse on cold startup, seems to go away when warmed up. Thought I'd left the spark plug socket in the valve cover spark plug wells 'cause it's kinda random. Like somebody shaking a can of Krylon. Definitely not that tick tick tick of a lifter like the old push rod V8s.

3. This one tied with the others realy makes me worry. Loose coolant. Always under-pressure even dead cold. Did check that it's not a vacuum - used soap solution to see bubbles, it's blowing for sure not sucking. Lost about a gallon over the last 10K miles. Never see a spot under the car. Seems to come out the cap and evaporate and leave crystals on the expansion tank. Rotted the plastic off the hood release cable.

Still getting 15.3 mpg in wicked cold and very slippery icy weather with studded snows. Down a little from last month where I was at around 16.2. Best I've ever got is about 19 on a 200mile highway trip.

4. Air Susp Innactive. Ok this came up after I changed my oil. When I jacked up the LH side of the car to get at the oil plug. When I jacked the car up (yes it was off and the key was off, although maybe in the ingition), the EAS tried to adjust the ride. When I put her down I had the error code. My $100.00 OBDII thing doesn't seem to recognize this as an error. The disable light on my ride height adjust knob is constant on. The > < things on the outside of the message "flash" if you can call a black thing flashing.

Thanks for any advice in advance.

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Moto One

· #2 · Jan 18, 2010

Ok some of the problems could be cause by Low Battery Voltage. Yes I know that your car is starting, but it happens when it's cold, really cold. To be honest I'm not looking forward to the next cold snap, that's just starting this afternoon. As for the inactive Sup. Have you tried turning the steering full lock Left to Right and back to center. Or when it was up for the oil change, one of the ride hight sensors may have been tweaked. You would think that for an off road vehicle that will articulate like crazy, jacking up one corner would through the computer off, but hey it's a Rover.

Your coolant problem may be that you have a crack in the tank, causing it to steam out. Most of us have had catastrophic failure of the tank. Change it out (about $45) + Coolant (BMW Blue).

Drive safe.

Mark.

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03rangiemark

· #3 · Jan 18, 2010

Hello, wdalyinnh, and WELCOME TO THE FORUM!!

1. Don't know what is causing your #6 cylinder misfire. requires a little troubleshooting for more helpful inf.

2. "New engine noise."
Sounds like the vanos, variable cam timing system. Not unusual to rattle on start-up. If you search the forum, there are some in depth descriptions of what you're hearing, why it does it & what can replaced to alleviate it. regardless of whether you fix it or not, it's not considered detrimental to the engine from what I've read.

3. "This one tied with the others realy makes me worry. Loose coolant."
You may want to replace your expansion tank cap. And if you're expansion tank is leaking (they begin to leak at the seams after several years of faithful service) you would want to replace that too. Considering the age of your Rover, you may want to consider replacing hoses (especially top) too.

4. "Air Susp Innactive"
Yup. Any time you need to jack-up your Rover, pull the fuse for the EAS. Otherwise you can cause it to throw a fault code that has to be reset by service shop with the correct diagnostic equipment, unless of course you purchase one of the EAS-specific maintenance interface tools offered by some of the forum sponsors/members.
Your off-the-shelf generic OBDII code reader is just that, generic. It has generic fault codes (P-codes, pretty much) that are common to all vehicles by law. The vehicle-specific codes aren't part of it's vocabulary.

How long long have you had this one?
Pull up a comfy chair & browse this ofrum until you're sick of it. You can learn much of the MkIII and it's idiosyncrisies.(sic?)

and again...
WELCOME TO THE FORUM!!! :dance:

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wdalyinnh

Discussion Starter · #4 · Jan 18, 2010

Well Thanks so Far...

I've had her since August. Ah, new battery in September. I will change out the exp tank but that doesn't explain pressure at cold, if anything you'd expect a vacuum at cold if you loose fluid at hot. Still seems like a head gasket or crack in a casting to me. Nobody's heard that rattle eh?

bill

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wdalyinnh

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jan 18, 2010

Oops, spoke too soon, VANOS, that sounds more like it. Cause it sounds like there's a 1/2" ball bearing loose in a very sturdy hamster cage.

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Moto One

· #6 · Jan 18, 2010

I was surprised at how hight the pressure is in the cooling system. I to was thinking the worst when I blew my expansion tank. (I was passing a left lane road blocking POS) and the Rover was at redline when it went. So my first thought was a head gasket leak that was over pressuring the system.
That was 50K ago.

Now if you see a spot of coolant coming from the bell housing, that would be the a gasket leaking in the valley area. (and it will only do it when parked in the garage at home). :think: That is what I'm dealing with now.

Mark.

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· #7 · Jan 18, 2010

wdalyinnh said:
3. This one tied with the others realy makes me worry. Loose coolant. Always under-pressure even dead cold. Did check that it's not a vacuum - used soap solution to see bubbles, it's blowing for sure not sucking. Lost about a gallon over the last 10K miles. Never see a spot under the car. Seems to come out the cap and evaporate and leave crystals on the expansion tank. Rotted the plastic off the hood release cable.

Get on of these http://www.xtremerovers.com/range-rover-expansion-tank-pcd000070-p-66.html

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wdalyinnh

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jan 24, 2010

Does one really need to use BMW (or LR) Blue antifreeze at $50/gal?

So I read through the RAVE thing I downloaded (thank you very much) and discovered that this engine isn't numbered like most rovers? I thought 6 was on the LH side but the RAVE says otherwise, so I need to check that cylinder now.

The EAS section said there's a fault if you let the axle articulate too slowly while jacking and something about reseting if the axle position is repeated? I tried that but no dice. Must I bring to dealer or buy a new code reader?

So has anybody changed out their cam timing thing? Does one need all those special tools they show in the rebuild manual?

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gisham

· #9 · Aug 15, 2010

Moto One said:
I was surprised at how hight the pressure is in the cooling system. I to was thinking the worst when I blew my expansion tank. (I was passing a left lane road blocking POS) and the Rover was at redline when it went. So my first thought was a head gasket leak that was over pressuring the system.
That was 50K ago.

Now if you see a spot of coolant coming from the bell housing, that would be the a gasket leaking in the valley area. (and it will only do it when parked in the garage at home). :think: That is what I'm dealing with now.

Mark.

Mark, what did this end up being? i noticed a line of coolant coming from the bell housing this weekend. i spent an hour under and over the truck and cannot locate a leek. I just loose the drip line and cant find it on top of the motor, of course the rear of these engines is very difficult to inspect visually so my hands are doing most of the walking... i dont have my rave cd here so i was looking for some ideas...

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gisham

· #10 · Aug 15, 2010

further searching has me to believe it is either the galley leak or the manifold- unless i just missed a leak from one of the hoses- i just dont feel too comfortable working on the rear of the engine as i just cant get comfortable! I spoke with my indy and he is going to take a look this week- If your in Orlando i really recommend CH Auto http://www.chautoservice.com/

Paul and Sally are super nice and even take calls on a sunday at home!

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gisham

· #11 · Aug 19, 2010

so i guess when i was fooling around in the back of the engine i must have "fixed" my leak- the only reasonable thing that could have happened is that the leak was one of the hoses or connections and when i wiggled it I must have lodged it in a position that stopped the leak- I am sure it will return but it has not leaked a drop since the weekend and i have check coolant level daily. this does however lead me to believe it is not the galley or manifold leaking which is a good thing-

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