Good morning all, I changed the coolant bottle back in March and in the last 6 weeks have had the coolant warning twice and had to top up the coolant when the engine is cold by putting in over 3 litres of coolant total. Just taken it to my specialist who fitted the new bottle and when I told him that there is no liquid on my drive he said there are so many pans under the car it could be sitting there, or it could be something major.

I had no problems until the bottle was changed, I know things can go wring anytime, but what major thing could he be referring to?

Best regards

Gary Current:
1999 SL500
2006 Mini One Chrome wrapped
2008 FFRR 4.2sc

You can't get much water sitting in the covers underneath, certainly nowhere near that amount...

He's talking about cylinder head gasket, do you get any steam out the exhaust???

If it is a small leak somewhere it can spray out and hit a hot part of the engine and evaporate so you won't see a leak, you can usually find evidence by looking for a stain somewhere that is the colour of the coolant...

Best way to check for external leaks is to use a pressure tester, this pressurises the coolant and it will get forced out of the hole and as the engine is off it will be visible somewhere...

To check for CHG they do a sniff test in the header tank to smell for exhaust gases, any MOT garage can do this with the equipment they use to measure your emissions...

Check your carpets inside, up under the dash each side of the center console to check it's not the heater matrix leaking...  Pete

__________________________________________________
2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Parchment over Navy Interior. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand, Jet Interior. Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green, Ivory over Aspen Interior (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

Specialist just came back and said the radiator has had it and its £630 fitted, ouch! Current:
1999 SL500
2006 Mini One Chrome wrapped
2008 FFRR 4.2sc

AFAIR they use the same rad as the early 4.4 M62 engine, the rad is well less than £200 and it would take a mechanic less than an hour to change it...

I'd go somewhere else, sounds like a total rip off to me.... Pete

__________________________________________________
2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Parchment over Navy Interior. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand, Jet Interior. Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green, Ivory over Aspen Interior (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

To hunt for elusive evaporating leaks, get engine up to temp after dark, use a bright beam torch, not a room light, and just look around for a fine spray.
I had a hole in the rad which could not be seen from the engine side, covered by A/C rad the other, at the top so not a lot of drain down and tell tale signs, torch found it.
Of course if you have steam from the exhaust......................let's hope not.

Waiting for Land Rover to come back to me, Specialist advertises large discount on labour costs but looks like they are trying to say it takes 3 hours to change Current:
1999 SL500
2006 Mini One Chrome wrapped
2008 FFRR 4.2sc

Land Rover are the same price as the specialist despite the specialist advertising at least 40% discount on labour costs! Think i'll use dealer from now on.  Current:
1999 SL500
2006 Mini One Chrome wrapped
2008 FFRR 4.2sc

I'd find a cheaper specialist....

In fact, any garage can change a rad...  Pete

__________________________________________________
2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Parchment over Navy Interior. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand, Jet Interior. Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green, Ivory over Aspen Interior (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

Just found original part for £160 from island 4x4 near me and they've suggested a guy to fit it for me near them trying to get hold of him. Very surprised that the specialist is same price or a tenner cheaper than dealer. My merc specialist is much cheaper than the dealer. Not happy  Current:
1999 SL500
2006 Mini One Chrome wrapped
2008 FFRR 4.2sc

Having just been charge £50 for Land Rover specialist near me to look at why coolant in new coolant bottle they fitted in March is emptying itself then trying to charge me £650 to fit a new radiator which they say is the problem I will not be going back. Local dealer is the same price and found a new Land Rover part for half both the above were quoting me. When I spoke to Land Rover and explained the problem and diagnostic from specialist they said a leak as bad as mine may be would show up on the floor and they doubted it would be the radiator though would need to take a look. Well if a specialist s going to charge me £50 just to give me a solution i'm not spending another £50 for a diagnostic to tell me they can also do the job for double what i'm going to pay. Fortunately the new guy im using also exclusively deals with Land Rovers so not bothered about using my usual firm. Current:
1999 SL500
2006 Mini One Chrome wrapped
2008 FFRR 4.2sc

That's a bit more reasonable...  Pete

__________________________________________________
2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Parchment over Navy Interior. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand, Jet Interior. Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green, Ivory over Aspen Interior (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

Will be trying to avoid RCV from now on. The coolant loss was not a £650 radiator as they suggested but a £28 hose. Total bill from new guy £75.

Very annoyed with RCV as even Land Rover were surprised at their quote for a new radiator no fitting suggesting that they were charging dealer money and the fact that they suggested that when there has been absolutely no show of liquid under the car.

Breakdown of costs was around £350 for the rad and the rest vat and fitting. I found a brand new Land Rover (not patent) rad on the web for £135 vat included so RCV's mark-up comes in at a whopping 170% on the rad alone. Just shows that the statement "you are aware that these are expensive cars" is not necessarily true but that greedy merchants with their hands rummaging around in you're pockets who surround these cars is. Current:
1999 SL500
2006 Mini One Chrome wrapped
2008 FFRR 4.2sc