Ok, a few days ago I had a "coolant low" alarm, I had been cruising quiet happily at 90km/hr. Engine running sweet, coolant had been checked that day, have had no leaks and no abnormal running or any other indications of a problem.
A short time after the alarm I stopped in a garage, no sign of trouble but I could hear gurgling sounds at idle.
Gingerly released pressure on expansion tank, which duly released 3-4L of nice green coolant.
I refilled and started up with the cap off, No check engine light and temp gauge was in the normal position, coolant flowed from the tank pretty freely and with a gentle rev the flow increased.
BLOWN HEAD GASKET THINKS I
Next day I take the RR back to the yard I bought it from, WARRANTY CLAIM
Diagnosis so far, from mechanically illiterate sales man, "bung sensor and a few leaking seals"
I actually know a mechanic that knows the mechanic that is working on the RR, and he comes highly recommended.
Must say Im confused....how does the cooling system become pressurised without exhaust gases getting into it? Apart from if you boil over, which I am confident has not happened here.
Any one else seen these symptoms and fixed it.

Hi Mate,

From my own experience, having had my head gasket detoriate without knowing it, continual low coolant alarms without any indication of a leak may indicate a problem with gaskets, it depends on the age and mileage of the vehicle. The subsequent damage to my engine now means it needs a complete new engine at the cost of over 8K sterling. So this isn't soemthing I would wish to happen to anyone else. My car had been in to find a coolant leak previously which had never been found, plus the weak coolant mixture was a good indication apparently.

All the best

The RR cooling system is a pressurised system. The only time there would be no pressure in the system is when the engine is cold. The system is pressurised to stop the coolant boiling when in normal use.

If I understand your post correctly I think you released the expansion bottle cap while the engine was still hot. This would have caused the coolant to boil and chuck itself out the coolant expansion tank.

You would need to do a block test and compression test to confirm if the head gasket has gone 56 TDV8 Vogue SE
9 Freelanders, 2x 2002 TD4ES, 2001 TD4, 2002 1.8GS, 2000 XEDI, 2x 2000 1.8ES, 2004 1.8 & 2000 1.8 GS (rolled)
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90 Lotus Elan (BRG)

Hi Andy yes correct, I accept your comments as true.
I should have said, also that the symptoms continued the next day but with expulsion of coolant while driving.
Fingers are crossed here.

Thought all RR's used pink/orange coolant?

Yes wrong coolant for a start , although it is possible the system was completely flushed before the wrong coolant was put in . 2008 MY Supercharged
Rimini Red / Jet
four zone climate
remote park heater
and no ugly kid windows.
magnus satis quod turpis satis

I have a BMW engine V8, 2004, but had a similar incident in February this year; Ironically checked the water level only that morning and topped up a little. Minding my own business, actually on my way to taxi Mother Dear to airport for her Winter hols. Didn't get there. The first inkling I had was when the following car (only doing around 30mph) backed right off and I saw what I thought was smoke following me. Stopped within 400 metres to find water everywhere in the engine bay. Called Mr RAC man who promptly arrived to establish header tank had a split on the corner from top to bottom. He attempted to 'plastic repair' the split and then refilled with water. She was a cow to restart - apparently typical if the head gasket's gone, and she boiled again very quickly. Diagnosis confirmed, and then left me, having arranged for proper recovery of stricken FF.
I had no warning whatsoever, and the temperature gauge never moved, Mr RAC man said they have two thermostats, don't know if that's true, I'm not mechanically inclined.
Recovered to favoured Indie, who then spent a little over a week, putting her right again, both banks done, front timing assembly noise rectified too.
£2500 later, she's fit again.
Not the same I know, but I would have her checked properly to see if there's an underlying fault. Mines now done 120,000 miles. This happened 20,000 miles ago.
good luck my friend!

dont panic just yet. The coolant system is a as if gets older. the system gets pressurised from the water pump to make the boiling point lower to allow the system to run hotter for emissions. mine ran at 97C but others have ran consistantly around the 107C. there are 2 stats. a mechanical and an electric/wax stat. the mechanical opens first then the electric. the electric can be opened at will if the ecu senses extra load (eg towing), full throttle to boot cooling. the coolant system works on a 50/50 mix of coolant to water. if this ratio goes above or below a set range you get the "check coolant" even if the level is correct. the only real way to check is do an sg on it.

if you suspect HGF get a sniff test done. this checks for exhaust gas's in the tank. also have a compression test done if your unsure. [img]http://www.fuelly.com/driver/rob2529/range-rover[img/]
04, 4.4V8, Vogue Oslo Blue with LPG.
"You can sleep in your car, BUT you can't race your house!!!!"

If something can't be fixed with a hammer....... You have yourself an electrical fault!

Thanks for all the replies.
Im back on the road a few things were replaced under the bonnet.
The car yard salesman was pretty vague on what had actually been done.
A sensor or two were replaced and I have a new filler cap and the upper PCV hose looks to have been changed, the coolant is also blue now.
The mechanic that worked on the FF is well known to a good friend of mine (a landy mechanic) he reports to me that the chap that worked on my FF is an excellent mechanic...........so fingers crossed all is well.

similar issues with my car

had to do a bit of speed yesterday morning due to being late for flight when the "check coolant level" warning came up. Car still ran well, temperature gauge needle remained in the centre of the gauge.

However when i got back into the car at the airport (a good 10 hours later) and started it, there was this cloud of white smoke which disappeared after a few seconds.

i parked it at home for a few hours then checked the water level and found that it required about 300ml.

The car did the same this morning, cloud of smoke which disappears after a few seconds.

So frustrating as we are about to leave on a 3500miles trip within the next 2 weeks and now this

any ideas as to what it can be

Im no expert on these L322......yet.
Seems the PCV could be a problem with theses engines, the diaphragm fails.
300mls of coolant isnt much to have to put in.
Unless you are putting that sort of volume in every 1000 miles, I would say you have an issue some other place than the head gaskets.
Do you have any obvious coolant drips that you can see, best place to start looking is at the back of the engine behind the intake manifold, there are some seriously dodgy hoses round there on these BMW engines.

Well almost two years since my original post and all is still well with the FF.
Only recent problem I have had is expansion tank replacement.