More fun!
I came home late from work and noticed a familar vehicle parked up at the entrance to the village. Uh oh. The Range Rover has decided to release its coolant, not sure if it's all coming from the rad, but the slam panel had a good coating of coolant and the little plastic stub for the expansion bottle is still leaking. My Wife parked it up within a hundred metres or so of noticing the red light come up on the dash (She's not sure if it was temp or level, no beep) and the temp gauge was in the red. She had checked it a mile before hand at it was fine.
So, hoping it hasn't popped a head gasket....
I'm going bypass the leaking heater core and replace the radiator. I've had good results with Nissens in the past, are there any specific recommendations for P38s?

@Marty - guess it wouldn't have reached you anyway!!

I use Nissens heater cores for the Audi replacements that I do. They seem to have a good name in various circles - so I went for a Nissens one for my RR, as I'll swap it as matter-of-course when the engine gets swapped.

I think I paid £119 for mine from eBay, including shipping. Not the cheapest blue box special, but also not Land Rover green box silly money either...

Probably just aswell it's happened there, and not on the motorway down to me! I wonder where it's gone - I have heard before of the plastic tanks on the top or bottom splitting before, but again, usually on the cheaper replacements...

Still there on eBog £115.92:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NISSENS-Engine-Coolant-Radiator-OE-Quality-64319A-/112194127463?
For other alternatives:
https://www.lrdirect.com/PCC106850-Radiator-Assembly-Rr-P38-V8/?keep_https=yes

Thanks Orangebean!
I've caved, there's no way I'm going to DIY this in the snow. Also I can get the coolant sniffed first to eliminate the headgaskets. I'm hoping this was my gypsy's warning because it behaved perfectly after I stuck 4 litres* of water in it :O The priority here is get a water/pressure tight cooling circuit and then we'll have to revisit the heating. Thank God the windscreen still does the demist thing.

I'd better get the oil changed at the same time, I've been topping up with 10/40. FFS.

*Yes 4 litres... I really should have learnt by now that my wife has many excellent qualities but she's totally incapable of looking under a bonnet on a regular basis :/

4 Litres.... ouch - that's 2/3 of the cooling system capacity or there abouts!

Did you say SNOW?!? Jealous... well, maybe not good for doing DIY in but fun to play in once it's fixed...

If you've got snow, I'd offer to come up and give you a hand changing a radiator so I could have a play in it. If I hadn't already promised to replace the carpet with wooden flooring in my daughters house this weekend........

There's nothing wrong with using 10W/40 Morat
The recommended oil in the handbook for ambient -10 to +50C is ACEA A1/ ACEA A2 10W/40, 10W/50 or 10W/60

Morat wrote:

I'd better get the oil changed at the same time, I've been topping up with 10/40. FFS.

Snow?? Where??

I think Morat lives at the top of the Yorkshire Alps. Either that or it's just what we hardy southerners call a light frost :)

OldShep56 wrote:

Snow?? Where??

I knew I should have taken a photo, it's gone now - but we topped out at 1 whole degree C today :/
(and sleet)

The gasket test came back OK :) No exhaust gases in the coolant \o/
New rad tomorrow and the heater matrix will be bypassed as long as I sign a disclaimer (whut?) in case I crash due to a misted screen.
I explained that it's a temporary fix until I can see a specialist who does Audi style heater matrices ;)
So @martyuk I hope your work trip goes well and you come back dreaming of Range Rovers.

Hopefully yours will go a bit quicker than mine did :) To be fair.. changing the matrix and putting the dash back in went about as well as you'd hope, it was everything else under the bonnet that took its time :(

I'm going to need new vent doors/motors for at least one motor and I'm starting to wonder if it's worth just changing the whole damn lot. Hopefully the only changes needed under the bonnet will to un-bypass the Heater Matrix. Hopefully....

My only question now is: If coolant has corrosion inhibitors, do I have to worry about the floors rotting out?

Nah, floors have got paint on!
You do have to worry about it finding its way into electrical connectors. You get a marvellous electro-chemical reaction and they go green and horrible very quickly.

Morat wrote:

My only question now is: If coolant has corrosion inhibitors, do I have to worry about the floors rotting out?

Check the foam under the carpet, and cut it out to wash/dry it if its soaked :)

If you're thinking of looking at the blend motors or flaps, it's worth checking how stiff the distribution flaps are. Marty reckons you can get the distribution motor off without removing the dash - so if you do that, and the flaps are really stiff, it may be best to get a used heater box and modify it to loosen the flaps up. That's what I've done with mine, as well as put a brand new set of motors in it. Adds to the list of things to do... but worth it in my opinion.

Morat wrote:

My only question now is: If coolant has corrosion inhibitors, do I have to worry about the floors rotting out?

Of course they won't, the corrosion inhibitors will prevent it from corroding.......

You'll just get soggy carpets.

I've got a heater box here which I'll be freeing up the flaps on - so when I'm back and we work out when you can come down for me to fit the Audi heater core, I'll get that prepped with the new core, and then it will just be a case of swapping it out for the box which is in there..

I have spare blend motors, and the likes aswell, so it will be able to sort out whatever is going on.. but it could be a case of the motor stalling because the flaps are stuck, and with a freer heater box in there it might just all work as it should...

No doubt after I get back, I'll be itching to get stuck into Range Rovers again..

New rad tomorrow and the heater matrix will be bypassed as long as I sign a disclaimer (whut?) in case I crash due to a misted screen.

Electrically-heated, remember?

Well exactly, but they didn't want to hear about it. :shrug:
I think the boss wanted the work but the guy who looked it up online was less keen :)

Martyuk wrote:

I've got a heater box here which I'll be freeing up the flaps on - so when I'm back and we work out when you can come down for me to fit the Audi heater core, I'll get that prepped with the new core, and then it will just be a case of swapping it out for the box which is in there..

I have spare blend motors, and the likes aswell, so it will be able to sort out whatever is going on.. but it could be a case of the motor stalling because the flaps are stuck, and with a freer heater box in there it might just all work as it should...

No doubt after I get back, I'll be itching to get stuck into Range Rovers again..

Awesome :) Thanks Marty! I'm sure we'll be ready for a toasty range rover by the time you get back. Thank God you fixed the heated seats, they're going to be a real necessity after all.