disco 2 td5 auto..COOLANT PROBLEM PLEASE HELP

[deantimo]

hi all ..this is my first post as i have just brought a 2000 td5 auto es...
im looking for help with my coolant problem...
the story so far...
i went on a 80 mile journey with caravan attached with no problems...
on returning i had to pull over because of temprature gauge going up towards red and loss of power..after the 2nd time i put heaters on max and then came home fine..when turned heaters to cold ,temp came back up....
does not do this while driving solo...
after looking into things more closely i seem to have alot of pressure in top hose,changed the clip onto engine with a jubille clip and stopped the leak but then was forcing coolant out on other clip to radiator...
have drained the coolant and refilled assuming an air lock was at fault but not cured things..was wondering should i replace thermostat and water pump,expansion cap...
i have no oil in water or vice versa..
its not bubbling out of expansion tank..
the top hose is rock hard..
today after getting to normal temp,switched of and felt radiator...
was hot around top hose inlet but cold everywhere else...after 15 min from switching off ,radiator started to get hot everywhere else? is this normal....PLEASE HELP....CHEERS

[listerdiesel]

Check/replace that thermostat, always the first culprit, then look at the radiator itself, sounds like you may have a blockage in the tubes.

Peter

[DOOROY]

Would go along with lister - I used the trick of turning the heater to hot and the fan full on to keep the temp down in hot weather on engines which were tending to overheat . While it helps it means that there is a problem which needs to be sorted .
The fact that the heat spread through the radiator after some time might indicate a lazy/ sticking thermostat so that would be the first step .
Then the rad itself if problem persists - maybe someone used a sealer in the past to cure a leak ; these sealers often block up a lot more than the leak .
Also the early Td5's had an issue with the cylinder head moving slightly (and causing a leak ) due to the failure of the plastic locating dowels ; if there is a history with the vehicle you could check if the dowels had ever been replaced with the steel ones .
I also found that if the hoses remain hard when the engine has cooled down it usually means a dodgy head gasket .
If there is excessive pressure in the system some part will give in a big way eventually and all coolant will be lost suddenly .
And if all the coolant goes the temp gauge will drop - as there is nothing for the sensor to sense

[deantimo]

thank you for your replies...brought a thermo today so going to do that first and flush rad out as well....
would it be possible the water pump not fully working as well ?
if the head as moved would it need skimming or just new gasket set replacement?
cheers dean....

[Jimbob292]

Might be a good idea to take out the stat, fit the housing back and carry out a complete reverse flush of the block as well, also make sure the heater valve is tuned on to hot, so you flush out the heater coil as well.