All is lost?

[expedio2005]

Good morning, I'm afraid I destroyed my engine. I apologize because this will be a long one. I just completed doing preventative maintenance last night on my 2014 LR4 by replacing the rear heater manifold with an aluminum one. The gaskets did not stick out as much as the factory plastic one that I also purchased. I spoke with a land rover mechanic and he suggested to add a small bead of black rtv around the gasket as added leak insurance. I also replaced the gasket for the oil cooler under the supercharger because I couldn't be sure it wasn't seeping a bit. I did spray the metal gasket with a copper gasket sealer. I replaced the front lower and upper crossover pipes originally with an aluminum version but found they leaked when doing a pressure test so I had to take the supercharger off again to replace it with the factory plastic versions which fit much better and passed the pressure test. I replaced the water pump, thermostat, turbocharger oil and coupler with a nylon one.

I followed step-by-step the the excellent video on youtube: Land Rover LR4, F/R Crossover Pipe, Water Pump, Thermostat, Coolant, Supercharger Oil/ Coupling


Now the bad part. I was able to create a vacuum and fill the cooling system with no issues. I got everything together and started my rover up and it seemed quieter than before even though the old supercharger coupler didn't have any play. I left my rover idling for about 10 minutes and everything looked and sounded great so I took it for a drive. She drove great with no issues the two miles on city roads at 40 mph and then I went on the highway where I accelerated gradually to get up to highway speed. All was going so well that I thought I'd give her some gas and work out the supercharger a bit. As soon as I did, she bucked a bit and I saw smoke in the rear view mirror and the engine light went on for about 1-2 seconds and then turned off. After this, she had a bit of a shudder the rest of the drive home and felt like the engine wanted to die at stop lights. No error lights on the dash. It got worse as I approached my house and when I pulled into my parking spot in the driveway I heard a rattling noise, almost like rocks or dice being shaken in a cup and then the engine died. When I opened my driver's door, I heard a loud high pitched sound like a warning sound that lasted 1-2 seconds, it surprised me as I've never heard this before. The overflow tank was completely full and it was dark outside but the new antifreeze may have looked darker that it should. I'm wondering if it's oil contaminated. I haven't been out today to take a closer look because it's storming atm. I pulled out my GAP ODB reader and had a number of error codes related to the entertainment system, antenna etc. but nothing engine related at all. I do think my battery is going bad because she's been doing weird, random things in the last few weeks. This happened to me about 4 years ago and all issues went away when I got a new battery.

So my questions are: 1. if the antifreeze is oil contaminated, would that mean the gasket that I replaced for the oil cooler had failed? 2. The rattling sound could mean the new nylon supercharger coupler had failed? 3. I failed to get rid of all the air gaps when I created the vacuum and filled the coolant system and the engine overheated? 4. Maybe I routed the belts incorrectly? I did check this twice but it's hard to see and is mostly by feel. Ideas on where I should start my troubleshooting search?

__________________
2003 Discovery SE7, 110k
1995 Jaguar XJS 2+2 65k
2014 Land Rover LR4 LUX

 

[jlglr4]

I think you first need to figure out if there is oil in the coolant. I’d also suck a little oil out or take a look into the oil filler cap to see if the oil looks normal,i.e, no blown headgasket.

That aside, I guess the oil cooler seal could fail and get oil in your coolant and dump oil into the intake.

If the coolant is okay, could be the supercharger bypass valve. That high pitched noise could be pressure escaping the PCV or someplace else. I’ll direct you to the below thread starting someplace on page 4 for a bypass valve experience.

Supercharger Rattle?

Awesome job brother. Please let us know any tips/tricks for rear crossover with s/c still on. Also, how did you separate the snout? The other forums talk about it being a super pain.. Not too bad. Wrestling,rapping,etc. not really stuck.

www.landroverworld.org

Let us know what you find once you have a chance to look into it more.

 

[greiswig]

^^^ what he said. You’ve given us sort of a broad problem space, so it’s difficult to help very much. But if you’re worried about oil in coolant or vice versa, check those first. Doesn’t really match the “rattling noise” though. Unless the fluid problem caused a later mechanical one.

 

[expedio2005]

So, finally got around to taking a short look at things and the antifreeze was low so I added about 2 more quarts with my vacuum pump. I evacuated the oil also and it was black, not chocolate milk colored but there was a lot of air in the system when pumping it out. I suspect it could be the rubber connector at the end of my mityvac hose that attaches to the tube in the oil filler hole. It's seen better days. My battery was very low and I know it's time to replace. I tried checking the oil level before I changed it and the dash said my battery was low. I hope that's the reason it died in my driveway after my eventful drive the other day. Fingers crossed but that still doesn't explain the rattling noise I heard in the last 30 seconds of my drive. Tomorrow I'm going to double check that the drive belt is properly routed (for the 3rd time) and then try firing her up.

 

[ftillier]

Do you have a way to read codes? I'd try to get that before running it again. Not all codes trigger a check engine light.

 

[jlglr4]

I’m wondering why the antifreeze was low by two quarts. I think the whole expansion tank is only about 2 qts, so the expansion tank must have been nearly empty. If you filled previously with a vacuum fill, shouldn’t have been any air left, so where did it go? Any signs of leaks? I guess you'll find out if you fire it back up.

 

[itsaguything]

Too many things going on here.
Firstly, “routed the belt correctly”??
Secondly, “rattling noise”??
Thirdly, “black coolant”, “down 2 qts”??
Fourthly, if there is oil in the coolant, what’s in the oil?
Fifth, “battery low”.
Lastly, where are the codes?

I’ll say it; Perhaps you took on more than you should have.
But this would be the order I would have it looked at.

 

[jlglr4]

I’ll say it; Perhaps you took on more than you should have.

That probably describes half the things I do.

 

[jp7147]

Hey, a lot to chew on for sure.
You may have multiple things going on there.
I had some of those issues after replacing lung my crossover pipes.
Believe it or not. I too a day or two later started having issues with idling and black smoke.
Codes were coming back as upper oxygen sensors. After replacing the problem persisted and the engine light kept coming back on. I also, had a weird noise as well coming out the engine that I had never heard before. Kinda sounded like a horn but not in a high pitch.
after going through the engine to see where that sound was coming from, I realized it was the PCV valve covers. I had an air vacuum leak.
I can’t believe something so small and simple could make my car feel like it was going to blow my engine.

Bought the covers on Amazon ($20)
And installed in 5min.
I’m not sure about your rattling and darker coolant.
Did you use two color types of coolant?
I would start by replacing the battery. You shouldn’t check anything else until you know for sure your battery is working properly.

 

[expedio2005]

Update: I went to start it up a couple of days ago and got a "battery low" message on the dash so I put a charge on it and then started it up. She purred like a kitten, until she didn't. I was sitting inside checking for codes while it was idling and it just died. I put my charger back on the battery and it was very low again. Today I went and got a new Interstate AGM battery (spendy $$$ unfortunately) and got it hooked up. Runs like a champ now. I have not taken it for a drive as I wanted to watch the temps for awhile and make sure it didn't burp and suck in a bunch of coolant and leave my reservoir low again. At what temp should you expect the thermostat to open and stabilize at when idling, anyone?