Coolant consumption

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hevykevy420

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Had the low coolant light pop on at about 18k miles on the '20 D5 S/c. Checked coolant, none visible in overflow tank. Uh oh. Took it into the dealer to get this officially noted in service notes. The porter and service advisor stated..."could have just been bubbles in the coolant from the factory" and "Land rovers all just consume coolant, this is normal"!!!!!!!!! Now this might fly with a less mechanically inclined lease customer, but I actually bought this thing. To me this is like saying "aircooled VW's all leak oil, they just mark their spots LOL". I have never owned a vehicle that regularly consumed coolant.

They topped it off with an unmeasured amount of coolant, but the porter said it "took a lot" and showed me the huge coolant jug that was half full before I was topped off (now about 1/4 left or so).

Since fluid top ups are apparently "free" the dealer told me they couldn't enter any service notes without taking the vehicle in, so all I have is my own ability to document this. They agreed to "notate my account" or something to that effect (right).

There are no visible coolant leaks or anything being left on the pavement, so I have to assume its getting burnt in the combustion chamber. Does anyone have any experience with coolant consumption? The fact that the vehicle porter has a jug of coolant by his check in stand tells me a lot...
 

ar077

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If a dealer told me that it was normal for a vehicle to consume coolant I'd find another dealer to service my vehicle. Assuming that "Woke Island" Texas (AKA Austin) has only one Land Rover Dealer, you're just going to have to leave your D5 with them the next time it needs coolant.
 

LR4 in CO

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My 2019 LR5 will be 2 yrs old next month. It lives at altitude and sits in winter temps colder than -10 F and gets driven in Denver with temps at over 100 F. It has never needed a coolant addition.
 

BeemerNut

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"couldn't enter any service notes", hell this sounds like they do not want any records of your loss of coolant issues.
Go ahead and have it "officially documented as service issue problem", yes it will cost you this documented service vs should something happen later costing much more.

Sure bet they will replace a part or gasket free fixing a problem then give you a $3,000 labor bill not covering labor replacing a as example $29 part gasket or seal.

Been there done that with a "Western General's 7/100K mile extended warranty" trying to wiggle out of a failing engine requiring replacement. Attorney letterhead paperwork got their attention after several months doing battle. Best part I saved "Western General" $1,100 as I located a factory new shortblock to replace the not to be found in the US a 3.9 shortblock, this was a 4.6 shortblock I located. The 0.422" added ****** an improvement later replaced with a 4.9 crank when the 7/100K had expired a month later. Win win still smiling and running 21 years later. The 3.9 was a guttless ****.....~~=o&o>.....
 

hevykevy420

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Resurrecting this old post, to provide a resolution (hopefully). I had the disco5 in recently for some niggling issues. While the car was in the shop (over 2 weeks), in possession of the dealership, the low coolant light popped on (again). To the dealership's credit, they could have simply topped up the coolant, returned the car to me, and I would have never known. BUT, fortunately for me, they took the time to look into it (this time), and complete a pressure test. I actually had it in for OTHER issues, so lucky to get this finally addressed:

There was a coolant leak in the engine valley, underneath the supercharger (according to the service notes). They completed a pressure test (failed), and pulled the supercharger and a leaky "cylinder head outlet pipe to engine block connection" was the culprit. It looks like they replaced two coolant pipes and a few related gaskets and re-presssure tested. I'm assuming the hot engine/vee was simply burning off the leaking coolant, which is why I never noticed any leaks under the car or in the engine bay. So if anyone has a recurring coolant light, make sure to demand a pressure test. Why this wasn't done the first time I had it in for low coolant, is beyond me.

Just glad this was taken care of under warranty, I imagine the labor to pull the s/c is not exactly cheap. Lets just hope this repair was the actual cause, and i'm not up against head gasket concerns.

I'm beginning to realize if you want anything ACTUALLY FIXED by the LR dealership, it will involve multiple trips, waiting forever for a loaner, and wading through a sea of verbal BS. What really aggravates me is hearing a bunch of BS excuses from everyone from the check-in folks, to the service advisors, the managers, etc. about everything I have requested repairs on. For this coolant issue it was everything from bubbles in the coolant, factory didn't top it off, LRs *ALL* burn coolant, to "don't worry about it because we'll keep topping it off for FREE" lol. Just kick the warranty period can down the road as far as possible I guess???

I have a headliner/rear moonroof creak/rattle that has been blamed on everything from "LR suspension just makes noises", a plastic cosmetic license plate cover, and this last time they said it was caused by my all-terrain tires! Pretty sure next time they "troubleshoot" this noise issue it will be NO DOUBT caused by my window tint. I'm truly shocked by how far the dealership will go to avoid actually digging into an issue and fixing it, that you can repeatedly demonstrate on a ride-along with a shop foreman.

Negative survey feedback returns just generate a canned "sorry we didn't meet your expectations, let us know what we can do" email response.
 

DonC

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I picked up a D5 late last year up in Dallas after my lr4 was hit in Houston. Since I could not wait for a new vehicle to arrive i purchased used up in Dallas and brought it home about 3.5 hours away. I noticed a coolant smell when i stopped at a rest area but did not see where the level had dropped after checking it. Once i got home, i crawled underneath and still no signs of any leaks but still a strong smell. I decided to dig some more into this since it was stated by the dealership that it had been recently serviced. After checking all the usual areas, I pulled the SC off and when i check the cross over pipes they were brand new but had been force down into place. This appeared to have caused the rubber o rings not to seal properly. I decided to just replace everything new since i was that far into it. (even the rear cross over pipe). It was not too bad of a job to pull the supercharger but that might have been since it had been recently removed at the dealership. I did find an issue with the SC coupler as well so I had the SC exchanged out. Overkill yes but I still had a rental from the accident so doing all this then made sense.
I have not trusted dealership work from all the way back in the early 2000s when i had some work done on my D1 (Austin) that was not correct. Heck even with my D2 under warranty I would pull right in front of the shop (LRFW) and crawl under it to check their work.

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