Coolant Low Notification - 2015 Range Rover Sport

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patrick27

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hi all. I am an owner of 2015 RR Sport. Low Coolant notification comes on and sometimes goes off after a mile or so. the temp gauge never passes midway b/t cold and hot. I have added a small amount and had the same issue. thoughts or suggestions? thanks in advance.
 

jlglr4

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Could just be the coolant level sensor in the coolant reservoir. You could try replacing the sensor or the reservoir (not sure if you can buy the sensor separately - probably need the whole reservoir). The reservoir is pretty easy to get out.

I’ll caution you, though, that you want to be absolutely sure you’re not actually losing coolant. Fill it to the top of the cold level fill line (or even a little above- maybe an inch or so), and mark the level with a sharpie. Keep an eye on it. Also, sniff the air around the hood when you shut the engine off after a drive - coolant will smell “sweet.” If you see or smell coolant loss, you probably want to change your coolant crossover pipes. If you wait until they burst, you can lose your engine very quickly.

This RRS is basically the same car (mechanically) as the LR4. You can browse the LR4 forum and find lots of reports of coolant crossover failures. The basic wisdom now is to change the coolant crossovers preventatively by around 70K.
 

patrick27

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jlglr4, thank you for the reply.​


I have checked the levels and they seem to drop after a longer period of driving time (varied by distance) but the temp gauge level never moves higher than "mid" level (split difference b/t cold/hot). I have topped off coolant (50/50 mix water and coolant) 2 times in the past week (~700 miles of driving b/t normal and high altitude Colorado). I can smell a the coolant (sweet or whatever but different) but do not see anywhere there is leaking or residue of a leak. Is there an easy way to check the coolant crossover pipes? Best bet to take to dealership to check out? Thank you again for the reply and assistance.
 

jlglr4

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That definitely sounds like a leak. The temp gauge won’t move because losing a little coolant isn’t going to change the temp. But that small leak can turn into a big leak real fast, and when it does, the car is suddenly out of coolant and overheats within a couple of minutes. Usually happens while people are driving and they don’t notice until it’s too late.

There is no good way to check. If you take it to the dealer, they’ll put a pressure tester on it. Might or might not show a leak - mine did not. They generally will not investigate further. For the front crossover, you can try peering down into the “V” of the engine with a flashlight and look for orange colored residue - there‘s a tiny space near the oil filter. Or, if you have a little borescope, you can shove it down there. But it’s still not definitive and the rear crossover is really tough to see.

If you’ve got about 70K or more miles on it, the best thing is to just have them changed out. Change the water pump at the same time - maybe the T-stat as well depending on your mileage. It’s not cheap if you have someone else do it, but sure beats breaking down on a road trip or, worst case, replacing the engine (which runs about $15K these days from what I hear).
 

Thomas Wember

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hi all. I am an owner of 2015 RR Sport. Low Coolant notification comes on and sometimes goes off after a mile or so. the temp gauge never passes midway b/t cold and hot. I have added a small amount and had the same issue. thoughts or suggestions? thanks in advance.
Hey there Patrick. My RR sport is a 2014. Had a similar problem and it took me a while to identify the source of the leak. Found that it was in the thermostat housing (plastic) where the 2 halves are bolted together. There is a gasket in between the halves that developed a small leak. The entire assembly with a new thermostat inside is not very expensive (less than $100) and the swap was pretty quick and straight forward. Had an issue getting the air out of the cooling system after the swap. Vapor lock. Ended up putting the expansion tank under a slight vacuum and that did the trick. As an aside, Depending on where you are (climate) and how clean you keep your car/engine bay, swapping out all of the hoses etc seems like an unnecessary expense. And, it will be quite expensive to have Land Rover do it. If your hoses and clamps look clean and in good shape… I would wait until they start to look otherwise. Just my two cents worth. Best of luck!!
 

jlglr4

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That’s a good thought on the t-stat housing - I recall there was a TSB on t-stat housing leaks.

Depending on where you are (climate) and how clean you keep your car/engine bay, swapping out all of the hoses etc seems like an unnecessary expense. And, it will be quite expensive to have Land Rover do it. If your hoses and clamps look clean and in good shape… I would wait until they start to look otherwise.

Just to clarify, I’m not talking about hoses or clamps. This is about the plastic coolant crossover pipe assemblies, and the most frequent failure is at the point where the plastic pipe enters the block (under the intake manifold). You can’t check it without removing the manifold and pulling the pipe out of the block (you can take a peek with a borescope, but won’t tell you much). And climate shouldn’t affect it - the engine is running at 200-230 regardless of weather. Near as I can tell, its just the plastic degrading where it meets the direct heat of the metal block. Here’s an example of a degraded pipe - the degraded part was actually inside the block.
 

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