2013 LR4 5.0 coolant low but no leaks

ezzzzzzz

Well-known member
Apr 22, 2010
604
7
SE Va
Wife got the low coolant warning yesterday. The bottle is low. There is no sign of leakage anywhere including the crossover pipe under the intake manifold. Any suggestions?
 

Swedjen2

Well-known member
Sep 12, 2018
594
127
California
Go on Amazon and get a decent UV flashlight and UV liquid detector fluid, make sure it's for the coolant you are running - there are different ones for green and orange coolant, oil, etc.
I've had a slow leak for months and found my coolant leak after two different shops said they "found" the leak.
It was the water pump. A drip from the weep hole that was very hard to see until I used the UV light. The hole and everything below it lit up like a Christmas tree.
It's on a D2. Your results may vary.
 

Swedjen2

Well-known member
Sep 12, 2018
594
127
California
After adding the UV detection liquid to the coolant tank, I drove it for a couple days, then checked it at night.
 

1of40

Well-known member
Oct 23, 2017
244
58
Va
I’ve had the same problem. First scare was at 22k and then again at 52k. We are still under warranty so have been giving JLR the opportunity to find the leaks and fix. First round they replaced the water pump, second time they pressurized the system but couldn’t find a leak so decided to replace the expansion tank and send us on our merry way. We’ve driven less than 2k miles with the new expansion tank and the coolant level has dropped below the cold engine range. Time to waste some more time talking to the JLR service manager wall.
 

p m

Administrator
Staff member
Apr 19, 2004
15,617
838
58
La Jolla, CA
www.3rj.org
I’ve had the same problem. First scare was at 22k and then again at 52k. We are still under warranty so have been giving JLR the opportunity to find the leaks and fix. First round they replaced the water pump, second time they pressurized the system but couldn’t find a leak so decided to replace the expansion tank and send us on our merry way. We’ve driven less than 2k miles with the new expansion tank and the coolant level has dropped below the cold engine range. Time to waste some more time talking to the JLR service manager wall.
Kick them in the nuts and make them make sure it is not a cross-over pipe about to fail.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1of40

discostew

Well-known member
Sep 14, 2010
7,706
1,015
Northern Illinois
Wife got the low coolant warning yesterday. The bottle is low. There is no sign of leakage anywhere including the crossover pipe under the intake manifold. Any suggestions?
If your not adding coolant on a regular basis, then it might just be air leaving the system over time. If you would call this a constant, unexplained loss of coolant. Then yes I have some suggestions. And if you find what I'm going to tell you about, I suggest you go to Walmart and buy a 4sale sign.

The cylinder block on the right side has a cavity that is just space. It's behind the rear cylinder on the right bank. I have had more than one 5.0 that was leaking coolant into that chamber to noplace. The area is enough to hold a small amount of coolant and everything else is pushed out a hole that accepts a fur tree style fastener holding a wire harness to that side. So just like all those cylinder head outlet pipe leaks that get missed. This leak is really hard to find. Every time I have ever seen coolant get into that area and weep out the fur tree fastener hole it was because of headbolt threads being pulled out of the block. A couple times they made me fix the blocks. Helicoils in the bolt holes. After about a year one of those trucks came back with threads pulled out of the other head. So if I was going to fix one again I would probably want to pull both heads and fix all the holes. Once a 5.0 gets hot its a boat anchor. A new 5.0 still cost about $28,000.

Talking about the outlet pipes you guys are starting to talk about. The front one that sits under the throttle and behind the water pump is called the cylinder block outlet. The one on the rear of the engine is the cylinder head outlet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1of40

1of40

Well-known member
Oct 23, 2017
244
58
Va
Related update: Took my SCV6 to the third dealership to diagnose the same problem in the past two years. Here’s a pic of the coolant expansion tank low on coolant but holding pressure before I dropped it off.

Their prognosis is that there must have been air in the system. They pressure tested, topped off and sent me on my way. I’ve done all the oil changes from new and the oil has never looked light or milky or had any unusual scent. What I’m going to do is send a sample to be tested. I also want to have the exhaust tested to determine if any coolant can be detected.
 

Attachments

  • 2722135B-B1AA-497A-8612-CDB04BD1BEFE.jpeg
    2722135B-B1AA-497A-8612-CDB04BD1BEFE.jpeg
    1.4 MB · Views: 2
  • 73124C08-6F83-4E8E-B015-109257DF1299.jpeg
    73124C08-6F83-4E8E-B015-109257DF1299.jpeg
    1.5 MB · Views: 2