[RoverX1325]

Hello all, been away a while, the Disco has been running great until about an hour ago. While returning home from work, my ac started blowing warm and I smelled that awesome smell of coolant. I pulled off into a parking lot to see the entire engine bay covered in coolant and the hose that goes to the top of the thermostat blown off. I inspected the hose and thermostat and saw no damage. I let it cool down and had a friend bring me another clamp and some coolant, filled it up, bled out the air and continued home. The first thing that comes to mind is the head gasket, however, I checked the oil and saw no water droplets and the oil was not milky. There was no coolant coming out of the exhaust either. I searched online and found only a handful of similar posts that had no true answers. Am I looking at a thermostat issue? A bad clamp? Or the dreaded HG failure? I got it back home without any issues but need guidance where to go from there.

 

[Disco Mike]

How many miles on the engine, has the t/stat ever been changed and where is your bleeder screw located, is it on a black plastic tee?

 

[RoverX1325]

Just the person I was looking for. 121xxx and still running strong. Bleeder screw is on the t. I wish I could tell you the tstat has been replaced for sure. I bought it used and the dealership didn't seem to know much about it. I know its quickly become my favorite vehicle and has been very reliable thus far

 

[Disco Mike]

Might want to PM me your number and lets talk tomorrow.

 

[RoverX1325]

I can do that. I've got to work until 8ish tomorrow evening. One more quick question. I've been running the ac a lot more, could that have an affect such as this?

 

[Brit4x4]

We should chat about it now, it is typical to have this occur when it gets hot and the engine is under load and it's a DII. It could be the T-stat, it could be the hose clamp holding the hose on the T-stat, it could be HG's and it could be eight to ten year old hoses finally taking a dump.

There really is no way to know/tell here online but the issue is common and the resolution is the same. Time to change the hoses, T-stat and coolant. No shop in town (worth it's weight) would throw a three dollar bleeder screw at it and call it good, It is time to get online, break out the debit card and get new stuff. If you look you can get an upper set of hoses, a T-stat that is right and new clamps and coolant for under $250 and do it yourself. This is far less than the $3000 a used motor will set you back. You could do it little by little, a hose clamp here and a jug of coolant there...but truly, let's do it right the first time.

You won't know it's HG's until you get under the rig with a decent flashlight and shine it on the back of the block (while at operating temp). Look at the the number eight cylinder and the number 7 cylinder on the other side. Do you see seepage? Is there coolant running down the head onto the block? Coolant in the oil (pudding like substance) is an oil pump/front cover issue, rarely an HG issue. Hg's leak coolant externally not (rarely) into the oil supply.

Something within the coolant system has failed and it is time to replace/fix the issue. The best approach is to change the hoses, coolant, clamps and t-stat. possibly the water pump if it is failing. If you have coolant leaking out the weep hole, change it. If it were in my shop, I would do it all, you will eventually anyways...

 

[RoverX1325]

Thanks for the input Brit. The oil isn't milky at all and there's no coolant coming out of the pipe. Havent crawled under it yet. The waterpump was replaced about a year ago with a land rover oem one. I do know the dealership did put new hoses on it but like anything else they could fail. I know most rover issues are simple to figure out. What would cause the hose that goes into the top of the t-stat to just blow off? I would assume too much pressure?

 

[RoverX1325]

After comparing the existing t-stat to a pic of a new one I'm drawing the conclusion it has failed. The lip at the top of the pipe is no longer there to assist with keeping the hose on.

 

[Disco Mike]

The lip or neck is missing because you are still running Dexcool which tends to eat them up as well as the coolant pressure cap.

 

[RoverX1325]

I flushed it out and no longer run dexcool after reading previous posts. Guess the damage to the t-stat was done.

 

[Disco Mike]

Don't forget to replace your cap also.

 

[RoverX1325]

Making the long drive to the dealership now.

 

[Disco Mike]

Napa and most part stores have the pressure cap.

 

[RoverX1325]

I wish the local places did. NAPA needed to order it with an arrival date of Monday. I figured I would just pick one up at the dealer. I did have a heated debate with a tech whom advised me there was no proof dexcool had negative affects on the cooling system or its components and was quick to say it needed to be towed in to eliminate the probability of a bad hg.