Hey Guys, my 01' Disco II has had a minor coolant leak for almost a month now and I went in to investigate today. It seems that it is coming from one of two spots: either the core of the radiator on the passenger side (right up against the edge of the radiator) or from the hose that connects externally to radiator next to the battery tray and connects to the engine (looks like one of the pressurized coolant hoses with the banjo fitting). I have two pics but I can't get them loaded right now. The leaking coolant on the inside seems to be a little higher than where the hose attached on the outside. Any ideas?

 

1. It won't be minor for long.

2. The temp gauge is not your pal. It will show 50% from about 135 F to about 240F or more. Depend on a scanner or Ultra Gauge. By the time the stock gauge moves off 50% you are in hot water.

3. Fooling around with small hoses usually finds the more delicate plastic stub underneath and breaks it off.

4. Radiator is $125 - $150 on line. No field fix is reliable (not melted zip ties on th plastic tank, or stopz leakz) and rad shops want no part of a brittle plastic side tank.

 

Then you think the radiator definitely needs replacing? I really appreciate those pieces of advice...

 

Sava knows.

I could have started a thread like this, then did the one about leaking at the back of my engine, then headgasket replacement and/or parting D2.

Clean all connections and recheck for exactly where the leak is...or take it somewhere to fix. If it is one of those plastic hoses...which suck...you should replace all of them. Depending on when they were replaced you may want to anyway. Including the t connector on the upper hose. If you've been using Dexcool, theyve been slowly eaten away and you should look into a flush and green coolant when you resolve the problem...checking all hoses for corrosion.

Get Ultraguage or smart phone ap w/ dongle to be sure of temps.

That about right Sava?

 

If your engine has over 100,000 miles on it, it might be worth your time and effort to replace the radiator, besides leaking, it is partially plugged up and the plastic tanks are very brittle. At the same time you might consider replacing the t/stat and coolant pressure cap because they do wear out.

 

rent or borrow a preasure tester and find out exactly were your truck is leaking before you start throwing money at it.

 

Thanks guys, my D2 has 96k on it, so I am getting close to that 100k mark. I like the idea of just a full radiator r/r because the price tag isn't gigantic. And I bet if I don't do it now and find some little fix now it will popup later, with maybe worse consequences. So, couple questions:

I should buy new correct, not used? Any recommendations for a good radiator source? Or does anyone out there on this forum have one they think is in good enough shape for them to install in their truck?

Are there any special tools I will need? (Anything Rover specific? I have a full garage of regular tools, metric and standard.)

I also have the D2 repair shop manual ( I think I downloaded it from Disco Mike a while ago) anything else I should know about doing this job myself?

Thanks a ton!

 

No special tools. Be sure to treat the small hoses with respect. And be sure to use the same mounting screws that come out, not longer ones that poke holes in the rad tank.