Took the Disco into the hills today after the British Field Meet since I was feeling inspired....about 3/4 of the way up started smelling the sweet smell of Dex and saw the temp gauge start creeping up. Found a spot with a view to pull over and popped the bonnet to see a disconnected hose coming off the top of the thermostat. Luckiy I had an extra galllon of coolant and a spare worm clamp to perform a field repair.

Got most of the way down and the temp started to creep up again. Pulled off and asked a family that was caming for some water, they oblliged and it was enough to get us home....phew!

Now onto the fix. Thermostat will be replaced, should I go ahead and do a cooling system overhaul? Hoses and such? Any other suggestions? I will also take this opportunity to finally say goodbye to Dex for good.

 

The Land Rover gods have spoken to you and you came away unscathed. Take the hint. Do a complete flush, new T-stat, and any hoses that are questionable. Add some Water-Wetter too. Then drink a pint and bow 3 times toward Solihull.

 

Yeah YoLo
Switch over to Peak Global Lifetime. If you look on the gallon container its compatible with OAT, which is the type Dex is. So if there is a little residual in there it OK.
I did my thermostat change and flush 2 summers ago. You can have it bled and thermo swaped in 2-3 hours if you stick with it. I flushed it twice with Preston flush. Wear some nitril gloves and go for it!

 

I agree with switching from the Dex to a global A/F, but I'm still wondering about the hose disconnected from the thermostat. Did the thermostat break, or did the clamp come loose, or did the hose give out?
I know the plastic intake gaskets on many GM vehicles that ran Dexcool. Fel-Pro and many other gasket manufactures redesigned the gaskets, and many shops are replacing the Dex with green.
How old was the thermostat, and how often was the coolant flushed? Did the Dexcool deteriorate the thermostat, or was it even a factor in this failure?
A few weekends ago, I decided to change the thermostat and every hose or plastic pipe through which coolant flowed just because of mileage (105k miles), and my old style upper hose was beginning to seep at the tee.

 

at bellevue college???

i was there

 

a couple pics

 

well since you got lucky I would certainly pay homage to the gods.. I would also look at replacing all your hoses all the your clamps. the thermostat is a must since you are going to be flushing the system and getting rid of dexcool... you can get the whole hose kit form atlantic British for a few pence over 200 ish. why et away on this one to have an old hose give way after all the luck.

 

Before you start throwing parts at it, how many miles on it, have you replaced the head gaskets yet? I would suggest yo fill/bleed the system and have it pressure tested, you will find that you have more then a t/stat issue.
Let us know what you find.

 

Why is Dex bad?

 

Dex-cool Contamination

Dexcool Pictures