After I came home from work today I noticed streaks of coolant in weird places - on the battery box/cover and passenger side of the fan cowl. After further investigation I found the bottom hose on the tstat was wet and slimy, and there was a ring of coolant around the lip that runs circumferential around the tstat in the middle. The top two hoses were dry as a bone. It also happens that the bottom hose has a factory style crappy hose clamp, whereas the top two have worm gear clamps. There was also a wet spot on the underside of the hood around where the battery cover and fan cowl meet, about the diameter of a baseball.

The tstat is a new genuine 180, hoses were replaced within the past few months. I changed the radiator and water pump last weekend, and have not had any issues until I noticed today. It did not look like the coolant level dropped and I just topped it off this morning. I really don't want to have to drain the coolant again to replace that stupid factory hose clamp, if that is the case, but I will if needed...

Pictures are below, and I can take more if it is not clear enough.

It's 2002 Disco 2 with 95K miles on it.

 

you don't have to drain it.
remove tension from clamp and slide it away.
take new worm clamp and unscrew all the way.
wrap it around the area and reattach.
tighten.


are you sure its not coming from a heater hose or that fancy brass bleed screw?

 

The weird thing was every hose was dry except the bottom tstat one that connects to the radiator. This makes me think its not a heater hose or the bleed screw.

I had to take it apart because the clamp was inaccessible.......... Need to remember these things when putting things together.

When I was looking at the tstat I noticed a small split along the seam where the two halves would meet. I took some pictures as it did not look right to me. As you move through the pictures you can see where it is separated versus where it is not.

I have been fixing coolant leaks for the last month. I think as the pressure rises after I fix the leaks, another one is blown out....

 

I hate those stupid inline turds

 

So...... you think I need a new tstat....?

-_-

 

yeah that doesn't look right to me. To me there should be a smooth even gap all the way around. Not a spread on one side and tight on the other.

 

Sounds obvious but recheck all of your clamps. After I replaced my water pump and ALL coolant hoses I went over every clamp a week later and it was scary how loose a few of them were. So I tightened all clamps the second time and that has done the trick everything is staying tight now.

 

it looks like it maybe separating.......get some uv dye and add it to the system. that way you can easily trace the leak to its source. if you are losing anything out of that seam it will be immediately noticeable with a fluorescent light. it's like 2 or 3 dollars for the dye stuff and you can use the same bottle for a long time.

 

Thanks for the responses, very insightful. I have tightened up the hose clamps and replaced a few of the remaining factory clips. Where can I get hose clamps that are small enough to fit around the TB heater and radiator bleed pipes?

Any idea what could have caused this? I don't remember throwing it against the wall, but I have blacked out from anger many times while fixing this car...

 

Clamps > ABA Hose Clamps
Another good place for clamps and other hardware > https://www.belmetric.com/metric-clamps-c-15.html


Why did the thermostat housing fail? The ultrasonic weld that joins those 2 pieces was crap. Welcome to low cost OEM LR parts.