Time to buy new hoses. There is a big difference in the aftermarket that Atlantic British sells and the OEM that Rovers North sells. What's the difference, and is it big enough to bridge the $200 gap?

 

While you are at it strongly consider the 180F thermostat that Rovers North sells. As for hoses, if you can buy them so cheap you can have spares.... Rock Auto has some of them for $8. But not all of them I bet.

Most owners fall into the "replace when failed" category. Road warriors will confirm that a radiator hose will fail while SWMBO is using the vehicle and they are several connecting flights away. You are doing the best practice, changing them before they get to be a problem.

 

I have been running the AB set for two years with no problems

 

Which hoses are you referring to specifically?

 

The radiator hose package/kit.

 

Ahh right on. I'm surprised we don't carry an aftermarket version of that, thanks for the heads up. I'll see what I can do.

 

I just got my 180 thermostat from RNorth and also some new hoses from other places. I had replaced the upper hose assembly as well as the bleed screw and T fitting when I did the radiator 3 years or so ago so I felt they are ok. I got my lower hoses from Miami British on Ebay as they had a great price and got the heater hoses from Auto Parts Warehouse. I went with aftermarket ones as I see no reason that LR would make a hose worth almost twice as much as the aftermarket. I am also replacing all the crappy OEM clamps with good screw type hose clamps. I just figure that living in Houston where we have long hot summers and that my hoses were going into their 11th year it was time to replace them. I also got a new expansion tank cap.

 

The non-OEM hoses are URO parts.

There are threads here with links to other vehicle forums saying to treat URO stuff like the plague.

However, word of mouth from rover users seems to suggest that quality has improved, but I would check on them often if you go that route.

 

I bought the kit from AB, and MOST of the hoses in the kit were OEM. The top hose with the T and the hard plastic hoses specifically were land rover parts. There was only one uro, the one that went below the thermostat it seemed to be of good quality compared to some of their other hoses I've had in the past.

If you look at their site: http://www.roverparts.com/Parts/9370D2.cfm any of the hoses with G after the part number are land rover parts.

 

Zack,

I just went to roversnorth's site and I cannot find a "kit" for the D2 at all. But if you click on each hose in the cooling system section, all but 2 have an aftermarket option, which would make it cheaper than AB. What's funny is that those two hoses are aftermarket at AB, so you could probably build an entire aftermarket kit for less than $200 if you guys would source after market parts there too.

EDIT: no I lied. One hose, the one that looks like a plastic hand is OE at both places.