Hi all! I have 8hrs to make a decision whether to scrap, sell or fix my truck.

1. Car overheated about a month or two ago, but has ran 1,000 miles since then. The cause was an intake type hose, and it was fixed.
2. Car overheated again today, my son heard a pop noise when he stopped at a light, car overheated, not sure how much damage. Car starts. When open hood, saw the hose going to radiator blew off the plastic part that goes to radiator. *Hose cannot be put back on, so need new radiator in order to tell the damage.

So... Do I pay $1,200 for labor and get a new radiator and thermostat, again, no idea if the overheating damaged the engine/head gaskets. All I know is that it does turn on.

Please taking votes. Disco has 152,000 miles been having issues, but thanks to Mollusc a lot of those problems have been fixed. The overheating has been a problem and maybe it is the radiator and this may fix it but I feel like I could just be throwing $1,200 away.

THANKS!

 

Could replace the radiator and thermostat yourself and save $900. Being serious as long as he didn’t drive it to long the motor should be fine as long as there was no prior symptoms of a blown headgasket

 

1200 for a rad. Dude get one for $80 on eBay and a $45 thermostat and change it
than report back

and make sure you clamp those hoses down. And buy a ultraguage , Than you will never overheat

 

I'm a dudess, and live in NYC. Sadly I don't know how to change therad and thermostat so I am at the mercy of NYC Mechanic. The $1,200 includes $450 in parts and 4.5hrs labor plus tax. For NYC it's not terrible. Just not sure if the car is fried ;-(

 

"Dudess" is classier than the west coast word, "dudette."

Unless your radiator outlet tube has a crack running along its length, I'd try getting two hose clamps, and then I'd push the radiator hose up as far as I could get it and clamp it on to the outlet pipe with both clamps side-by-side. It may give you a few days or weeks to test the engine to see if you've got hydrocarbons in the coolant from a blown head gasket.

Depending on whether you have some simple tools at hand, this may be easy or not. If you've got pliers, you can take off the spring-style hose clamp, take it to a local auto parts store, and get two worm drive hose clamps like these:



Get the same diameter hose as your original spring clamp. Or, you could just get one and continue to use your current spring clamp. Or you could get another spring clamp like the one you have already. The important idea here is to use two clamps on your radiator outlet pipe to double the area that applies clamping force to hold your hose on.

As to whether to keep your Disco or not, well, that depends on how much you like it. Rovers are generally reliable if maintained, but they aren't "low maintenance" vehicles. Most folks on this forum do their own repairs in order to make the maintenance affordable, but that can be tricky if you don't have your own garage and the knowledge to maintain your Disco. We can all learn, but the lack of a place to do repairs is a real problem for anyone (been there, done that, and it sucked). Only you can make the decision about finances versus keeping high maintenance vehicle in a high cost city. I don't envy you your choice.

Good luck,
Scott

 

Sell it and buy a reliable vehicle. Not everyone has the ability or knowledge to work on their cars. What if you drop $1200 and it fails a week later? Can you afford another grand or two?. Buy a used reliable commuter. Or don’t and keep us posted. Good luck either way.

 

I agree with SCUSERA...

Are you able to pay the $1200 and consider it part of the cost of owning a classic vehicle? Sure that is way too much but if it is a problem then you have to be realistic. You should consider selling it to someone who doesn't have to ask if they have to scrap their truck over something so normal.

 

Sell it... to me for $500.

 

Juke, you serious?!

 

I think he was