Okay, next on the list of my new to me 2003 Disco. 121,000 miles.

Got my ultragauge installed and took it for a spin a few minutes ago... fluctuated between 194 driving and 198 at stop light. temp started up to 202 as I pulled back into the driveway and I could smell and hear coolant leak when I shut it off. Looks to be coming from the top of the motor (behind the a/c compressor) where the hose from the expansion tank goes into the top of the motor (throttle body heater was bypassed by previous owner)

Gonna let it cool down and check the hose for leak or bad clamp connection... anything else up there I should be looking for and should I put the throttle body heater back into the loop? I live in Coastal Georgia and we typically don't see temps much below 30 ever.

thanks again for all the help. you guys are invaluable.

 

Dived in this morning... had to move the a/c compressor to get access. Felt the hose and could feel a nice long slit in the bend. Twisted it to get it to break loose and this happened...



swapped the hose, topped off the reservoir, took it for a quick spin. ultragauge temps 194 - 197.8 while driving, 199 at light. checked coolant, a little lower than where it started, but expected that since I lost coolant when it blew all over yesterday. topped it off and gonna take it for another swing in the morning. cautiously optimistic.

 

Looks like you got lucky!

 

eh, maybe not...

so, a couple of quick trips and held pretty steady at 198.7. climbed to 203 at stop light but dropped back when moving again. pulled in to driveway at 204 and shut it down. checked expansion tank, all looks well. two minutes later, coolant shower. small upper hose from radiator to expansion tank popped off and spewed pretty good. Let it cool down, topped off tank. Ran at idle for about 10 mins with the a/c on to make sure that the secondary cooling fan is working (it is) ran up to 208 on the gauge, but dropped to 204 at 1500 rpm (spinning the fan faster, I suppose throws more air at it) Shut it down because I'm still nervous as ***** to get it too hot. All the hoses held this time. thoughts from here? coolant system flush? Lower radiator hose is cool to the touch, all others hot, so I guess that means the thermostat is working (also turned on the heat, which dropped temp the same as the a/c and blew hot) Good thing I'm self employed

 

I guess you're running the red coolant, right?

 

nope... green

 

any thoughts on the expansion tank hose popping off at the radiator? ordered a genuine 180 thermostat from Lucky8. Did an oil change with Rotella T6 which really quieted down the ticking I was getting... thinking about going with a little heavier oil after spending all day reading the forum (and smoking cigars) and hoping that the combo will get rid of it all together. Still nagged about that hose. No other leaks or loss of coolant since changing the split hose and more comfortable about running it around town after a bunch of ultragauge temp thread reads (mine's running between 197 and 202 at 30mph. I live on a small island and have to get to the other side, about 3 miles away, to get up to 45 due to speed limits... don't wanna get too far away in case it starts to get goofy.