So I am driving happily from my house to work last week and of course it is hot already. All of a sudden my air conditioner went out. I looked down and noticed that my temp gauge was pegged at hot. I pulled over immediately to let it cool down. I popped the hood and coolant was all over the tire well. It looked like it had come out of the expansion tank. The coolant was obviously very low. I left her sitting so she could cool off and went and found a mechanic shop down the street. They were nice enough to fill up a container of water for me. I did not want to have the vehicle towed from that spot as I did not think it would be safe for them as it was a busy on off ramp. I filled it up with water and crawled home. I went about 30 miles an hour with no air-conditioning. It did not over heat going slow and not using the air conditioner. It is currently sitting there taking sick leave. Once there I was able to inspect it more and found that the bottom extension of the overflow tank that the throttle housing return pipe connects to is cracked. I have ordered a new expansion tank from roverparts and it will be in Friday. I also ordered a new thermostat as the price is not too high and that seems like a possible culprit. I kind of think that if it was the water pump I would not have made it home. This could be flawed logic but it makes since to me as thermostats seem like they can stick before total failure where as it seems to me pumps just fail? Am I totally wrong here? Either way thermostats are not much so no harm. As I was trying to get the pipe disconnected from the overflow tank about an inch of the pipe broke off. Any reason why I cannot use it still? If not can I replace it with a hose? It seems like the plastic pipes will get brittle over time. I looked on Roverparts and found this which I think may be the correct replacement.

http://www.roverparts.com/Parts/PCH000420G.cfm

I would rather use a hose but if I cannot and you guys think it is not advisable to use the old one then I will order the replacement. It does not appear too expensive anyway.

Any thoughts are appreciated both on the pipe/hose and whether I am barking up the right tree with the thermostat.

 

You didn't say what DII you have, or how many miles are on it, but replacing the t-stat doesn't sound like a bad idea for the price. FWIW, I've heard (from far more experienced members of these forums than I) that the expansion tanks and caps need to be replaced every so often too since the DII's have pressurized cooling systems and they can crack (like yours did).

Something else to think about... Have you done the 90k service if it is close to or over 90k miles? How old are the cooling system hoses? If they're not too old, then you might be able to reuse the one your mention above, but since you're going to have to bleed the system anyway, this might be a good time to think about replacing them all...

 

You are so right, sorry. I have a 2002 and it has 84000 miles on it. The hoses look pretty good. I did not see any that looked cracked. The pipe one that cracked is the hard kind and it is possible I just used too much pressure trying to get it disconnected from the cracked overflow tank.

I looked at a hose kit but it was a little more then I can do right now especcially as I am not sure what caused the high pressure that cracked the tank yet. But if I was not broke replacing all would be the best option. If the thermostat was the prob and all runs well then I shoudl eb ready aroudn 90k to trade out the hoses.

 

tagged

 

Ok so I replaced the thermostat. I replaced the expansion tank. I cleaned up the end of the plastic hose. Refilled the coolant. Blead the air out per instructions. I have test driven it twice. The first tiem just a few miles. The second time around 20. So far so good. No leaks. No over heating. I will order a new plastic hose when I have the money.