95 disco with 150K miles. Had upper heater hose blow out. Replaced hose, then the lower radiator hose blew. Took it to the dealer. They say it is a head gasket. Asked if they saw coolant in oil--no. Asked if they saw or smelled coolant in exhaust--no. Asked if they did a CO check on coolant--no. Asked if they did a compression test on cylinders--no. Asked how, then, did they decide it was a head gasket. Answer, because it was blowing the hoses. Can someone tell me how you "blow" a lower radiator hose? Am I dealing with a slipped sleave that is transferring compression into the cooling system without sending coolant into the oil or combustion chamber? Trust with this dealership is already very low from other work.

 

Either both your hose were quite old and needed to be replaced or yes, you may have a head gasket issue.
Wait a couple of days and then have a chemical block test run to verify exhaust in your coolant.
If you had a sleve problem, I believe you would be running quite hot at the same time.
Mike

 

Here's one for the books. LR dealer put new hoses on and blew them again. Gave it back to me with diagnosis of clogged radiator and blown head gaskets. A week prior I had transmission service and the tech had to remove the two rubber coolant hoses from the top left of the radiator to get to the transmission line. Just for grins I checked to see if he might have reversed these hoses. I've attached a picture. He had connected the cold return from the heater to the radiator pressure relief hose outlet that should have sent water to the overflow tank. So no relief for the pressure. After I switched them back, it runs perfectely, no overheating, no blown hoses.

[IMG]local://upfiles/257/B5F4D3C9F80C4D9F97FF525C3CF3F816.jpg[/IMG]