Well, I already posted this over on LandRoversOnly since I couldn't access this site at the time, but...
"...this wasn't how I wanted my 4th of July to go...
I finished replacing the water pump, all the hoses, the t-stat, and the serpentine belt. Let it run for an hour with the heater on and everything looks great. Temp was stable, sounded good, coolant levels were relatively stable. (It dropped approx 3/4 of an inch after I ran it for a 5 minutes...I figured it probably had a bubble that worked it's way out.)
Then, I decided to take it for a gentle test drive. It made it about 5 miles before it blew the lower radiator hose lose from the t-stat. I'd been watching the temp gauges like a hawk, so I pulled over as soon as it started to climb out of the normal range. Since my goal was to get it over to a shop to have the head gaskets and block tested, I had AAA tow it the rest of the way.
I had double and triple checked the hoses to make sure they were clamped tight, so I'm concerned that something is pressurizing the cooling system causing the hose to blow loose. If this is the case, the possible causes that I know of are all bad. It may take a couple days for the shop to get a chance to look at it..."
The shop just called...they've confirmed that the truck has at least got a blown head gasket. The estimate is $2200 the replace both head gaskets, send the heads out and have them tested and machined.
As far as they can tell the block is OK, or at least there isn't anything really obvious to make them think that it isn't OK. I'll pick up the estimate tomorrow, fax it over, and then we'll start to really see what the dealer is like...
"...this wasn't how I wanted my 4th of July to go...
I finished replacing the water pump, all the hoses, the t-stat, and the serpentine belt. Let it run for an hour with the heater on and everything looks great. Temp was stable, sounded good, coolant levels were relatively stable. (It dropped approx 3/4 of an inch after I ran it for a 5 minutes...I figured it probably had a bubble that worked it's way out.)
Then, I decided to take it for a gentle test drive. It made it about 5 miles before it blew the lower radiator hose lose from the t-stat. I'd been watching the temp gauges like a hawk, so I pulled over as soon as it started to climb out of the normal range. Since my goal was to get it over to a shop to have the head gaskets and block tested, I had AAA tow it the rest of the way.
I had double and triple checked the hoses to make sure they were clamped tight, so I'm concerned that something is pressurizing the cooling system causing the hose to blow loose. If this is the case, the possible causes that I know of are all bad. It may take a couple days for the shop to get a chance to look at it..."
The shop just called...they've confirmed that the truck has at least got a blown head gasket. The estimate is $2200 the replace both head gaskets, send the heads out and have them tested and machined.
As far as they can tell the block is OK, or at least there isn't anything really obvious to make them think that it isn't OK. I'll pick up the estimate tomorrow, fax it over, and then we'll start to really see what the dealer is like...
