I use Seasucker, they do single double and triple bike vacuum mounts, very expensive though but quick and easy to fit any car back window or roof.
I also have a Saris Gran Fondo that fits 2 bikes on the back window and does not cover the lights or plates £160 Wiggle
Thats kinda reassuring as I really hope this is the problem.
Unfortunately its not like a traditional car thermostat. Its an external heart with the thermostat inside that connects to 4 hoses.
It starts opening at 93 and fully open at 104 but assuming the secondary port is the top it doesnt look like its fully closing but its very difficult to see as you say.
Well, I am getting frustrated now with the no arrival of the thermostat.
I took the old one of in anticipation but the cars been sitting there for 9 days now. Bloody ebay seller.
I thought I'd buy a cheap replacement first to see if that was the problem then if so buy an original but it looks like I will have to get an original from Island 4x4 now as I cant wait any longer.
There's a moral in this somewhere.
Yeah , top hose when overheated.
Rimmers are selling the genuine for £350 P/N PCC106850 . I was charged €468 which is about £375 ( not incl fitting) but it was fitted by an authorised L/R dealer.
I would agree with you if Land Rover hadnt replaced it 18 months ago. I blew through the expansion hose and it drained out through the radiator ok.
It did, I gave it a play and all the hoses more or less read the same temperature. I didnt use it on the bottom hose as its cold to touch anyway plus as a last resort before pulling the engine apart I am swapping the thermostat.
Just waiting for new thermostat to arrive.
The bottom radiator hose is definitely cold when the rest is hot but Ive just put the old thermostat in boiling water and its opened up although I didnt notice at what temperature. Hopefully it was a temperamental thermostat as on the odd occasion when it overheated the needle did drop back from the red line to centre again.
I was always topping up my coolant with no obvious signs of leaks . It was the throttle body heater plate. Very common fault. I replaced it last year which solved the problem .
Changed the hoses and flushed , it was all clean and still not fixed. Next is to replace the Thermostat.
Looking at the invoice from Land Rover who replaced my radiator 18 months ago, its just confusing. I'm not sure if they replaced the thermostat or not and looking at it under the car, it doesnt look new so I have ordered a cheaper OE replacement just to test if that fails than I'm gonna have to strip the engine I guess.
Surely that only works in the short term though as they will end up with returns and pissed off customers who will then need to buy the more expensive products anyway and maybe take their custom elsewhere due to the fact they received faulty products in the first place.
If its known that these parts are so bad why do the reputable retailers sell them, annoyingly when looking at some parts they will also only list a Britpart.
Sounds like an interesting program .
I have a few Britparts I'm waiting to return ( bought before I was knowledged) but I will wait till I'm back in the Uk otherwise the return postage will cost more than the items.
Yeah thanks, already aware of the blue box company.
The hose I'm looking at is genuine L/R
Glad to hear you found one George, just remember to keep it at the top of your tool box :)
Still waiting for Infrared thermometer to arrive .
about 18 months ago I unfortunately broke down with water pissing out from near the radiator, as soon as you topped up again it just went straight back out. Unfortunately I didnt have much choice due to location and circumstances the car was taken to a stealer of which they were pretty useless and kept saying they couldnt find the problem at first.
Just looking at the history, they replaced the radiator, thermostat , tank cap and some hoses.
http://fl.b5z.net/i/u/6064257/i/ec/COOLING_SYSTEM_HOSES_RANGE_ROVER_FROM_XA.JPG
There are 2 hoses they didnt replace which I am now going to do:
PCH118790 no 8 on the diagram though for some reason island 4x4 state its 94-98 , hopefully an error.
PCH000910 no 7 on diagram. However this one looks a slightly different design . Mine is a solid one piece hose whereas this P/N has a connecting junction and also looks like a larger diameter. Would LR of updated the design but kept the same P/N maybe.
Just waiting for that to arrive.
Tester kit arrived, negative for gas which is favourable but at the same time annoying as I still cant get to the bottom of it.
I guess the next step is to replace the hoses maybe.