D2 Owner checking in - Some cooling issues

Hi

Thought I would register and get some help from the community

Red wine is a terrible thing, after a bit too much of it I ended up buying a 2001 D2 V8 site unseen for just under a grand... having owned one (in the states) before and being reasonable with a set of spanners I thought how bad can it get...

Anyhow, it drives ok however there is a definite issue somewhere with the coolant, the top hose gets quite hard once driven for a while so i thought maybe the head gasket was going,I took it into a 4x4 off-road specialist in East Sussex and they pressure tested it and apart from a leak in one of the hose connections (fixed but pressure in the hose still high) no external leaks were found.

If it had a slipped liner or a crack in the block what would be the other symptoms I should look for?

Also, if anyone can recommend a good & reasonable garage in Sussex region (Uckfield, East Grinstead, Lewes, Haywards Heath sort of way) that would be great

Ta

TB

PS apart from the coolant issue it's great to be back in a Disco!

Drive and monitor whether you are loosing coolant. Does the expansion cap release pressure after a drive? Change the thermostat, it's tricky to access

The hose will feel "quite hard" after all it's pressurised to 15 psi.

A slipped liner tapping can be heard from what I've seen on u tube.

For what it costs, change the water pump and thermostat, check the air bleed needle in the header tank isn't blocked and bleed properly.

Peter