Thread: D2a cooling system

I'm chasing some advice, yesterday while driving to catch up with a few mates I noticed the temp gauge spike on my 2003 D2 Td5. On investigation I found that a blanking plug on the rear end of the oil cooler assembly had split. A quick tow home and overnight to let everything cool down had the blanking plug replaced and the Disco up and running again. I think I managed to pull her up in time before any damage was done, time will tell. After looking at the workshop manual, it appears that the D2 should not have a blanking plug in the area found, both pre and post EU3 models have an return line running either to the radiator or to the EGR cooler. I do have the metal oil cooler return line mounted on the rear of the engine but no hoses connecting it to the cooling system. My question is, has a previous owner removed these lines or was this how it came out of the factory ? I have had the Disco for 7 years and never had an issue with the cooling system so have never needed to look at it, other than normal maintenance. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

G'day Chook.
Hopefully no damage done there mate. Best thing you can fit to a Td5 is a combined low coolant/TM2 engine watchdog alarm as the factory gauge is compensated and often when it goes sky high its too late. My 04 has the metal pipes around the back of the motor that are not connected to anything. From your description, it sounds like the hidden hose down behind the turbo that has a rubber blanking plug on the 03, 04 models is the part that failed?
Regards
Robbo