Land Rover Repair: Coolant hose, land rover engines, landrover discovery

Question
I have a 2003 LandRover Discovery.  Today I was pulling in a parking lot and noticed the red light on and the temperature gauge not working. I am not sure if it was on for long, as I didn't notice it until I pulled in (couldnt have been on for too long).  I stopped and there was no coolant in the reserve. After letting it cool some, I realized there was a bad leak. The cooling/coolant hose looked as if it rotted. It literally crumbled as we tried to figure out how to fix the leak. Do we have to buy the whole cooling hose component(that has like three hoses coming out of it) for the one hose/part that rotted.  With the red light on, did I damage my engine? It still starts.  Very concerned!  Unsure if have to replace the whole cooling hose component.

Answer
By all means buy a hose, but the hose may be symptomatic of a bigger failure within the engine.  Put a hose on, fill it with coolant, and keep your fingers and toes crossed.  Land Rover engines are very sensitive to overheating.

Good luck with it
John Elder Robison

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