LagondaNet

[electronaut]

I have a new-to-me 1989 Series IV. It appears to be in great condition, but of course any car that age can have things go wrong.

The day after I took delivery of it, I drove it to the local inspection station to get it inspected in my state. As I pulled into the parking lot, the top left radiator hose completely split lengthwise. Of course.

I'm assuming this is just due to the age of the hoses and will go ahead and get all the radiator hoses replaced. I have a local indy shop that will do a "quick" fix with some temporary hoses, but are there any sources for OEM hoses (or parts substitution from other cars they were sourced from)?

Where do you all try to obtain parts? I'm in the U.S. I'm aware of astonmartinbits.com from other cars I own, but I don't know if they have any Lagonda parts availability. I know many things are unobtanium and have to be either rigged or made, but to the extent anything is available, I'd of course prefer to buy the proper part.

[electronaut]

I will answer some of this myself to try to help others.

Disclaimer: I have a U.S. market LHD Series IV Lagonda. It (like all Series 4) is fuel injected (EFI). Anything I say here may not apply to other series. Also, I am a newbie at this, so pull a Ronald Reagan and trust but verify.

Apparently Aston Martin makes a replacement hose kit for all of the engine hoses. It is made out of silicone, so thus is pretty durable, but is kind of shiny and doesn't match the original hoses. I have no idea on cost yet, but if you, like me, are looking to replace all engine hoses, this is probably your best bet. I had a custom top radiator hose made, and the labor on that was not cheap. I'm sure the AML set is not cheap either, but you know it will be right. That said, if you don't like the idea of the shiny black silicone hoses, they do have some old stock original hoses, but it isn't clear if they have all of them, and you are probably also taking your chances with the rubber having degraded over time.

I was also asking about replacement valve cover gaskets. It turns out the EFI engines on the Lagonda don't have valve cover gaskets. Instead they use a sealant -- Loctite 509 Flange Sealant to be exact. Aston Martin recommends replacing the "D" rubbers and the cam cover screw sealing and spring washers at the same time. Those of you more mechanically-inclined than me will know what all of that means. I'll find out what it all means once I get the parts ordered and hand them over to the local indy shop.

I hope this helps some other owners with similar questions as mine down the road! I've only put about 50 miles on mine so far, but once getting the top radiator hose fixed up, she passed inspection easily and is now registered, etc.

[Vincent]

The 'D' seal plugs ref is 080.007.0111. Cheap parts. You need 4.
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