Listen to your mechanics but always have your own tools.

[CordlessDrill]

This is a shaggy dog story so please bear with me.. Read it in a Paul Harvey voice if it makes it easier.
I had Rising Sun do an oil change on my L300 recently. I don't really have somewhere to do it myself and didn't want to deal with the kids at the jiffy-lube. They said that my radiator hoses were bad and I should seriously be thinking about replacing them. Since this is not my first trip to the rodeo, I immediately came here and read everything the search could find, quickly got bored and switched over to lol cats and 4x4 crash videos. I resolved I would do all of that sometime in the future.. soon.
I was hearing a clunking noise from my right front and pulled the wheel to check the brakes, only I didn't because one of the wheel studs was stripped and spun and spun and spun. I just replaced my tires at WalMart so what do you guess. The tires were cheap but the people with the tools were too.
I hacked the nut off with a grinder and have been hunting for an oversized wheel stud but they are hard to find. I had a good relationship with Aundre's Automotive and went to go ask his recommendation but he's not there any more because he sold out to some other guy. Since I'm here. I'll go talk to the folks at Rising Sun.
Half hour later, I walk back to my van to see water dripping. Insert expletive here.
Quick look and the top rad hose is blown out at the bend where it enters the engine. The hose is soft, squishy and feels like a warm dead trout. They told me they were original hoses and now I can only say they were right and I should have paid attention to the warning.
It's pushing 5:30 but I go back to Rising Son and buy the hoses and swap out the top one. Thank you Rising Son for hanging around and unlocking the doors for me.

..and now the rest of the story..

Here's where the title relates to what I'm saying for all you folks who stuck with me on this..
The mechanic had already gone home and I would be boned for a weekend if I didn't fix this myself..
Carry your own tools and know how to use them when you need to. This was work I was planning to do some other time but it was forced upon me at a very good time. They warned me about this problem and they were right.
That hose blew out when I was stopped and had it gone when I was rolling, my only indication may have been steam in the rear view mirrors because the water temperature gauge can't measure anything when the water is gone.

[thelazygreenfox]

CD
Yup! always carry tools!

MY RH blew at -10 C 30 km west of Burns Lake at 2 AM returning from a fishing trip.
Towed it into Napa in Burns Lake and installed a new hose at 7 am.

The next night I skidded off an icy road in the Pine Pass going to Ft St John. No harm done, towed her back onto the road and drove on. Tough vehicles!
TLGF

[thedjjack]

Worth while to change out rad hoses and belts when you do maintenance...

Then put the old hoses and belts in the back with some tools... you never know when you will need one...