Yesterday my son and a couple of his mates were in his 2008 JK Unlimited CRD heading onto Nine Mile Beach in the Byfield National Park (north of Rockhampton). Somehow he developed a leak through his lower radiator hose and lost most of his coolant. They were stopped at the first of the dunes before the beach airing down when they noticed the puddle. First thing he did was ring Jeep Assist, they told him they would not come out there and gave him a quote of $3000 to refer it off to some remote area recovery specialist. Needless to say he's told them no. He tried ringing the RACQ but they would not come out there (even thought they were on a gazetted road - Red Rock Road), and with light fading they had to setup camp for the night. They tried taping up the hose with tape from the first aid kit but that didn't work. Yes he normally carries a roll of duct tape with him but left that kit in Blackwater when they were packing up for this trip and didn't know until he went looking for it late yesterday.
So this morning he managed to score some duct tape off a vehicle going the other way and has taped up the hose and filled the radiator with their drinking water. They made their way (slowly) up Red Rock Road towards Byfield, and since it was holding they proceeded back to Rocky. He left it with DC Motors in for assessment.
So there are limits to what Jeep Assist can do and we can't depend on them off road. Jeep Assist told him they are only contracted to provide service where access can be gained by two wheel drive vehicles. When I checked the fine print of the terms and conditions it was confirmed. Looks like we have to break down before we get off road.
Update - we have found the reason for his problem. Turns out some JK Unlimited CRDs are having lower radiator hose failures due to extreme articulation where the front diff mount is cutting through the lower hose in exactly this spot. THe photo here is exactly the problem that my son had:
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