Warm Engine Temps

[brianb883]

My 04 Disco SE has been running pretty warm at idle lately. When I sit still long enough it gets up to 215 according to the scangauge, but never higher and it never moves the dash needle. When I'm driving, or rev the engine, it brings the temp down a bit, and on the highway I am between 193 and 195. I just put in a new (used) fan/clutch, courtesy of Marty Powell. He was great, had a great price and quick shipping. I trust his word when he says the fan was in perfect working condition when he pulled it, however after installing it heres what I have seen. It sounds louder and seems to move more air then the old fan, however I still have hit between 207 and 211 consistently at idle.

I can hear the electronic fans engaging, made sure the cooling system is filled with 50/50 and properly bled, replaced the thermostat about 17k miles ago when I did the head gaskets. My next idea was that the thermostat has gone bad and that I should try a replacement considering its only around $20. Does anybody have any insight on this? I've gotta drive it, but am uneasy about these above normal temperatures.

 

[wheelen disco]

Perhaps your radiator is plugged.

 

[brianb883]

It crossed my mind, how would I have it cleaned/flushed?

 

[kwmnh]

i feel your pain mate, im done messing with my, the problems never stop with LR.
extend warranty it, and have a piece of mind, i know i did.
Good Luck.

 

[kwmnh]

just disconnect both top and lower radiator pipe, and put water in the top one and see if you have good flow through the lower one....

 

[jeffro0502]

Or just get a new radiator from Will, and buy the parts to do the t-stat mod at same time with a cooler one. You will be more than happy with the results.

 

[DarylJ]

I still have hit between 207 and 211 consistently at idle.

What temperatures are you accustomed to at idle?

I hate it, but that's what mine are, and what the other DIIs I've worked on sit at.

 

[rover4x4]

What temperatures are you accustomed to at idle?

I hate it, but that's what mine are, and what the other DIIs I've worked on sit at.

because they are all overheating

 

[jeffro0502]

because they are all overheating

Mine idles at 184 to 186. At speed 188, suspect that will go down somewhat when I do install my new radiator that is sitting in my garage. It's probably a little clogged at the bottom since it's never been changed and I've got 126K on it.

 

[DarylJ]

because they are all overheating

I seriously doubt that. 7 degrees over a t-sat full opening is not overheating.

Also, any additional throttle input (to get the stupid t-stat to actually send coolant to the radiator rather than the heater core) dumps them right on down in the 180s.

There has been some speculation that the latest runs of t-stats have diverted more coolant for longer to the heater core, increasing idle temps. I can't speak to that as a fact, but I did notice the difference from the original stat that was in my truck. I also noticed one of the 4 holes is plugged in the new ones. The last 2 I've ordered have been the same (as was the one I picked up from the dealer).

But this is supposedly by design "to increase passenger comfort".

Like I said, I'm not happy about it, but it's hardly what anyone one would consider "overheating" (it's still below the aux fan set point).....except for you I guess.

 

[btp98w]

Why buy a used viscous clutch when you can get new for 100 bucks-ish? Just curious. That is just something I wouldn't buy used, but that is just me.

 

[brianb883]

Why buy a used viscous clutch when you can get new for 100 bucks-ish? Just curious. That is just something I wouldn't buy used, but that is just me.

from my research, for the 03-04 the fan and clutch are one part, unlike the 99-02 discos. A new fan was coming to upwards of $150. I got a guarenteed working used part for half that.

With this being said about the new thermostat designs, would it still be worth it to try a new thermostat? If the thermostat doesn't solve it I'm going to assume its a low flow condition in the radiator. If I have to replace the radiator, I'll consider the T-Stat mod.

 

[flyfisher11]

because they are all overheating

Not all. And trails at 177*. Only time I get upwards of 200* is long extenced climbs at +60mpg loaded down.

Running inline mod.

 

[brianb883]

Got a new thermostat in, gonna replace it today and rebleed the cooling system. Hopefully my issues will be solved. One thing I have noticed is that when I'm idling with the AC on, It goes down to 204/202, which I'd consider normal. I'm thinking this is because of the aux fans running. Hopefully this thermostat will do the trick. If not I've talked to some local radiator shops about cleaning out the radiator.

 

[RoverbyProxy]

Dont overlook the space between the condensor and the radiator, great place for dirt and debris to build up reducing or blocking the flow through the rad fins.

 

[brianb883]

Update:

I put in the new thermostat, and replaced alot of coolant with a 50/50 mix water and dex. Also added a bottle of water wetter. I hit 220 :banghead: while driving, and it no longer cools down when I rev the engine....it goes down to about 206 with the heat on.

I'm pretty sure I bled it properly, removed bleed screw, filled the tank until it came out of the bleed screw, capped it and let it warm up with the expansion tank open and the heater on high. It got up to 200 and sat. When I turned off the heater the temp climbed.

I noticed after I shut it down at operating temp, the fan was pretty easy to spin with my finger, this is a sign that the replacement clutch was bad right?

I also read on another forum that a guy had a clogged radiator, and it was 60 degrees cooler on top than on the bottem. This resulted in the fan clutch not getting warm enough to kick in..what the the odds that I am experiencing this same phonemonem?

Help?!

I have a new fan/clutch coming saturday morning and am planning on removing the radiator to clean it out this afternoon.

Dont overlook the space between the condensor and the radiator, great place for dirt and debris to build up reducing or blocking the flow through the rad fins.

Area is clean, I also used some aluminum cleaner on the outside of the radiator to try and remove any dirt..flushed the outside with the hose after....no difference.

 

[jhk07]

That sucks.


My first thought is you have a air pocket. Jack that front end up!

 

[brianb883]

No waterfall inside the cabin, is it possible theres still air trapped?

 

[messar]

Same story for me. New water pump, rad, fan clutch, thermostat (3 different ones), head gaskets (separate problem.)

At idle, would go up to about 220, and cool down to about 205 or so when driving. I was able to feel the lower radiator hose after driving, and it was stone cold. Feeling the radiator, only the area where the water comes in was hot, the rest cold to the touch.

When revving the engine, I was able to feel the upper hose swell, but the lower rad hose didn't seem to change.

My only thought is that for some reason, the thermostat was restricting the flow - not sure why several (including 1 from BPUtah that was an LR part), would have this problem...

I did the inline thermostat mod last week, and now drive at 194, and up to 199 at idle. I still don't understand what the original problem was, but I can live with what I'm seeing now.

Matt

 

[brianb883]

Same here man...I've got a brand new fan clutch coming tomorrow, so we'll see if that does it.

In the meantime I emptied the radiator, put a hose in the top and bottom and flushed it out. Got good flow out of it, didn't appear to be restricted at all. I then capped the bottom and filled it with clr and water to get any deposits out of it.

I'm gonna keep my fingers crossed!

Just thinking out loud, after reading through the RAVE, it appears that the only job the thermostat has is to bypass the radiator to make warm up times quicker, if I ran a hallow thermostat, in theory I'd run cooler and have longer warm up times...also maybe a straight fan bypassing the need for a clutch? Would there be any cons to this besides running cooler all the time?