By jet99 on Wednesday, August 22, 2001 - 09:40 am: Edit

I am having a problem that i cannot explain,i recently replaced my water pump, thermostat, hoses, coolant and just the other day going down the freeway on a road trip doing about 75-80 with the air on the darn thing started to overheat so i cut off the a/c it cooled down but if a turned the a/c back on it would heat back up,this is the first time this has happened.Then like two days later sitting downtown in traffic with the a/c/ off the sucker started getting hot again,no im very confused on what the heck is going on since then no problems but im scared to take long trips, any help or suggestions would be great because im stuck

By dougjames on Wednesday, August 22, 2001 - 09:57 am: Edit

You didn't mention that you removed the radiator
and had it flushed and pressure tested... you did DO THAT, right ? The radiator is likely full of deposits, reducing its' cooling capacity. Next, are the aux cooling fans working? Start you rig and with AC on full, and idling, step out and look thru grille at the fans to see/hear if they're on.
Next (last) suggestion: you did install the thermostat with the air bleed hole/bulb in the upward, "12 o'clock" position, so that you prevent an air lock in the coolant, right ?

By Kyle Van Tassel (Kyle) on Wednesday, August 22, 2001 - 10:41 am: Edit

If its intermitent it may be a bad stat. This falls into the category of "Shit happens" . Having the rad checked is sound advice as well..
kyle

By jet99 on Friday, August 24, 2001 - 05:25 am: Edit

Okay the other day im coming home from work the truck overhaets i pull into my driveway and pop the hood and the fan spins freely, now im no expert but is it not supposed to lock down when it heats up causing it not to spin freely???I think i may have found the problem..

By doug95lwb on Friday, August 24, 2001 - 10:32 am: Edit

Sounds like the fan clutch is toast...
Should only travel MAX of 90 degrees cold when pushed by hand. less than that hot. IF freely spins, as you mentioned, the fan unit failed. Good work detective!

By Norm Orschnorschki (Norm) on Saturday, August 25, 2001 - 08:45 am: Edit

A while back, somebody on this board had the same exact problem -- turned out that he had installed some auxillary lights on the front bumper right in front of the grill and radiator. Apparently, these lights caused a vacuum or blocked the air flow through the radiator at 70-80 mph and caused the truck to overheat. As soon as the aux. lights were removed, the problem disappeared.

---Norm

By kevkor on Saturday, August 25, 2001 - 11:31 am: Edit

I'm the one who had the same problem.Removing the lights helped, telling me it was the radiator.I had the radiator flushed, rodded, and steam cleaned.Did not help at all. Replaced radiator and problem was solved. I don't know if radiator shop just did a bad job or what but my problem was solved after I put a new one in.

By jay caragay (Jcaragay) on Saturday, August 25, 2001 - 02:47 pm: Edit

This summer I experienced a similar problem. When the mercury started pushing into the 90s and I would drive over 30 miles on a trip, the disco would start to overheat. To the point that when I stopped at various places, steam would billow out from the bonnet. Open it up and I could see the coolant precipitating through the threads on the coolant reserviour cap!

Time and time and not all the time this happened. Finally, I had the radiator core replaced and now all is well.

Check the core - they changed mine and the new core supposedly has an extra row of coolant lines (or something like that) that gives it an advantage over the stock unit.

By jet99 on Monday, August 27, 2001 - 04:18 am: Edit

I have an appointment to have my radiator cleaned and rodded today so ill let you know if that helps.

By Steve (Steve2) on Monday, August 27, 2001 - 06:35 am: Edit

jett99-

if you live in a hot area also consider doing the 'desert modification' to your raditor grill. i did and the car does run slightly cooler.

steve

By John Stecz on Monday, August 27, 2001 - 07:10 am: Edit

What's the "desert modification"?

By Mike W. on Monday, August 27, 2001 - 02:31 pm: Edit

i had the exact same problem.....replace the radiator it will fix the overheating. check with nathan crabtree, he has them for 400 + shipping. believe me save the hairpulling and cussing and spend the cash.

By Steve (Steve2) on Monday, August 27, 2001 - 02:54 pm: Edit

john-

the desert mod - is something that i was looking into, and found that 'polandrover' had already done. basically you make 24mm (or close enough) holes on the thicker horizontal grill slats to allow more air to hit the radiator. the 'saudi' grill is completely mesh and also does the same thing. the kalahari d2's will have then as standard so series 2 owners will be able to order them from their l/r centres

if you have a series one- then you can drill the holes for free or get a saudi grill from the uk for about $200

in drivng across the desert in 110 degree heat with the a/c on. the needle was lower on the gauge then before. i consider the modification a success.
steve

By Paul on Thursday, August 30, 2001 - 01:43 pm: Edit

I just replaced a head gasket on my 95 3.9 liter Disco only to find that the engine overheated when I drove at speeds over 50 miles an hour
The problem was that there was air trapped in the cooling system. Once this was burped everything thing was back to normal.