When it rains it pours... Temps started climbing on a slow-speed a steep climb a couple of weeks ago. I checked the coolant level the next morning, and it was low. Topped it off and tried to burp it, all seemed fine, but no low or high speed driving or long trips. It got hot again on a Forest Service road a couple of days ago. Coolant level was good. Then on a 250 mile 90 degree trip this week, I had a good opportunity to observe what was happening. First, turning the heat on and running the fan keeps it reasonable. Second, the system is holding pressure. Third, running the A/C drives the temps up quickly (yes the fans come on). Forth, it takes some time for the temps to rise - 30 to 40 minutes from cold at least, but once they do it takes little to get too hot - a short, mild climb, anything over 60 MPH.
On a long climb of about 3 miles, I had to stop twice even with the heat on. I would just let it idle with the hood open and with the heat cranked to let it cool down slowly, then when it was cool enough, I would get going again and the temp gauge would suddenly drop by a significant amount, then start to rise as I climbed. Temps would drop back down to normal on the descent. This has me thinking I have air trapped. The real question is, radiator or head gasket as the culprit? I didn't have my IR thermometer with me, so I don't know how the radiator is acting. And now it seems as my starter has expired, so I can't check it. No coolant in the oil, no oil in the coolant.
Between the exhaust needing to be replaced, the starter, and the overheating issue, I'm not sure I want to keep fixing it, especially if it's a head gasket. What do shops get for a HG job these days?

 

are you getting all your temp info from the dash temp gauge? if so, you really need to get an aftermarket gauge, ie. ultragauge, to read the coolant temps. have you checked your fan clutch to see if it is still working?

 

Someone around here parks their's with the hood up on hot days after work. Haven't seen them in a while though. Beginning to wonder if they just parked it for good.

 

If your fan clutch is not working temps will rise when the engine is under load. To check it do it when cold with engine off. Try and spin it. If it resists and will not complete a full rotation then try it when hot with engine off. See if it resists a full rotation, if it does not and spins freely it's toast. When temps go cold and then hot it's air pockets, lots of threads on burping the air out. If your loosing coolant it's going somewhere. If you have a black header tank replace it, good chance it's split at the seam. Buy a new one, they're white.

DII's starter is same as D1.

 

I had tried burping it twice before this last trip, and thought it had been solved as I got air out. But maybe not all. As it doesn't start at the moment, I can't check the fan clutch, but it is free with the motor cold and engine off, and it is moving quite a lot of air when hot at idle (checked before). But it could be too weak at higher engine speeds. No obvious external coolant leaks anywhere that I can find, even when quite hot with the system under pressure. I guess I'll see if Mr. Grant has a used starter I can throw in it to further the diagnosis. If it comes back HGs, I'm done with it.

 

The fan clutch disconnects at higher speeds, that's what they're designed to do. Why toss it if it's head gaskets, it's a weekend job, takes little time and treasure?

 

had this problem on my 94. It turned out to be the two tiny hoses on the top of engine, check all your hoses, replace the plastic overflow box, if there is even a small crack the rover will overheat.

 

I don't feel like devoting a weekend to it as we're about to move across the country and are not taking the Landie with us. That's why in my original post, I inquired if anyone knew what an HG job costs. We were going to give it to our niece for a trail rig, but it may require too much work for her to keep it up. It's getting tired as its first 17 years and 117k were not kind to it. Not to mention the 56k we've put on it in 2-1/2 years.

 

The starter arrives today, so the diagnosis can commence this weekend! Hopefully it doesn't turn up to be head gaskets.

 

I had overheating problems as soon as I bought mine. Bottom line is my radiator was junk. I put my hand down by the bottom of it (careful for the fan) and the bottom was a lot cooler than the top so I think it was partially blocked. Also when I had my hand down there feeling for temp, I barely touched the fins and they just flaked off. This radiator was just totally toast. I bought an aluminum one with the plastic tanks from a guy on this forum and replaced the water pump and fan clutch and have never had another overheating problem since. Moral of the story is to check the temp of different places on your radiator to see if it is blocked.