I have a 95 Disco that runs and drives fine until I drive for more than 20 minutes and after that it seems to get really hot and lose a lot of power but my temp gauge does not move from the middle, and it starts to give off a weird smell that fills the vehicles cabin. Any help or advice would be great. Thank you.

 

The temp gauge is not real accurate. If you have an OBDII connector a scanner can read coolant temp electronically, not sure if the 95 has that.

An IR thermometer pointed at the thermostat housing is close, but air flow makes it vary.

I have a 97. Here are the cheap things to try.

$10 thermostat and gasket, go with a 180F one. Spring end goes inside the block.

Radiator - if bottom feels cooler, or reads more than 10F cooler than top rows, it is sludged up and needs to be rodded out. An indy rad shop charged me $70, carry in. They unsolder the brass side tank and push small rods thru each row to bust out the calcium. New rad very expensive. Flush at home won't help much.

Heater core - when cooling system apart use a garden hose to reverse flush it, a lot of gunk will come out and then flow clear. You don't want to replace heater core because the truck is built around it.

Water pump - should spin true, no wobble. When truck is warmed up, stop engine, spin the fan and release (one guy asked how long you had to keep spinning it)... it should come to a stop in under one revolution - or fan clutch is bad. This normally shows up when driving slow or parked.

Check fan belt route. Paper towel should be sucked against grill when truck running, not blown away. Air flow is toward engine.

No gurgle sounds under dash, especiually when taking off from a light. (exhaust gas in coolant). No external coolant leaks (park over clean cardboar, check coolant jug every day when cold). No white smoke out exhaust.

 

When I first got the vehicle, within the first 6 months I replaced the radiator, fan clutch, thermostat and a bunch of other parts just to get the vehicle running right, I think within that first 6 months I put about $3,000 into it and still had that problem of getting really hot and losing power. Lately I haven't done much but just regular maintenance and I am honestly considering getting rid of it because I just keep putting more and more money into that I don't even have and nothing gets better.

 

Was it a new radiator ($$$) or a used but OK one from the boneyard? Without coolant loss, white smoke out the back, coolant in oil, rock hard radiator hoses, ... do you have any other symptoms?

Water pump?

When you do a lot of work, it is possible for a small error to have many effects. Thermostat can be installed backwards. Fan blade can be mounted backwards (the cupped side goes toward the block). The serpantine belt can be routed incorrectly, turning water pump wrong way. The space between radiator and AC condenser can be blocked with leaves and trash. The electric AC condenser fans can be wired backwards, and subtract airflow when running.

 

Don't pay any attention to that temp gauge. I just installed an actually mechanical temp gauge in my '98 and it proves that the gauge is really more of an idiot light with a pointer instead of a light. It always points o the same spot regardless of the temp as long as you are not overheating thus, it's not an accurate picture of what's going on temp wise.

 

Here's the gauge vs ECU sensor on my 97.....

If your gauge is going past 50% you should not drive truck until sorted out.

 

The radiator was brand new, no white smoke, no coolant in the oil. My gauge doesn't move from about the 45% mark. I installed everything correctly and according to the haynes book everything else is good it just seems to get really hot and gives off a weird smell. I do not have an OBD2 port on the vehicle since its a 95 and OBD2 is for 96 and newer so I cant get a reading from the ECU.

 

Then, I'd check:

Air in system. Put right front tire up on curb, or drive on a steep angel on a ditch or such. Open the radiator bung hole (the copper radiators have them, not sure about aluminum ones). Run engine at fast idle to push air pockets out of the system. Top off with coolant.

Fan belt route

Fan curved side of blade toward engine block

Take out thermostat and put in a new one (about $10 plus gasket and 1/2 gallon of cool) - spring goes inside block.

 

Timing being off will also cause overheating. Have you checked the timing?

 

Its been quite a few months since I last checked the timing but ever time I've checked it, its been fine. It doesn't necessarily over heat it just runs really hot and lose power. I've been looking for another engine to put in my disco.