Ok perfect, I'll do this and see if I can try colored paper towel if I don't get anything I'll try with something fancier like Litmus paper...

I agree that it should be something that I can find here, I'll take this list of ingredients and see if I can find in the market place. I just need to explore more..

In the US and other places, race cars are not allowed to run antifreeze coolant, because a spill or venting makes the track slippery. So they use the water wetter products and distilled water.

Lastly, I got my IR thermometer today, I got the engine up to 210 F after some driving pulled into the driveway and measured. (BTW: I am assuming I am measuring the backside of the radiator by removing the fan shroud)

Getting about 150 F at the top of the RAD and about 155 in the lower RAD. I am going in a straight line from top to bottom ( i don't have the greatest angle but I got pretty close to the bottom ).

Just messing around with my new toy I was wondering if there was a way to measure the coolant temp going into the RAD and then leaving the RAD and if that would lead to any conclusions?

Based on this test though, I think the Radiator maybe ok and I need to do the paper towel on the overflow test and check the timing. I threw a piece of paper on the front grille and it clung tight and my fan blades are curved the right way.

 

Distilled my cool better than coolant mix, but steam doesn't and the coolant raises the boiling point, so you actually end up with better cooling at high coolant temps.

 

Assuming the cap is a 15 psi cap, that would bring the boiling point of water to 250 degrees F.

I'm not suggesting using just water though.

 

You can "shoot" the entry pipe and the exit pipe and see something. But sounds like the rad is doing better than I thought it would.

Might want to compare the fitting where thermostat is and the gauge reading to see how far apart that is.

Weather channel says it is 82 in Cairo, (evening) and has been in the mid 90's days. Similar here, I can drive around at 182 - 185F. With a 180 stat and AC on.

Might see if you can find another lower temp thermostat.

 

You know I came into the house and took a better look at the instructions for the IR thermometer and realized that I need to ensure I shoot the radiator an equal distance away from the top and bottom of the radiator.

The farther away the thermometer is the wider the area that is measured. I think I measured a wide area at the bottom of the RAD and a very narrow area at the top.

I'll drive again and remeasure in the AM. Going to also grab some distilled water and see if I can hunt down some water wetter tomorrow afternoon.

As far as the stat, Chevy is really popular here, I'll see if I can find a thermostat for them but I thought having an 88 degree C (190.4 F) thermo (Euro) would be the same as having a 180 F since the Euro's measure "full open" and state side they measure the beginning temp for opening?

 

So I went back to the IR thermometer and found that on the radiator the difference between the top and bottom was less than 7 degrees... I also did some testing from the top hose and the bottom hose and the outlet hose appears to be about 30 degrees cooler than the water going in...

I was running out of ideas yesterday so I did the following:

1. I pulled out my old viscous fan clutch and hooked it back up (the one the makes my engine sound like an airplane all the time as it's locked to the fan).

2. I pulled out the thermostat

3. Borrowed a newer expansion tank from a friend while I wait for mine to arrive.

4. Installed a new expansion tank cap.

Believe it or not, once driven it will work it's way up from 180 and rest at 210 and pretty much not budge up or down from there.... So there's definitely something more, with the clutch locked and the fan spinning crazy and no thermostat the movement of air helps whereas it didn't before I do this complete hack just to test things out.

I don't have an exhaust gas testing kit but at this point I think someone put my HG on wrong... Thoughts? And by the way thanks to everyone for their help on this issue. I am going to plan for more time this weekend to replace the head gasket if you guys think that is the case.

A mechanic buddy of mine thinks that the heads may have been machined too aggressively, any thoughts? I should be able to examine the head gasket this weekend and if I find it to be ok I am going to take the heads to a machine shop and have them check it out.

 

Head machining and gasket problems usually result in coolant leaks, which lead to overheat.

Overheat, without coolant loss, and without bubbles in the heater core system (if you have it bypassed you have turned off a valuable testing tool), you may just be dealing with heat. Pix of fluid test that changes color for exhaust gas in coolant.

Your 7 degree difference is good, wish I had it. But is this a same size as original Rover or something fabbed up that is smaller, or fewer rows?

The thermostat should have a hole or jiggle device in the rim to allow any steam pocket to pass. I run a 180F stat, it makes 183-185 down the road at 60 mph in current temps of low 90's. With AC on.

Belt route could be wrong. Would double check. Water pump may be suspect, if it is not moving enough water, like one of the blades lost. Usually they corrode so much that spinning on the shaft is not an issue. You can remove an inspect WP, but you'll need a gasket or some RTV. If you see aluminum being chewed off that is the bearing wear allowing pump to wobble.

You might be able to poke a wire or such down in the water pump, and slowly rotate it to "count" the impeller blades.

Cracked block usually shoots temp so high that hoses become rock hard and coolant jug bubbles vigorously.

 

For the summer I'm using distilled water with a bottle of water pump lubricant. Can't remember the manufacturer. Seems to keep the temps down quite nicely and I'm not too afraid of tearing up the water pump.
I'll probably do a flush and 50/50 antifreeze mix in a couple of months.

 

Can't thank everyone enough for their help on this. Your question above nailed the issue SB. My fabbed up radiator had major issues:

1. The type of fins my fabbed radiator uses was wrong. It seems to be designed to pass air through the rad as fast as possible which the local guys told me works ok for older cars. The Landrover fins seem to force the air up and down a bit which slows it down and may more efficiently cool the coolant.

2. although I have 4 pipes they were configured different than stock landrover rads.

3. the rows are probably off too, I need to go check just to satisfy my curiosity.

So because they aren't really expensive here I found a used Landrover Rad, had the radiator shop work their magic on it (labor here is cheap, $6 to rod it) and installed it. Getting 185 degrees when rolling, swings up to 210 when I idle after really long drive times and after hours of downtown driving sits at about 212 now. I'm going to find water wetter to see if I can get the 212 down a bit but it feels a ton better now...

So lesson learned, don't prefab a radiator for a Landrover... In the process though I found other minor issues which I remedied like my overflow tank, couple of beat hoses and a thermostat that was not properly installed. (jiggle hole was at 9 o'clock and not 12 o'clock).

Can't thank you guys enough, I should have started with the radiator and not assumed that because it was "new" it was ok.... Everyone's input was spot on.

 

That may be, but don't forget as its runnin through the engine it could end up with hot spots (ie the water jacket around the cylinders) with temps at or around the boiling temp, which in turn could create steam and lower the cooling mass. Better to be safe than sorry imo