After fighting with it and two repair shops i am $3400 in the hole and it still doesn't run without over heating. I hate where i live. Dumb, dim witted, knuckle dragging slack jaw SOB. I am done with it. Three weeks of my life. I look forward to buying a stick of TNT and stuffing it in the gas tank and watch it burn.

 

Let us try a list of simple things in case one or more has slipped by everyone.

Coolant cap must be tight and in good condition. Otherwise it vents pressure and coolant. This can be detected by paper towel wrapped around cap and another on the over flow, secured with zip tie. If the dry paper towel gets wet, that water is coming from somewhere.

Fan belt must be on in correct direction. Cupped side of fan blades toward engine. Electric fans come on when AC selected. Paper towel or thin plastic trash bag holds against grille, not blow away by fans running bassackwardz.

Viscous fan clutch must be in good shape. When cold, engine off, spin and release, should stop quickly, feel like it is full of peanut butter. When up to normal temp, engine off, spin and release - should not go an entire revolution. Freewheeling is a clutch with lost fluid, repalce with $60 Chevy crossover.

Radiator must be in good condition. Leaves and mud washed out of fins, and the space between rad and AC condenser, and the AC condenser. Need good air flow. "Shoot" warmed up with an infrared thermometer. If lower rows are full of calcium and sludge they won't pass much water, and will be cooler than top rows, by more than 10F. Indy rad shop can hot flush and rod out radiator, my guy in Statesboro GA does this for $75 carry in. People work just as cheap near Charleston.

Thermostat - install a brand new one, 180F, about $10 plus a gasket. Coiled spring goes inside block. Little jiggle device goes at 12:00 position.


re: On a cold day it runs all day in the city without running hot - this points to air flow, not a head gasket. Likewise, running normal on I-26 and then overheating on side streets points to air flow, fan clutch issues. You don't need a fan on the interstate (just try holding a pizza box out the window at 70 mph). If rad is partial, then fan can be good, just not enough rad to cool off with lower airflow. Check rad with IR thermometer. Or Mark I palm reader (careful, that is hot metal).

Use a scanner to know what it is doing before gauge starts to move.

also see https://landroverforums.com/forum/di...12/#post138793

 

What happened? Two days ago you said you were into it for $2300, $2000 for the truck and $300 for maintenance. Now you're up to $3400? What did you have done for $1100?

I'm gonna come right out and say it. This whole thread is suspect. You come on here making all kinds of accusations and saying the seller lied and you were ripped off. Yet when I looked at the eBay listing the mileage stated was exactly what it is. Now mysteriously you're into the truck for $3400 and don't offer any insight as to what you had done? This whole thing is goofy.

 

I hate where i live

Many people love Charleston and the restored areas in the hysterical district. Seafood is great at Hymans or out at Shem Creek and plenty of other places.

Of course the dividing line is Broad Street - some live slightly north of Broad (SNOBs), while others are full fledged SOBs (South of Broad). My house is painted the exact colors of the home at #2 Gibbes St. I'm a great admirer of the SOBs.

IMHO if you can't be happy in Charleston, you won't like a lot of other places.

 

I take full responsibility for everything. The odometer on the truck reads 150k miles I didn't have a chance to read the car fax until after buying the truck. I was the stupid one for believing the seller. After some repairs the mechanic now tells me the head gasket is blown. Another crock. I told him to tell me what is wrong with it. not fix this and that and hope. Charleston is a great place, don't take it personally. Food is wonderful, weather is great, ppl are as dumb as a sake of bricks, ppl drive like they can only see 10 ft in front of their car. But Charleston is a great place it just isn't for me. And if you need an itemize accounting of everything i spend on the truck then ask correctly. I was just asking for some help not criticism. Thanks to those who has given it. much appreciated.

 

First all the listing your reading is not from the seller. that is my listing. I put the truth about the condition in writing. Know what your talking about before you sound crazy.

 

That's YOUR eBay listing? I'm very confused in this thread and its due to a tremendous lack of information provided. You want help? Great, you're in the right place. But that's not what your post sounded like. It sounded like a whine-fest. I'm very sorry you got hosed, regardless of who's fault it was.
You have to understand most of the guys here work on their own trucks. If you want us to hell then you need to provide us with details. Internet troubleshooting is sketchy enough, let alone with vague posts from the OP.
So, what dis this mechanic do exactly for $1100?

 

OK - now back to the truck.

First a definition - overheating. If you don't have a scanner that can show digital engine temp from the OBDII diagnostic port (where we would establish a threshold of say 218F) - you'll have to depend on the very poor quality heat gauge. If using the gauge alone, consider anything above 50% to be overheating. Even at 60%. Don't wait for it to go all the way to the end or almost end of the scale.

Now, with that definition - how long can your drive the truck in traffic before the gauge or scanner indicates high temperature - above 218 or above 50%? If you can drive on the interstate for an hour, or around town in stop and go traffic for a couple of hours, and gauge stays normal, you would want to have other indicators that it was a head gasket. Those might include - loss of coolant, white smoke out the exhaust, coolant in oil (makes a milkshake), misfires and check engine light on., bubble sounds under the dash. There is a chemical test you or mechanic can do that sniffs the hot coolant for products of combustion and changes color.

If your truck runs normal on the interstate, on say a trip of 30 - 40 miles, and then when you exit the temp pops up; the suspect is a combinaion of the fan clutch and the radiator being clogged up or both. Now if the problem is that you make this same trip, and when truck is cooled off you find that you have lost quite a bit of coolant, the question is how did it leave the truck? Sometimes it is just leaks around a clamp, may only happen when driving.

The head gasket is weak enough to start with. Driving around with low coolant and overheating will stress it more and it will fail. The most common failure is around the water ports, fore and aft, where it is thin. See pix of one failed both internal and external.

Now can you have more than one problem with a Rover at the same time? Yes, sad but true.

 

Well my post actually was about the truck. It would be helpful to know what work was done by the mechanic.

 

agreed