Water Wetter didn't make it today so I drove the other truck. It occurred to me that the coolant in the radiator was sort of a florescent green, much more than I have seen in the past. MAYBE it is straight undiluted anti-freeze.. That would hinder it's ability to dissipate heat, especially at higher speeds (??) Been years since I have had to mess with coolant as I usually buy the 50/50 mix stuff.

Any thoughts??

 

Your probably on to something. Too much super green is a sign of not the correct mix with distilled water. You will soon be closer to cooler temps!

 

 

10 Bucks says it’s the radiator. I just had mine re-cored. It was incredibly clogged, as was the heater core so my guess was that some ingrate used head gasket stop lock type product on it.

 

Stopped at Harbor Freight to pick up a tester and they didn't have any. I did find an old tester with the 4 floating beads, it had all 4 beads floating when I tested the coolant, which says it is good to -40+ below. Gonna dump the coolant and try either a 50/50 mix or straight water and the Water Wetter (if it shows up)

I checked the temp on the radiator and it shows about a 24 degree drop in temp from the top to the bottom of the cooling tubes so I believe the radiator is OK, the ends of the tubes (what I can see) look to be good. Being I just got this 6 months ago, and based on the other 'problems' I have already fixed, it was owned by someone who either was relatively new to Land Rovers, or new to automotive repairs (to put it nicely)

 

Preliminary test...

drained as much as I could with a pump/siphon out the radiator fill hole, roughly a few gallons and filled with straight water. My assumption is that there is still a bit of coolant in the nooks and crannies, sitting at idle, it got up to 204 but when I closed everything up and reved the motor, it dropped to 198. driving for a short drive up a longer steep hill with the A\C on, it dropped to 195 at 55 mph!! first time it ever did that! temps outside are just above 80 degrees (at 7:30 in the morning no less) Had to get home for babysitting duties with the grandson so maybe a test drive after he gets up. But looks encouraging!!

 

That’s good news!
I would think once you get the right balance of coolant/water it should be cooler. Throw in the royal purple or waterwetter and that will be all she wrote.

For the amount of time you'll have the water in the radiator many suggest going with distilled water as it doesn't have any mineral deposits that can harm the trucks internal parts.

 

the water here is pretty clear as there is a filter on the house so it should be OK I think. no problems thus far on my other vehicles.

 

Nice!

 

The wife worked for Culligan and we got a deal on it.


Took a longer drive and it seems to be cooler,but hard to tell since it is 88 degrees out. the story will be told when drive it to work Monday. I drove up to the top of the bluff and it has always hit 207 (on cooler days) and today it barely hit 200 so that is a positive , time will tell. latest guess is my Water Wetter should be here Monday so that might help too.