I have had multiple bad Rover style stat's out of the box, never had a problem with the bypass stats. Have done them on all 12 of my Discos.

 

I think he was talking about insufficient bleeding of the cooling system, not the brakes. Open the bleed screw when the engine is completely cold and see if there is any air there, if so add coolant right through the bleed hole to top it up. Even a tiny amount of air will cause higher temps than optimal. You may need to repeat this procedure a few times over the next few days to get every bubble out. Again, only open bleed screw when engine is stone cold.

 

What is a bypass stat? I am in Florida and am questioning the need for a thermostat all together.

 

Added a couple of LEDs on the bumper as it looked kind of empty!

 

Do the newspaper test with A/C fan off. The fan assembly can also be tested when taken out with a heat gun. Hot air blown on the bimetal spring turns the pin and there has to be higher resistance when spinning the fan. I could spin my fan assy as easy as when it was cold. The fan clutch was definitely dead. A new one sent the idle temp significantly lower.

 

A bypass stat goes in the top radiator hose and a bushing goes in the place of the factory stat in the lower hose, you lose the bypass hose. Google for the write ups and pics. I have run no stat before also when testing, a little slower to heat up but in FL should be no problem reaching normal operating temps.

 

Based on my personal experience, the factory cooling system works just fine. No need for the inline conversion. Another well-known contributor here has the same opinion, and he has experience with a lot more DIIs than I.

I installed the 180º thermostat 3½ years ago. This weekend driving around town temps were 188.6º or less while rolling (down to as low as 183º). At stoplights the highest I saw was 194º. I had the same results this summer with temps in the mid to upper 90s. I've also never had any problem bleeding the cooling system, following the RAVE procedure carefully. No need to park on a hill or use the winch to raise the front end. (A la The Gods Must Be Crazy. A fun Rover movie; check it out.)

 

Thanks for all the advice. I plan to bleed the air when I get home tonight. Also thinking about an electric fan conversion. Anybody have experience with this: Electric Fan

 

Yea I'd have to say I don't really see the point in the inline conversion either. I run a 180* Genuine thermostat and I haven't had any problems with it. It's not that I think the inline conversion is bad, I just can't quantify the gains compared to the work and cost when the factory system works fine.

The electric fan is something I could get behind though given how many fan clutches seems to fail or perform less than ideal. Though I've always been a little disappointed about the limited options for aftermarket fans. Though Axis industries just put a video on Instagram of using a Mopar PWM fan that was putting out 6000cfm. I just don't think it's been adapted for LRs yet.

 

Truck is running ok but still hot. 217-221 below 1500 rpms. Highway seems ok. Going to bleed the coolant tomorrow morning.

I was also getting some sensor errors for the aft O2 sensors. Got lucky on those - turns out the connection was loose.

if I can get the temps down everything else should be ok. Got a few other sounds I want to track down. When I step on the gas the truck sounds like a diesel! Not sure what that is about. Only getting 11.5 mpg. 👎