I recently went on a road trip with my disco 2. I just replaced the engine with a used engine. I replaced the thermostat and bled the cooling system. I also bought an ultra gauge to monitor my temp on the engine. I drove from Houston to Austin and places nearby( a 4 hour trip) and the temps stayed around 208-212 with a small spike to 221 at one point. The ambient temps were 56 and got up to 72 degrees. Just wondering., is that normal for the temps to go that high?

FYI I don't have the soft spring 180 stat installed but the oem stat.

 

with my old original stat i would see summer spikes around 215

 

Above 212 your AUX fan must come on.
Is the AUX fan on at 212 and above?

You'll hear it.

 

I'm running a stock 190 degree thermostat and have an accurate temp gauge installed.

My temp never rises over 200 and I don't let it, I feel that when it starts to get that high you have gasket failures.

Something I did awhile ago was cleaned out my radiator (lots of mud from playing outside) and flushed the system.

Also on the highway I normally run at 180 degrees, if ambient temp is above 100 and I'm running the AC it will run about 190 degrees.

Occasionally at stops after a long drive it will go up to 195ish then go back down.

I did notice that when my throttle body heater was leaking (or when any leaks were present) that it would run hotter and hotter.

 

Something is wrong. Restricted radiator, air in the system, bad fan clutch/thermostat...could be any # of things but 221F is not normal or healthy!

 

I agree . If you keep running those temps your heads or worse your block will warp, and your head gaskets will fail. On top of that the hoses and system will suffer from the high heat for long periods of time.

 

221 was only for a few minutes but the avg was around 208-212. Plus I was driving in hill country. When I was going uphill it got to 215, driving downhill it was close to 204. I've bled the cooling system repeatedly and I don't have sloshing from the core. I'm just trying to see if it's normal.

 

Btw what do y'all think of Atlantic British?

 

My aux fan did come on as well

 

I understood that 221 was just a spike...perhaps I should have said reaching 221F is not normal? that said, you need to find out what aspect of the cooling system isn't working properly, and you haven't ruled out air in the system until you do a pressure test. After that, install a 180F thermostat b/c even if the t-stat isn't the issue, this needs to be done anyway. There's other posts on how to check and see if your radiator is clogged by Savanahbuzz...something about taking temp readings at the top and bottom of the radiator, ensuring >10F difference. Checking the fan clutch is fairly easy if you have a basis for comparison. All these things are good preventative maintenance anyway, so you're not out the time/$ if it doesn't fix the issue.