Ill also say, before the temps got into the 90s, it would be at 195 on the highway at 65mph.

 

Don't know how much smaller the rad is. But how do you explain this pix? You are still better than in the past, but I would have expected lower. Don't spend $500 chasing 5 degrees. Coolant cap? Water wetter? Real Rover stat?

Obviously a radiator can have the same size fittings, but number of rows, surface area, these are part of the formula.

 

Ill definitely throw some water wetter in there. Maybe a rover stat if it starts creeping up more.

Saturday is supposed to be in the 70s, so Ill be able to see if the temps stay in the 190s again with cooler weather.

 

I got some Purple Ice (it was on sale for the same price as water wetter, so why not ).

I took the bleed screw out, raised the coolant tank, and let it bleed till the tank was almost empty. I then added the Purple Ice, then raised the bottle again till it was almost empty, then put the screw back in, then filled the bottle with 50/50. I figured this would get the additive in the system better than just adding it to the coolant tank.

With similar morning conditions, I was at 199-201 going 65 (improvement from 201-204). At uphill points it touched 203, but went back to 201 pretty quick.

At the longish downhill section where I go 55-60mph with little to no accelerator, temps went down to 188 (improvement from 194).

In the humid 95* nastiness yesterday, I would hit 206 at times idling in traffic. Today will be similar conditions, so hopefully Ill see an improvement there too...

 

Quick summary of the drive home:

95 degrees and 50-60% humidity

30 min of 10mph stop n go. temps gradually climbed to 208 couple times before I turned the heater on.

Exited to a faster moving highway. Temps dropped to 195 going down an on ramp. It was a hilly highway and temps would go to 210 going up the hills and 197 going down.

Temps in neighborhood driving were 195-203

Might be getting a gray stat soon.

Will see what happens the next couple days as the weather cools.

 

SuperSport and I PM'd about running temps today. He has the real deal thermostat, and normally runs about 183F at 65. He also told me that he made a recent trip to the desert, 109F outdoors, towing a trailer with big boy toys on it, almost 70 mph, 195F. So that is like 15 above opening temp, or wide open. And in those conditions you would expect to be wide open stat, but his cooling system is keeping up with the load.

 

I did some rover forum searching. Unanimously, opinion is that "hot highway/ok otherwise" is a clogged radiator.

This seems odd seeing that it has less than 2000 miles on it.

I guess the cheapest way to check that is to get a cheap IF thermometer...happens to be one on sale at HF for $25

 

On I-95, Ben Bernake interchange is at Exit 190 in South Carolina. And a giant Harbor Freight distribution center. Must be some tie in there....

Water pump ever inspected or replaced? Did Irontite application impact this current radiator?

 

No irontite in this radiator. This assumes the leaf blower got everything out of the block before the drying phase

Never inspected the water pump other than giving it a spin before I put the serp belt back. It seemed to have a nice smooth freewheeling action.

Thats a pretty easy thing to take off and check, right?

 

if you let it go up does the condenser fan come on, or are you automatically throwing the heat on anytime it goes over 200?