I purchased the Bluetooth OBDII scanner to monitor temps before we towed the Jeep out to trails last week as suggested here. From reading your posts, looks like she's running on the warm side. There was a little play in the fan, and sure enough, the water pump went out on the trip as I suspected. Fixed it on the side of the road.
Unfortunately, Temps actually went up a couple degrees with new pump, not down as I would have expected. So something else going on here.
This was our first big road trip with her, and first time with an OBDII scanner. Of course the gauge reads "normal" right in the middle, but it can't be right. It's a pretty clean rig, just clicked over 80K miles on the way home.

I read here that one of the best things to try is the special low temp thermostat. Interestingly enough, I looked at Rovers North, and they have two. One for the usual $79.50 price, and another that looks identical for $34.99

More expensive one

Less expensive one

Is there any reason to get the once that's twice the price? I don't mind doing it just to rule out any problems on the rig, but wanted to confirm first before spending more than I should...
Thanks!

 

The expensive one is a genuine Land Rover part. The cheaper one isn't. There are more than enough reports of the cheaper one performing less well than the genuine one to stump up the extra cash for piece of mind, and ruling out potential issues.

FWIW. I bought the genuine part two years ago. And had zero issues with it. I've just recently switched to an inline thermostat. To drop the temps further and eliminate spikes at idle.

 

I've got the cheaper one right now, and ill tell you that if you want to stick with the factory design then go with the more expensive OEM. Mine does okay. It could be better. It seems to open about the same time as the stock 190.

When I replace mine, I plan to do the inline mod. If I were in your boat, that's what I'd do. Cost is about the same, future thermo replacement is cheaper, and definitely more reliable.

 

I've been running the cheaper Motorad 180 for a couple years now with zero problems, but I just purchased the genuine gray thermostat for peace of mind....I'm curious to see if there are any temp changes after I swap them out. Just go with the genuine one.

 

You might have some lingering air in the system from the swap, too.

But I'd get the genuine one or do the inline thermostat mod--strong preference for the latter.

 

I'm torn between the genuine low temp thermostat and leaving it stock, and the inline option mod. I need to read more about the mod and what it entails, I guess.

I've read on here that Dexcool is bad for some reason - what do you guys put in yours? I thought that's what I should use last week, so that's what I dumped in there after the water pump swap.

Last question - is there a radiator flush that actually works good? If I'm going to redo the thermostat and empty the Dexcool out, and swap to some other coolant, I may as well do a nice flush and clean. Just not sure what product to use.

Thanks for the help, and if anyone has a good link to the inline mod, I'll check that out too.

 

For the inline mod you just need a new lower hose (for a bmw), a thermostat housing, a thermostat, a coupler, and a tiny pettcock valve. I'm sorry I'm on my phone and can't easily get the link, but it is here on the forums with links to the purchase items. I don't know of anyone who has done it who was unhappy with the result. While there is some expenditure up front, the thermostats (Chevy) are dirt cheap and available at any parts store for the rest of the truck's life.

The inline instructions may seem a little confusing in the thread. They were to me anyway. But when I had all of the parts in front of me it made dead simple sense. I think it cost just under a hundred dollars when I did it.

I just used a water hose when I got rid of the dexcool several years ago. Dexcool is probably better in a new engine but regular Prestone is reportedly more forgiving of the problems our engines have at this stage in life. I've never regretted the switch.

Dexcool can sludge badly.

 

I recently followed this write up Inline Thermostat - LAND ROVER CLUB V.I.

It's fairly straight forward. plenty of people here can talk you through the exact things to do if you got stuck.

I can't recommend it enough. The prices in that write up are a bit out of date, I ended up spending a little bit more. But maybe with searching it could be kept cheap. As Charlie says, the thermostats themselves are really cheap.

The expensive bits are the thermostat housing, and the BMW lower house.

But it's a well tested mod, which just works.

This dropped my temps, stopped them spiking at idle and tidied up that side of the engine compartment a whole load.

If you are sticking with the LR thermostat, get the genuine one, and get rid of the dexcool.

 

I used the cheap motor rad one before and it worked for a year then it stuck closed and blew my head gaskets do to engine over heated. I am using the inline thermostat mod now, but if you don't want to go that route, I would recommend the low temp grey thermostat from land rover.

 

The hose isn't expensive, $10 on eBay. http://m.ebay.com/itm?itemId=252147462245

I've never actually heard if the motorad getting stuck, only that it opens late. Damn. I guess my radius arms are getting pushed back ANOTHER month and ill be going inline sooner rather than later.

Also, as Charlie says, green prestone coolant. Be sure to do a complete flush with water before hand so the two don't mix.