I have an 04 Disco and on my ultra gauge it’s showing my engine temp going up as high as 202°-204° at idle. 195°-197° while driving. Is this normal temp. I have new head gaskets and new 180° thermostat.

 

Those are pretty normal temps.

 

Suggest you read this: https://landroverforums.com/forum/di...thread-105010/ and this: https://extinctmotorsports.com/the-e...ry-thermostat/

 

Thanks for this. Very informative. I have looked into the online option in the past but haven’t made the switch. Looks like a few things would help getting my temps down. Bigger/better radiator, in-line thermostat, aftermarket water pump (is this necessary?). My main goal is to not overheat while waiting in the school pickup line. Is that possible in these?

 

Yes it is possible. Inline thermostat is easily the most important. I do not run alternative water pumps nor non-stock radiators on mine although they do some to improve the situation. Bigger/better radiator will help with highway temps at heavy loads, the stock radiator is only capable of holding a 100 degree differential to ambient on relatively level ground at 70 mph. Heavy loads or grades increase that number. The main issue with the idle temps climbing is airflow. The D2 engine idles at 700 rpm, at that speed the fan is not pulling enough air to keep the engine cool. Some guys run HD fan clutches and enhanced aftermarket fans that seem to help but make the truck sound a bit like a helicopter taking off. I run dual electrics for a number of reasons that I will enumerate in an blog post before the end of the month. I will also be launching a dual electric fan kit before the end of the month that should allow idling indefinitely below 200 degrees in 90+ degree weather. Just need to finish up some installation videos before posting the product on the website with photos.

I would recommend starting with an inline kit as we are heading in to winter and by the time spring arrives you should have a better understanding of what your next step needs to be.

 

Electric fan kit - hurray!

 

I ordered the inline kit last night. Seemed like the best route to keeping temps down based on what I’ve read so far. I’m a new/first time D2 owner so I like to take in all the pointers I can.

 

i have an '04 also. i have Extinct's inline thermostat kit and it works great. other than that, my cooling system is stock. i did have to switch to the 195 degree thermostat today. this morning was in the 50's and my truck was running too cool with the 180 degree thermostat and threw a code indicating a defective thermostat. i'm pretty sure the motorad thermostat failed open and/or was opening too early. either way, i'm going to run the 195 degree thermostat tomorrow morning while i check on several jobsites and see what temps i'm running.

added benefit of the inline setup is that changing the thermostat is quick and painless and you lose very little coolant. unlike the stock setup where you dump 90% of your coolant every time you change or test the thermostat.

 

Thanks for the info. Can’t wait to see some lower temps with the new inline. I’m new to the D2 world so any and all recommendations are appreciated. With that said, is there a particular coolant I should use?

 

Do the PCV mod. Cheap coolant is fine. I have made several list post on things to do, do a search and find them.