At least a half dozen successful refills/bleeds within a six month period on a close to 100k mile D2 doesn't result from simple luck.

Manual procedure will work fine if people take their time, read/understand the manual and follow carefully. Resulting temps will not vary or be lower if front of vehicle raised and an added unnecessary step to a relatively simple procedure.

Doubt that any of the procedures we dream up, read about or recommend will result in complete ridding the system of air during just the first few engine operating cycles.

What ever procedure is used it's vital to keep an eye on your coolant level for several days and top-off as needed when system is cooled to ambient temp. It does take time for the residual air to work it's way out of the system and be displaced by coolant. Once bled take the little time to check your coolant level when cold on a regular weekly basis.

As always monitor your temps using a OBDII device.
......

 

When I replaced the thermostat yesterday, i noticed all these chunks of plastic spilling out of the upper part of the thermostat. Turns out, the t-connector on the upper radiator hose had disintegrated during one of the times the engine overheated and blew out the upper radiator hose. The steam blew apart the connector lip into the hose and the peices ended up in the thermostat, So, that would prevent the thermostat from opening and closing normally, right?

However, the car is still overheating

Do you think some bits and pieces are blocking the radiator channels? Would any peices end up in the engine? How would I get any pieces out

I still don't know what is causing the hissing sound? Do you think it could be a blown head gasket? It definitely sounds like air leaking but I don't see any leaks. Maybe the leaking fluid is boiling away and not dripping. Would that tiny leak cause an engine to overheat or is blocking plastic a more probable cause?

What a nightmare.

 

Don't think anyone was dissing your post, just talking about their own experience. Chill, Winston.

Dragging this back on topic. Can anyone help the OP in that his truck is hissing like a old steam boiler when it's turned off? I don't have experience of that.

 

Bingo.

Multiple bleeds in 6 months?

I don't have to bleed mine at all. If youre bleeding your truck multiple times...you have an issue and your temps aren't as low as they can be.

I did the head gaskets in 2014, after I was finished, I didn't bleed since.

 

For starters, your truck has probably been operating at 220 degrees for the past 3 years and you had no clue. On top of that, you have that red Dex-Cool antifreeze. Put those 2 together and **** gets ugly. You have to drain the DexCool out and backflush the system. You can get a kit from anywhere. It splices into your heater hose. You have plastic stopping everything up, so you will have to flush everything for hours, literally. Then when you get done flushing with the hose, you have to flush it again with distilled water from a jug to clean all of the minerals out. After you have found some plastic pieces and are confident that its all out, replace your lower hose assembly with a new OEM unit because it is going to break as well. then replace the plastic lines criss-crossing from radiator and throttle body with new OEM or new heated water lines because they too are going to break. You have a new stat and top hose assembly OK. Now you either have to bypass the throttle body heater plate or replace the gasket and plate there.


After you have done all of that you can refill the system with green ethylene antifreeze (about 30-40 percent) and distilled water for the remainder. Rent the pressure testing kit from Advance Auto and put it to your overflow tank. Let it sit for 30 minutes and find out what is leaking.


That's what I would do. If you choose to shortcut and not replace all of this stuff, its going to be YOUR *** broken down on the side of the interstate, be it 2 days, 2 weeks or 2 months. FYI, viscous fan clutch should be checked, and make sure the condenser fan (in front of the radiator/behind grill) is turning on when the AC is activated in the cabin.


Good luck

 

With regards to bleeding. This may sound silly - but - I usually open the bleed port on the upper hose "T" fitting, fill the overflow tank with coolant, (here comes the silly part) put my mouth on/in the overflow tank and blow. The level in the overflow tank goes down and the pressure forces coolant into the system - you can hear air rushing out the bleed port. After two or three times, coolant will start to squirt out the bleed port. I keep blowing coolant out the bleed port as I screw the cap back on. Works every time. Bring on the hazing...

 

You have been constantly running the engine til the needle moves and that has blown your head gasket (is now what I think) as that is way above a temperature you want to see.

You are running at such a temperature that you literally have steam inside your cooling system, this has blown a hole in your HG, that's what you hear when you shut it off, I'd have $5 on it.

You need to get it trailered to a mechanic who knows what they are doing with Land Rovers. Otherwise they will rip you off, through lack of experience. Also, without a rover experienced mechanic, you risk the job being done badly as well.

Ultra gauge, about $80 I think, would have avoided all this. As when the thermostat was blocked, you would have had an alarm set which would have alerted you to stop the car before it got too hot.

Where do you live, do you know a decent rover mechanic?

 

I didn't think he was dissin my post. The procedure in the manual is not the best method. Simple. I know that, others know that...if the cooling system on the rover effective? No, its full of mistakes. The water pump is insufficient, the rad isn't big enough, the thermostat is garbage as well, the plastic lines they used get brittle, the nipple on the rad breaks off and the procedure they list isn't the best method. Land rovers are expensive, they are luxurious, but clearly there are better methods and designs that could solve these issues instead of mass producing trucks that slip sleeves and have ticks, cooling problems.


Some "mechanics" are satisfied with raising their bottle and getting the temps they are. Still doesn't mean the system is sufficient. Coolant flow doesn't always get air out of the heater core. Opening the bleeder and filling a bottle doesn't always get air out of the heater core. Sometimes people have their nipples clogged on the throttle plate and the coolant doesn't even flow through it.


And who is Winston? Are you calling names?

 

Ha. Sorry. Obscure reference. Phrase comes from a very old UK tv show. Ignore.

I thought your post seemed a little aggressive. That's all. The tone seemed combative instead of discussion-like.

Each to their own. Especially when it comes to getting the air out of a Discovery.

 

1st. Spend the money and buy an Ultra gauge, set it on the temp menu, no other menu is necessary. Don't set it on the fuel usage menu and think you're going to get 30-40 mpg by drifting, you're stuck at 13-18 and that's about it. KEEP it on the temp screen.


2. You need to take out that thermostat and throw it away.


3. Do you have any foaming in the oil? Smell it, does it smell like antifreeze. Does your antifreeze have any foam or oil, film in it?


4. Flush the cooling system. Get those pieces out of there. Also, rent, buy or borrow a motor scope. I have one and it helps me with just about every job. Its a little screen connected to a wand with a camera at the end. The camera can go into every little nook and cranny. I put it inside my radiator to look for blockages, have yet to see any. I put it in my intake to see if there is any foreign material, bolts laying on the valves, I tape it to my extension when I am putting in the bolts for the coil pack, put it down the hoses for the heater core and check the condition..many, many, uses


5. Install the 180 thermostat.


6. Install green coolant.


7. Use whatever procedure you like to bleed the truck...but beware, I have done the exact procedure listed in the manual, and it doesn't work on my truck. I have had temps shoot from 195-230 in just a few seconds, pulled over, did the procedure again with the heat blaring and still no luck....shut the thing down. Only when I started parking the truck on a steep hill did the truck drop to the 190's area. With my truck, I know when its bled correctly because it never goes over the 199 area. I am running everything factory for the cooling system except the coolant. I will not use dex because of what it does.

7.5. As stated use a cooling system pressure tester.

8. Read your plugs. Match them with charts found on the net. If your head gaskets are shot, sometimes you can see evidence on the plugs, burning oil, steam cleaning, etc.


9. Compression test. Remember to open the throttle plate. Try to crank the engine the same amount of times.


10. Leak down test. Videos for the proper way to do these tests can be found on youtube.