Update, I'm having a heck of a time bleeding the air from the cooling system. The three gallon of antifreeze that I intially put in have bubbled out by now. So now I'm using straight water to figure out the bleeding process. I need to crack this puzzle before replacing the cam, lifters and oil pump.Here are the different steps I've tried so far.

[ol][*]Remove radiator plug and expansion bottle cap. Fill coolant thru radiator plug hole. As you're filling thru the plug hole, you'll notice the expansion bottle will eventaully start to fill up also. Re-install plug after radiator if full. Start engine. Everything seemed fine as engine was coming to temp.About 15mins into idling, the water will start overflowing out the expansion valve (cap still off) then start to boil out. As soon as the engine is turned off, coolant gushes out the expansion bottle (cap still off) like a geyser.[*]Remove radiator plugand expansion bottle cap. Fill thru plug hole until coolant was about 2" from top of radiator. Start engine. As engine was coming to temp, I would add coolant thru plug hole as needed. Eventually the plug hole got full with coolant thenI installed plug.With expansion cap still off the same thing would occur. After 15mins of idling the expansion bottle will start to overflow, then eventually boil over. The same geyser effect would occurwhen I shut the engine off[*]I repeated both steps but this time I re-installed the plug and expansion bottle cap after topping off thru the plug hole.This time the coolant had no where to boil out from, but I could still here the bubbling action in the expansion bottle. And this time the coolant temp gauge went pass the middle point, while the other two times the gauge was between the bottom and middle. [/ol]
All the above steps were done at different times during the pass two days. So the engine had ample time to cool down between each procedure.

After getting no where, I step back and notice something. The upper radiator hose is the highest part of the cooling system. It's two inches higher than the radiator plug hole andoneinch higher than the expansion bottle. To prove my point, Itook out my level and place it on top of the upper hose across to the radiator plug hole



With the bubble in the level centered, it's two inches higher than the fill plug



And one inch higher that the expansion valve



The lighting was poor, but you get the picture. With the upper radiator hose having that upward concour and being the highest part of the coolant system, that tells me no matter how much coolant you put in the plug hole or expansion bottle, you will always have an air pocket in the top portion of the upper hose.Which can possibly cause the vapor lock situation.

In case you're wondering, I'm pretty confident it's notmy thermostat or radiator that causing the problem.Even though I meant to test the t-stat in a pot of boiling water when I had the engine apart, this is the same t-stat prior to taking the engine apart. Back then I was able to run the engine for 40mins with no bubbling action or hot engine. Even drove it up the block a few times. Now it can't idle in the garage without boiling over.

According to my CD manual it states
[ol][*]pour coolant into expansion tank until radiator is full, start engine, run until normal operating temp is attained, topping off as needed[*]refit radiator filler plug[*]fit expansion tank filler cap[*]Allow engine to cool, check coolant leve. finally top off expansion tank until level reaches seams of expansion tank[/ol]
Does that sound correct? Could I have done anything different? Before posting this update I did asearch. I've read jacking up the front end might help bleed the air. Also remove and raising the expansion bottle while filling. I also read that the D2's have the bleeder screw on the upper radiator hose for the purpose of bleeding the air



So this got me thinking. Why not install my own bleeder screw on the upper radiator hose. So I went to the Summit Racing website and found what I was looking for.



Summit calls it a radiator drain valve, but if placed in the upper radiator hose it now becomes a cooling system bleed valve.

I refuse to change the cam, lifter and oil pump without cracking tis problem. The next time I add three gallons of the proper mixture of antifreeze and water (50/50) it needs to stay in the engine without boiling out. That's why I'll continue using water until I figure it out.

What's your opinion?

 

Got anotherquestion for you guys. Today I switched gears and tired to figure out my mis-fire problem.I did a rudimentarycylinder cut-out test by disconnecting each plug wire (at the plug itself) one at a time while the engine is running. This test confirms that cylinder #3is not firing, all others are. To determine if it was the plug wire, I swap #3 and #4 wires. The problem stayed at cylinder #3, still not firing. At this point I double checked cylinder #3 sister cylinder, which is cylinder #2 and it isfiring.

What's the likely hood I could have a bad coil packand it is only effecting onecylinder and not the sister cylinder? Since both cylinders are being fired at the same time, one on compression stroke and the other on exhaust stroke.

EDIT: during my dissambling process, I do remember seeing the #3 cylinder exhaust port having a lot of carbon. So this problem was existing prior to my rebuild.

I also forgot to mention I will probably swap the suspected bad coil pack with a known good one and see if the problem follows that coil pack

 

It is confirmed, I need a ignition coil.I removed my coil pack and swap around two coils. The suspected bad coil is now effecting another cylinder.

Anyone have a coil laying around? I do not need the entire coil pack, just one of the four coils. If you are only willing to sell the pack, that would be fine so let me know. I also need a radiator fan clutch.I havealready posted in the classified section of this forum and I willcheck the used on-lines Rover stores.

 

That sucks. I typed a detail updated post with pics and got a error message. That's when I remember about the forum problems.

Got a coil pack for $60. Installed the pack, all is well. No more miss.

 

Also decided to remove all four O2 sensors and clean them in a sand blaster. Since I got my ignition system up and running, why not start of with nicely cleaned O2 sensors.

 

I think my over heating problem is solved. I'm embarrassed to say, but it was because I didn't have the radiator fan installed. Before with the fan off, I couldn't have the engine idle for more than 15mins before it started to overheat. Even with the heat on full blast inside the cabin it would still overheat. I figured with such a large cooling system (over 3gals of coolant) and the engine only being idle it wouldn’t have matter with the fan removed.This morning I tried it again with the fan removed, same thing happen, it ran hot.I re-installed the fan andbingo, I was able to idle it for over 30mins. Even with theexpansion bottle cap removedit never got over 190* degree.

 

I also used my infrared heat gun whenthe fan removed. The block,thermostat housing and radiator inlet were all getting close to210* degrees. With the fan installed, all three areas never got over 195* degrees.

 

[ul][*]Update - Last week I purchase a fan clutch for $40 shipped. Install the clutch yesterday but did not start the engine to see howhow the cooling system would function.You will need a 1 and 3/8" wrench in-order to remove the fan clutch from the water pump pulley.

Here's a pic of the old and replacement clutch (old on the right, replacement on the left)





I'm also having a door lock problem I'm hopingsomeone can shed some light on. Here's exactly what's happening.[*]I can use the key in the driver’s door and unlock/lock all the lock as normal[*]When I unlock the locks from the driver’s door, then pull on the LF outside (or inside)door handle, all the locks will engage and go back down.[*]When I unlock the doors with the driver’s door key, then pull on the LR door handle (inside or outside handle) the LR door lock will go back down and the door will not open.[*]In order to open either the LF or LR door after unlocking the locks, I have to pull up on the lock while opening either door from the inside or outside.[/ul]
My LF window also wasn't working.When I hit the up/down button you can hear the motor engage but the window wouldn't move. I removed the door panel in hopes of finding a broken linkage that was affecting both the locks and window. The only thing I found was a damage window regulator, but no other linkage problem. Now I'm in the market for a replacement regulator.

Does my door lock situation sound like a common problem?

 

After a searching other forums, I havecome to the conclusion that my door lock issue could be related to a few items
[ul][*]the actuator(s) needing adjustment and/or lube[*]the round spring that keeps tension on the actuator has broken[*]or the actuator itself needs to be replace. [/ul]
If it is the spring, appearantely theirs a seller on UK eBay that sells the springs.

 

It is confirmed, it is the door latch spring that is causing my issues. This morning I took apart the drivers door latch to take a look. Sure enough, spring is broken. Time to order some UK springs