You are fine. Anything under 210 is absolutely fine, especially on that Turner engine. My lowest temps have been with the black Britpart. Leave it alone and keep the OEM genuine gray as a spare.

 

I run about 194/197 at idle for short periods, but I will get up to 201 if I sit long enough, then the clutch in the fan starts to engage and I get cool fast. 204 is not bad, worry if you get to the 210/215 range at that point you could have a bigger issue. I replaced my fan and clutch because the fan had a bad blade, and clutch was iffy no real change in things
I run about 188 when I am moving and have been down to 186.

 

A thermostat is critical, not only to open and close at the proper time but also it restricts water flow and allows the radiator time to cool the fluid prior to re-entry into the motor. Removing the thermostat from the system will allow the cooling fluid to move freely through the motor which sounds like a good idea until you think about the thermodynamics of the radiator and fan, and how it supports the system.

 

I agree. Was someone suggesting running without a thermostat?

 

No.

But I'll go ahead and make a similar suggestion. CollieRover mentioned that he has a Turner engine and considerd the inline thermostat mod. I've done it. I use a cheapo Chevy thermostat in a housing. My truck runs cooler and the whole setup is only slightly more expensive than a land rover thermostat (and you lose no coolant swapping it). The whole process is documented somewhere here in the forums.

To the point, among the many advantages of the inline thermostat mod is that the thermostat is in a housing and can be removed, then the housing closed... for diagnosis purposes, this is an easy way to eliminate or confirm a bad thermostat as the cause of high temps because your coolant runs wide open. Further tangential to the point, it makes getting air out of the system trivially easy (valve in the middle, just raise hose) and eliminates brittle plastic parts (my "T" cracked open on a lonely road). I don't know why everyone does not do it .


Man I loved my old engine .I can't help it .I found a picture close in time to the one above. Sorry, this is purely selfish...

RIP "fire" engine!
​​​​​​

 

I'd be running the inline thermostat "if" I couldn't get it to run cool on the OEM setup. Sure the T is brittle, but you can replace that, the Britpart 180F thermostat works, and I have no reason to use the inline setup at this time.

 

Hahaha! Well put, Best! As I have for years, I bow to your mechanical skill and appreciate your advice. But I switched to try something different and because my T left me stranded and endangered my head gaskets, and the replacement T (galvanized plumbing fitting) looked jank. The original T crumbled in my hands. Surely its state was due to age, but looking at it naked and destroyed it seemed a fragile thing in an otherwise durable vehicle.

Anything that strands me is replaced, even if it is a whole vehicle if I can't find a quick fix.

After the change, I do think the inline setup is superior even on a well running rover. No plastic, an actual valve for air, cheap thermostat from any store, and no lost coolant. Technically, the 180 thermostat is a mod, too. The standard 190 thermostat, like SAI, were awful attempts to get the engine past EPA standards, I believe. Get rid of one, get rid of them all... with exception of the cats. It sounds horrible without cats.

Also an oversized Wix oil filter makes the engine happy as bearings age, and a cone filter is great. I'm definitely not a purist but I've limped Old Blue through almost two decades since I drove it out of the dealership in '99 (thanks to you and other members, I should add), so I take liberties.

Best,

Charlie V