I just bought a 2003 Disco 2 today! It is in very good condition, and I only paid $4500 for the truck. When I was driving it home, I noticed that the temp started to rise a little and I got a little worried. I remembered something I read one time about turning the heater on high and that would help to lower the temp. So with that happening, I looked over the engine and I see no coolant, wetness or anything on or around the engine. I was wondering if it could just be the thermostat. I have not noticed any idle issues, the ticking sounds normal. I did notice that as soon as I turned the heater on, the temp fell like a rock, and I know for a fact that it never got into the Red zone at all, was always daylight between the peg and the red!

Should I move forward in trying to figure out how to change the Thermostat, or am I just screwed and I bought a bad Rover?

Thanks,
Dan

 

How mechanical are you. You need to stop driving it cause every time you allow the gauge to climb, you ar doing more damage.
If you want some help, send me your number and lets talk.

 

There are a number of reasons these trucks overheat. I woudl suggest putting in a soft spring thermostat right now no matter what along with flushing the old coolant and using green stuff.

Things to check:
radiator: measure temps at the top and bottom of the radiotor. Should be pretty close to being equal.
air in the system: do you hear a waterfall sound behind the dash? this would indicate you have air that needs to get out.

Also it would help to know more about how/when it is overheating.

 

Before you start throwing parts at it you need to find out what is causing it and not just put a bandaid on it.

 

Well lets talk about how mechanical I am. Well not a lot to be honest.

I just ran the truck for about 30 minutes as I ran to the store, and the gauge never got higher then half way up. I did pop the hood and put my hand on the hose above the thermostat and below. The top hose was nice and hot, and the bottom hose was almost cool! I did talk with the previous owner and he told me that it had never overheated on him at all (Now I know that sellers will almost tell you anything to sell, but I hope that maybe he was honest). I did check the level on the reservoir and it seemed that there was not any coolant in it while it was running, but after it had sat for 3.5 hours after I got it home, when I opened the reservoir lid, it gargled a little and there was about an inch of coolant in the bottom.

When the truck overheated earlier today, I was driving home on the interstate and was running 70 mph. As I stated, when I noticed that it was climbing I cranked the heater and it instantly dropped and stayed there.

God I really hope that I do not need to pump a ton of money into this Rover right after I just bought it! My wife will have a FIT! She really wasn't ecstatic that I wanted to buy it to begin with.

 

First things first, I would pressure test and bleed the air out of the system.

 

Sounds like it's just low on coolant.

 

That is kind of what I am hoping that it is. I would think that if the previous owner was having issues he would at least mention it.

What is the best Coolant to get for these Rovers?

 

And until you find out what is wrong, quit driving it, seriously, you have no idea of the amount of money ou may have to spend because you keep driving it.

 

So if I put coolant in it, would be a good idea to run it and see if it will overheat. Cause I seriously think that maybe the coolant thing is a possibility.