overheating! surprise surprise
 

so, I recently replaced my radiator, tstat, coolant cap, waterpump, heater plate, upper and lower hoases, bleed screw, overflow hose, etc.
since then it was mostly fine, loosing just a little in the reservoir every few weeks.
today my wife was driving the truck and it started overheating. I showed up, and put a full gallon of peak into it till it blead out the bleeder. it overheated again right away, and i put another half gallon into it. left the hood open this time, and after about a minute, coolant was just spewing out of the overflow tube, and the temp spiked. could this be a bad tstat and cap, or does is suggest something more sinister?

Yea, air.

have anything more I could go on.
let's assume that your a genius and I'm an idiot asking for some insight.

Your roadside description sounds like a bad pump but you said that it's new. Fan clutch in good order? Others have reported sketchy results with some aftermarket caps.

yes new pump cap, and tstat all from Atlantic British less than 3k miles on them.

Aside from today, did you ever figure out where the coolant was going? Was it dripping down on your driveway or just disappearing under use?

I doubt it's air since your symptoms have been inconsistent (first minor and now major coolant loss) and same with the parts quality -- but, did you happen to save the old parts? Perhaps changing them one at a time might shed some light on it.

The only other thought I have is that you had a minor blockage in the radiator that has now become a major blockage (packaging material or the like). I know it's a pain, but I'd pull the lower hose and feel around inside the radiator....good luck, M

thanks for the reply.

so, there's no dripping under the rover.

fan clutch seems fine. spins when the engine is running, slight resistance/little-no freewheeling.

it has 103k on it and I've recently completed disco mikes 100k service list.
runs well and strong before today.

to clarify my earlier post....assume I'm an idiot, bc the spewing of antifreeze was due to the fact that i didn't tighten the cap down after filling/bleeding the system while roadside. ok...dumb!
but its still overheating. plugged the ole AB Iland into it once I got it towed back to the house, and it indicated a faulty reading from the engine temp sensor....so ill replace the sensor, the cap, and tstat to start, as well as inspect the radiator via the lower hose as suggested.
I'll report back my findings here...keeping my fingers crossed for a bad tstat.
if that's it I guess I'll order a few extras and just keep them and some channel locks in the truck.
Thx again!

Rovers...

Once you have a little air somewhere, eventually this is what happens. Happened to me couple years ago. I parked it on an incline in some dudes driveway, bled it and I drive it home.

If your holes arent clogged in your stat it's probably not it.

Rovers need every ounce of coolant to stay cool.

I think, and I would bet money on it, that you dont really need any parts....just aome really good bleeding unless of course your head gasket blew and you're missing the coolant coming out.

D2’s are famous for slowly leaking coolant out of the Throttle Body Heater if still installed which also introduces air into the system.

Just something to consider/check if you still have a TBH.