I'm a proud new owner ofa used 96 discovery for three weeks now.
After taking her out on her first little roadtrip (100 miles), she
decided to turn on me. When I turned on the air and/or went up
long hills on the highway, up to hot she shot.[:@]
Can anyone help me out with what could be going on?
I have no warranty and no clue of what to do or how much
it will cost.
thanks

 

Be very careful about overheating. These have aluminum blocks and drop liners easily if you get it too hot.

Check you coolant level and make sure it is always up to level.

I am going through the same thing right now. Is your fan clutch holding? You may want to check this and also check t make sure there aren't any blockages in your radiator.

I am replacing my water pump and fan clutch to try to solve this problem for me, I'll keep you posted on what I find.

 

Have you checked to see if your electronic fans are working, if not get them replace d ASAP so you don't fry the engine.
Also have the radiator checked for flow and blockage, make sure the radiator is not plugged with dirt and mud.
Check and replace the t/sata if there is any question and make sure you bleed all the air out of the engine.

 

I'm still throwin my dice and betting a clogged radiator.

 

how many miles?

 

It has 177,000 miles. I checked the fan clutch and its fine. New t-stat. Flushed
the coolant and everything is filled... no leaks.
My next step is to get the radiator checked out. Someone told me it could
be as bad as the head gaskets gone bad. Could this be?
I'm used to my old reliable family Volvo Wagon... so I'm now just learning
about how a car runs. I can tell the last owner had a bit of fun in the mud. The bottom
of the rover is pure mud. Hopfully just a a little blockage. Is there an Ex-Lax for
radiators?
Thanks for everyones help.

 

Discovering,

I had a similar problem the day after I bought my 96 Disco SE7.

I too would suggest all of the above before you drive it anymore!

In my case, I changed the t-stat and got no good results. I flushed and refilled the rad... with no good resutls. My fan clutch was good, the water pump was new, and I didn't seem to have a blown head gasket as I never lost any power at anytime or had any other symptoms. So I removed the rad to have it taken to a shop. I figured it was blocked. Boy was I shocked! The rad was rotted! Completly rotten to the core. You could gently run your finger across the flukes and they would crumble off into your hand. I had never seen anything like it! And to think that it never leaked a drop of fluid while in that condition.

Oh well! One rebuilt radiator from rover renovations and I've been cool ever since.

Check everything really well. And one more thing: I used Dexcool as the coolant when I re-filled the new rad. Flushed it as thoroughly as I knew how. I've had good results with it.
Cheers!

 

If he muddied it up bad be sure the outside of the radiator isn't clumped up with mud. You may want to go to a car wash and power spray it down. As for the radiator not much you can do but either get it looked at or get a new one. Disco rads clog up easily based on the research i've done. Had to replace mine under the same circumstances. Next time you drive it and it starts to raise in temp, turn the heater on full blast. If it starts to drop and become normal, sure sign your radiator isn't circulating enough fluid through it. That's what happended to me.

 

Looks like everything has been covered .

But the fuel if you are running low octane and pushing it hard
it will run hot.