With the thermostat I had in the truck when I bought it I was seeing temps of high 190's to low 200's around town and mid 190's to high 190's on the freeway. What got me to want to replace the thermostat was the idle temps; at idle my temps would go up to 221 so I replaced the thermostat with a 180 from Rover's North; their in house brand one not the genuine.

Now my temps are a consistent 203 degrees...whether city or highway I'm seeing 203 degrees. At idle, the temp never goes above 206.6 and if I rev the engine while parked the temp will drop into the low 190's. This is all with heater and ac off. I don't know if I bled the system correctly but I bled it twice. So I fixed my idle temp issue but my driving temps are now higher...any ideas on why? Should I just go with the genuine LR 180 thermostat?


When I tried to bleed the system according to the RAVE procedure I never could get coolant to come out of the bleed screw.

 

if you turn the heat up it will drop about 5 degrees at idle LOL. that whole bypass thing, along with these "thermostat housings" will give you all kinds of temps across the board. I have a knock-off T-stat myself, but instead of buying the genuine, I'm going to throw this junk in the trash and set up an inline thermostat. you just can't trust this factory jury-rig

 

Air in the system may be the cause of your higher temps. You can add coolant by removing the bleed screw and pouring it slowly through a small funnel. Much of the air in the system ends up there at the top radiator hoses. Best to do that prior to first start of the day went stone cold.

It is jerry not jury.
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or raise the recovery tank while filling and do not close the bleeder screw until you see clear coolant for 20 secounds.
also if your temps were getting up into the 120's are your condenser fans working?

 

I just bought that same 180 degree thermostat from RN about a week ago and installed it. With the ambient temperature being around 10-30 degrees F, I'm reading 183-190 degrees F while driving and 194 degrees F at idle - roughly. Without the heat on.

 

On the way home last night I saw temps of low 190s on the freeway and high 190s in the city, idle at 208 after 10 minutes parked. Stopped at a gas station to try bleeding the system and found coolant flowing from the bleed screw.


My temps seem to be all over the place...today while driving to work my freeway temps were 199 and wouldn't budge, city temps were the same and idle was 204. Checked the fan today before starting the truck and found that the fan did spin and it had a little resistance in it. This is normal right? These temp fluctuations are annoying...I want to get my truck ready for spring/summer and I want to make sure it's going to be safe to drive on my adventures. I'll replace the pressure cap just to be safe. How can I test to see if the radiator is clogged and did I test the fan correctly?

 

Problem number 1 is that you didn't use an OEM 180 stat. I'm guilty of that myself, but I have an electric fan setup and I have plans to go inline relatively soon.

Try bleeding your system more with the engine cold and that should help some. Hopefully. Really though, the aftermarket stats are not as good. They almost always open later.

 

Totally agree with that.

Quote:

Stopped at a gas station to try bleeding the system and found coolant flowing from the bleed screw.

Don't do that again. When the system is hot you will normally get coolant out of the bleed fitting, if not and get air you'd likely be seriously low on coolant. All you did was bleed coolant out of your system and probably allow more air to enter.

Your temps are lower than first post, not in overheat territory and should be lower. Getting all the air out of the system normally requires several subsequent small bleeds after the initial refill and bleeding. Again......easily done when stone cold, as in the morning prior to first start of the day, by removing the bleed screw and using a small funnel to add coolant directly into the top hoses. Next check reservoir level and top-off to full level. Drive normally and repeat daily until no air space is found in the top hoses. It only takes small amounts, the most I ever added through fitting was about 12 ounces, decreased to little, then none. It's simple and reduces coolant spillage compared to other methods. My cooling system has been wide open on several occasions over the last couple of months, this has worked for me every time and a forum member reported positive results adding coolant in the same manner after their higher than normal temp encounter. What ever way you decide to use, the important thing is to complete the bleeding process and be able to recognize a bleed system. Once you're confident the system is bled and if the temps remain higher than expected that's the time to suspect other causes.

Probably not a fan/clutch issue affecting current temps unless you're in a warm climate. I drove around with mine removed for a couple of days with temps in the 50s here and saw little difference in coolant temps except at idle and even those were in range you are seeing.

Replaced my thermostat a couple of days ago with same/similar eurospare branded aftermarket. Cruising 60 MPG steady temps are at 188 F and idle in low to mid 190s. That's about a 5 degree drop from old discolored one that was probably installed at the factory.

You probably should drop by your local BMW dealer and pick up an extra bleed screw before yours breaks/leaks, PN 17111712788.
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did you check the fan in front of the radiator or behind the radiator?