Replacing thermostat
 

Ok, so i've already bought the RAVE cd a while back, lost the c.d. I need to replace the thermostat, but have no idea, where it is, and how to drain the radiator before being able to get to it. Someone from here gave me a link to download the Rave, but I don't know how to use nero, or alcohol 120%. So i bought another online, and it was the wrong one! so if someone could just tell me how to drain the radiator (if that's necessary for me to get to the thermostat) and where is the thermostat, i would def. appreciatte it. I plan on just buying a paper book manual instead of online manual, to easy to lose.lol Thanks.


-Herb
1998 Land Rover Discovery Le
123.000 miles

RE: Replacing thermostat
 

Download the rave CD from the link that I provided.
-Download winrar for free from http://www.winrar.com
-right click on the ISO file after it is downloaded and choose "open with-->winrar"
-Click the EXTRACT button and choose a place to extract the files to.
-locate the RAVE icon in the directory you specified and click on it.

But as far as I can tell, the rave CD won't help you. I don't see anything pertaining to the radiator petcock location. Most radiators have them at the bottom either far to the left or right. Very few vehicles do not have petcocks...I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the Rover was one of those that lack the petcock!

Most of the time you do not need to drain the radiator to change the thermostat...I can't say for sure with the Disco, I'd have to look at it. The thermostat just regulates fluid flowing through the upper radiator hose into the engine block. Usually the thermostat remains closed until the vehicle reaches operating temperature and then it opens up...this helps when it's cold outside for the engine to heat up quicker.

Generally speaking, the upper radiator hose is pretty dry because when the engine is shut off, the thermostat will eventually close, trapping coolant in the engine block and whatever is in the hose will drain back down into the radiator.

So...take a look at the system, you can probably disconnect the hoses leading to the thermostat housing without making too much of a mess. Squeeze them and you should be able to tell if there is fluid in the hose.

The ugly way of draining the system is just disconnecting the lower radiator hose...not sure how easy this would be to do on the Disco...it doesn't look very spaceous between the front of the block and the radiator. You can't even reach up from the bottom very easily...

You could always get a hand pump from wally world and feed it down the radiator reservoir and pump the coolant out...might take you awhile though.

RE: Replacing thermostat
 

Herb-Follow the top radiator hose back to the engine, that ball looking thing where the hose connects is the t-stat housing.
With the engine cold remove the upper radiator hose, remove the two bolts that hold the housing on, take note of which way the t-stat faces, mark it with a paint pen. Remove the old gasket.
When installing the new one make sure that you put it back in the right way, that is why you mark the old one. Get it wrong and the trk will overheat.
You will loose about half a gallon of coolant.
That housing is cast aluminum so becareful when you tighten it so you dont crack it.

RE: Replacing thermostat
 

Thanks, I was able to find it, and am right now downloading RAVE again. Should be getting gasket in mail real soon, for some reason i could get the thermostat from Oreilly auto parts, but no one in town had the gasket. had to get it off of atlantic british. Gotta say though, I would think i would be getting annoyed with the several issues that have come up in the few short months of having the disco, but i'm not. I enjoy getting to mess with it, finding out how things work and correcting them. Thanks for all your help you guys.

RE: Replacing thermostat
 

I had to buy my gasket at the dealer, it was cheaper than buying on-line and then paying for shipping.