I have bought 12, your description sounds like a common stuck thermostat. Plugged radiator cause overheat when driving, not when idling. Water pump/air in the system/etc.usually on manifest when driving. If it drove fine without overheating, I woudl buy it and do the bypass thermostat mod immediately. If you want to be sure about the hg you can rent/borrow the chemical test from Oreilly.

 

FWIW, T-stats, fan clutches and rads are pretty cheap and easy to fix. Same with the pump. Buy it and fix the issues. But bring a code reader capable of logging, and check temps with that. My rover had the water pump grenade and I shut the engine off within about 2 seconds of it letting go. My temps showed 227 on my reader, but the gauge hadn't even moved off centre.

A short spike in temps can cause lots of damage, but prolonged driving at extreme temps WILL cause damage.

 

Infrared thermometer is handy for diagnosing stuck thermostats and clogged radiators.

My money's on the thermostat

I wouldn't fire her up again without an OBD reader plugged in to monitor the actual engine temp

 

 

ignore this recommendation. it would seem i have been mislead by my own ignorance.

 

 

Perfect front bumper for a young driver

 

Great Front Bumper, but please do my eyes a favor and remove that OEM bumper support lol. It looks horrible & I see people with ARB/Tactical Rover/RTE, after-market bumpers re-install it all the time... It was meant to support the OEM plastic bumper. It will do you no good with a metal bumper except look awful.

On the new D2, I'd go to Auto Zone and pickup a new 180F thermostat, get some green coolant (if it isn't already green), test the fan clutch, and go from there. It's probably still got the OEM thermostat. I've also seen some aftermarket temp sensors give a false temp reading. IR temp guns are cheap 20-30.00, and just point n shoot to get temp readings on the upper hose, thermostat, and near the temp sensor.

 

That's an eyesore no doubt! Thermostat on the way... I will post some results later this week..

 

UPDATE - New 180* t stat installed today.. Was hoping for cooler temps but nooo. Same as before, starts up, idles for 5-8 minutes in the 'normal zone' on the analog gauge, take it for short test run and the temps spike up damn near the red...SO..

Fan clutch is good (has resistance when turning by hand). Could this be a water pump causing the issue? Or clogged radiator? Or better yet, HG sucking it up somewhere? Spark plugs look decent, no leaks of coolant. Belt routing is correct, double checked against RAVE.


Don't know what they should read but hear are some readings from the IR Thermostat.. New t-stat at 142+/-, upper hoses around 135+/-. Top of radiator around 119+/-, bottom around 100 on one side to 89 +/- on one side.

Give some thoughts you smarter than me Rover guys....