Well … I was greeted today by a few drops on the pavement. At least I know that even with an LS heart, it still finds a way to leak like a proper Land Rover does. It appears that the old transmission cooler did not like me playing with the lines to hook up the auxiliary cooler. I am really starting to think that its best just to get rid of the factory trans cooler and get a different one. It’s not worth the trouble of hooking it up and, unless its been replaced (which I doubt it), it’s nearly 20 years old.

I’m going to have to do some thinking on this. Maybe one of my fittings are leaking? I want to keep two coolers probably — I can tell the trans likes it better.

 

I lucked out -- one of the AN fittings was leaking. A quick snug up fixed it fortunately. Since this seems to be working well now, I'll do a write up on the trans lines and coolers soon. My new setup eliminates the old compression fittings on the metal pipes and fits the AN lines straight to the transmission.

 

Just wondering how you incorporated the additional trans cooler into the existing lines? Is it all a linear flow where the fluid goes into the original trans cooler first and then flows into the secondary cooler before returning to the trans? Or is there a T fitting that allows fluid to hit both coolers simultaneously after it leaves the transmission?

 

It is setup in parallel, so it goes through both coolers simultaneously. To do this you need (assuming you already have 6AN lines to your current cooler):
6AN trans cooler (mine looks just like this 16 row one, but was a lot more expensive: , better yet you could go for the 30 row and just replace the factory cooler altogether perhaps)
2x 6AN 3-way Y-splitter
2x 6AN hose 2-3 ft (my 4 ft was too long, had to get a little creative with extra line)
2x 6AN 90 degree male to female fittings (depending on setup)
Couple of bolts / some type of attachment mechanism

The two attachment points (these are 8AN Y-fittings, but I would use 6AN if I were to do it again):

 

I did another small mod that is pretty useful. I thought it would be a good idea to have some extra insurance against thieves. Not that it will ever happen - but it was simple and easy, so I installed a kill switch.

This switch goes interrupts the “start” wire for the LS ECU, so if I have it switched off, the LS ECU never gets its 12V “start” signal and it never turns on. If you try to start, there is no spark because the ECU is off. Flip the switch, the 12V signal starts the LS ECU and everything runs normally. I hid the switch in a discreet location and turn it off every time I’m not going to use the Disco for a while.

 

This past weekend we took the Land Rover to the Uwharrie National Forest and tackled some trails. It was an awesome time. No issues at all with engine etc.- truck went up most obstacles in low range / center diff locked with traction control. Sometimes it took a little bit of skinny pedal, but not much. Didn't attempt the worst sections, but still got into some pretty rough, rocky terrain.

Best part - no fretting about temps and didn't feel the need to check the coolant once. Hottest it ever got was 212 and that was after slowly going up a big, rocky grade for several minutes. Accessory fan kicked in and dropped it back to 204. Most of the time it was in the 190s. This was all with the factory radiator. I may consider wiring in an auxiliary switch to control the accessory fan, just so I have a little more manual control.

Overall - very happy with how it performed. Can't wait to go back!

 

Well, had some work done on LS ECM. Now it reads as a Land Rover when you plug into it.

 

Time to talk cooling system upgrades …

In normal driving and offroading, the factory fan and radiator setup is adequate with the 5.3 LS. Even with a high ambient temperature, it would stay at a normal temp for the LS. However, I recently was towing a trailer up a grade with the A/C on in the heat of summer and it pushed past 220. That’s a little bit past the comfort zone for me. Even though they say the LS is fine at 230 (factory aux fan didn’t even come on until 230 I believe), I don’t have confidence in the plastic parts of the Land Rover cooling system (radiator and tank).

Now I am looking at other cooling options, and I think I’ve come up with a plan:

1. Electric cooling fans - even though they add complexity, they can provide 100% at idle. A viscous fan just can’t do that. Plus they can turn off to save energy. Also, they can be run by the LS ECU, so no controller needed, just relays.

2. Full size aluminum radiator. I’ve seen some options - mainly the Allisport one. Problem is that Allisport is backed up from what I hear. I don’t want to trust my Disco to an eBay radiator, so I am thinking about having Griffin make me a custom one. They advertise that you can send in your old one and they can make you a new drop-in custom with significantly more capacity. Anyone have any experience with this? Sounds like a good option.

3. Allisport aluminum coolant tank - eliminating all the plastic weak points is important to me. It looks I can get one of these sooner than their radiator.

 

Step 1 of cooling system modifications - moving to electric fans. I found this Derale dual fan setup with integrated shroud that should fit perfectly to the factory radiator with minimal modifications. The shroud is made of aluminum (quite study) and fans are rated at a combined 4,000 cfm. This should be good for some extra fuel economy, power, and faster warmup times.

 

PSA for LS-Disco owners:

I have been hunting a battery drain for a while. Turns out that my Ultragauge, when connected to the GM OBD2 port, wasn't always turning off when I shut the car off. It wouldn't drain the battery if I started it up every couple days, but if I left it a week, then it would be dead.

Seems to be a fault with the Ultraguage auto-shutoff. I guess I will be needing another option to check engine vitals.