Working on my 1988 Range Rover Classic and have a laser temp thermometer. Anyone know the normal operating temp of a 3.5L? I think it is running hotter than it should but hard to tell on a 25yr vehicle. Who knows if the temp gauge was ever reporting the right level

Thanks!


Pete

 

The thermostat fitting would be one place to point at. You could remove stat and cook it on stove to confirm when it starts to open. A 180F replacement would be good. About $10. OEM stat was 88C, and that is fully open; but you can also run the 180F American versions. Manual (part of the RAVE listed below) says 185F - 192F.

With the vehicle age, the fine copper and brass radiator may have calcium build up. Use your IR thermometer, truck warmed up, engine off. Shoot the radiator fins from top to bottom in a vertical line. Should be less than 10F difference. Radiator rows are horizontal, sludge and scale fill the bottom first. I had my radiator rodded out and hot acid flushed, anbout $75 carry in, look for a small shop that does construction gear, farm tractors, etc.