Bought my first LR (white 95) a couple weeks ago.

A few days after the purchase my wife called to say that it was overheating a little. Over the next couple of days I kept a close eye on it and even though the temp gauge said it was hot the motor never actually seemed to be hot. In fact, the temp gauge was acting really funny. When I would turn the lights or fan on the gauge would jump up. And to be even weirder, the temp would go down a lot when I turn the A/C on.

Then, last night, the battery went dead. After sticking the battery charger on it over night I started doing some trouble shooting this morning. While running I had ~13 volts across the alternator and battery ground. Then just for the fun of it I stuck my leads across the alternator and the motor. 14 volts! Hmmm.

Finally found my ground strap at the starter and sure enough, it was loose. Tightened that bad boy up and "over heating" problem went away. Drove it around all day today and the temp gauge never budged off the mid-point of the scale.

Shalom

 

Yes, if the cooling system is operating properly. A 160 will open at a lower temperature, but will not prevent overheating of a faulty system. It will delay the onset of overheating until the radiator can't cool the coolant fast enough. Bubbles in the radiator is not conclusive evidence of a head gasket leak. Frequent addition of coolant is one clue to a blown head gasket.