HG labor 12 - 15 hours. See notes below:

Truck still overheats. I need to confirm that it is overheating without A/C but I'm gonna assume it does - Define overheats. Position of needle on gauge, any readings from scanner (coolant temp), does it happen driving, parked & idling, or slow traffic? With or without AC? Any coolant loss? Smoke from tail pipe?



BUT, I need to rule it out before I go there. This is what I'm pretty sure I did right:

1) oil bits (oil/filter/pump)
2) water pump
3) viscous and rad fan (SD and correct orientation <actually have a look at the pic in my prior post and let me know that it is correct. please.>) Pix of blades on clutch look good, curved side of blade goes toward engine.

This is what I'm not 100% sure about:

1) thermostat (it could be older than I remember and up to 6 or 7 years old so obviously I'm getting a new one immediately.) $10 - buy a 180 degree one. Side with "spring" goes inside engine block.
2) radiator quality (my mechanic took it to the rad place and they "fixed it up." He said he would buy it from me if I ever wanted to sell it. But it was not rodded or recored or acid bathed to my knowledge. They want it because it is all copper and brass, worth good money even as scrap. You can use a commercial flush as it sits, or you can also DIY acid flush: disconnect all rubber hoses to protect engine block. Seal lower outlet with old rubber glove and hose clamp. Fill with 50/50 mix of water and muratic acid (brick washing acid) - wear eye protection goggles. Let stand for one hour, then drain. Reverse flush from lower outlet with water hose for 30 minutes. Acid dissolves some calcium, and makes some scale break off. If you take it out, easier to do when flat. But if you do that, you could take it to a shop... [NOTE TO THOSE WITH ALUMINUM RADIATORS - DON'T USE THIS ACID, TOO STRONG FOR ALUMINUM]
3) the truck had a "mod" done by an unknown mechanic. there was a problem with the heater (i don't even remember what it could have been as I surely would not need a heater. He did a bypass of sorts. The car worked fine for a long time after so I don't think it was that. On right side valve cover were two pipes that lead from front of engine to firewall for the heater core. He probably disconnected them from heater and "jumped" them together with another hose.
4) did savannah's plastic bag test on the grill while AC on and engine off. Hard to tell but it did pull the bag towards the grill. Good.
5) expansion tank is old opaque version and was replaced with cap about 7 years ago. While there doesn't seem to be a leak anywhere she'll get condensation if she gets hot. Probably will be a good idea to get a new cap. That condensation is a fine mist being vented by the cap.
6) haven't had codes read so I guess I should do that ASAP as well. And if the scanner can read data see what the coolant temp is.
7) Coolant mixture. We've been adding coolant and distilled water all summer. A little here a little there. I really don't know what the current mixture is and I haven't added the water wetter yet. My plan is to flush and add the right mix but if I'm pulling things apart I didn't want to have to lose another batch of coolant. Right now you can just use water. When you put in coolant finally add some "water wetter" which decreases temp slightly. It really does work.
8) Pressure test. haven't done it. Guess I should Yes, but PT won't show partial clogged radiator, water pump with bad impeller, thermostat in backwards, etc. If you are not loosing coolant, PT may not show a whole lot. But worth doing.

Pix of air speed for stock fan and clutch, cold at start up. A little over 800 feet per minute velocity. My GMC/Chevy HD clutch and modified plastic fan does 1150 feet per minute on same truck. So your HD clutch will do at least that, probably more, because your blades are stiff and the blade length is more carefully matched to the venturi of the fan cowl. So that is a 40% or so improvement. But at freeway speed, you are looking at 5280 feet per minute. That's why we ask if you are overheating while on the highway, the fan is not the limiting factor. BTW the meter in the pix is used to measure air flow and such for HVAC systems.

Other pix shows cooper fins, my paint was eaten off by acid dip. Physics guys tell me that while black is great for radiant heat, once you get forced air at even a small rate, the color makes very little difference. Otherwise every heat sink would be black. I thought mine was rust after Spike saw one of my photos, but a closer look shows just copper.

 

Two more notes:

Chemical test for combustion gases in coolant is available at auto parts store for $40 -$50, usually will do like 16 tests. Share with a friend.

The previous mechanic disabled the heater, which removed the standard Land Rover OEM gases in coolant test - the waterfall slushing sound under the dash. So you may have been driving with a problem that otherwise would have been noticed a long time ago. I guess you could replace the bypass hose with a clear plastic one, and see what comes by.

 

Thanks SB. I remember a commenter on my thread asking if the truck was sound after I wrote how much work I put into it. I hear that when I wake up and go to sleep and in between.

I'll take pic of the bypass I mentioned and post it shortly.

The new fan may have changed some of the dynamics of my overheating but this is how it basically went/goes.

-Mechanic says he allowed car to run for 4 hours in place with no movement of gauge. I've done 20 or 30 minutes with same result.
-Around town, short drives, no movement of gauge. No problem.
-Traffic, needle climbs slowly but surely going well past middle mark. I have to pull over or it will continue to go up.
-Going up hill for any extended period of time will cause needle to climb. There are places in PR I just cannot go and know it. First place I go if I can get this fixed.
-AC seems to make it get hot faster as well.
-Turning AC off or revving to 1500 RPM in neutral seem to do nothing. I have no heat so I cannot check that.
-Overall seems that if it begins to climb I have no choice but to shut it down.

As long as I can remember the happy point in the gauge is exactly mid way. But as I have been getting to really know her it appears that the happy point is the slightest bit lower than 9 o'clock.

Does that test for combustion gases in the coolant 100% confirm the head gasket problem? For 50 or 60 bucks more I can confirm or rule this out? I'm so far down the road that I want to make sure I can see the destination. I can't imagine a bail out but maybe I need to.

 

BTW, I'm having real trouble locating this 180 degree thermostat. The usual suspects either don't indicate temp or they all seem to be at 190. The Celsius one was tricky to convert but still is 190.

 

With heater bypassed, the old turn off AC - turn on heat back up plan does very little. It sounds like your radiator is the culprit. It can handle the load at idle, but at if load gets above a certain point (the "knee" in a temperture curve) it just can't keep up.

Do you think you could find another radiator shop that could flow test, boil out, and possibly rod out your radiator? Sometimes they are too far gone to rod out, which is $50 -$75. Re-core will be high, I was just quoted $300 - $400 because of the price of copper. New radiator is also very high. If you open the top plug hole you can see with a flash light some of the cooling tubes (flat, and they run side to side). If the end looks clean, good. If crusty - the rest will look the same or worse.

A quick trick to increase cooling air flow is to unplug AC compressor . Then when you turn on AC, the front fans run, providing an extra boost in slow traffic (with no ac of course)

A future project for the mountain areas - radiator misting system - some members have suggested conversion of the head light washer system.

 

I'm trying to determine order to avoid unnecessary spending of cash and to truly diagnose problem. Seems to me you want me to chase the rad lead first.

Here's a pic of the heater bypass. Let's rule this out as the cause. Another mechanic told me recently to make an adjustment....continuity of the flow or something like that.

Also, I thought I'd post a vid of it running because I think it sounds pretty. There is a small ticking which I would bet comes from the new (used from LR indy shop) oil pump but you cannot pick it up in the video. Also, maybe you can't hear anything as my SD is running as the name suggests. <<Seems I cannot upload a vid. I'll figure that out later>>

Also, please have a look at the solder repairs that the mechanic made.

I put the Water Wetter in. I'll take any extra degrees that I can.

Thanks.

 

i was looking at my missing nozzle headlight washer system and thinking what a joke that feature was...mechanic was asking me about an improved oil cooler system. as you said before these things run in africa and should work without these types of mods.

 

Perhaps not the joke if you have monsoon mud four months of the year. You could add outboard oil cooler as well. But some Disco 2s have an oil cooler under the front of the radiator, beyond a certain VIN they don't have any outside oil cooler.

The radiator shop I used had some sort of tank with a citric style acid that was very warm, and circulated by a pump through the radiator, dissolving and washing out the material. They heat the acid to make the chemical reaction faster. Some DIY use white vinegar from the grocery store, would take a while to work while driving. To rod out the radiator they have to un-solder one of the side tanks, then run a rod or flat steel through the tubes.

Look for technicians with gray hair....

Google Images

 

Radiator guy and my mechanic are now pointing to thermostat. The radiator guy says we need a 160 degree thermostat for this region. From what I read, it really doesn't seem to be thermostat problem. I can't find any thermostats under 190.

Mechanic says truck is running great and strong and he measured cylinders so is pretty confident its not HG's.

 

We do have monsoon mud at least 4 months of the year. I'm not manly enough to drive in it during the night. If you can pour your cooler ice down the front of your radiator, you can wipe clean your headlights....

Now i'm sure i'll be needing them.