Does anyone know how much fluid the radiator alone holds, on a discovery series 2? I had a coolant leak on my engine, so put a proprietary brand of gasket sealant in the engine. The engine was fine idling, but overheated when driven. I replaced the top hose assembly and thermostat, then noticed the lower half of the radiator remained cold when running.

That meant that the radiator was blocked and needed flushing. I took the radiator out (3 days) But then I'm a mason not a mechanic. I poured some gunk radiator flush into it with some water, lots of junk came out, but now i need to know whether it's all out. Anyone have any clues as to the radiator capacity?

 

24.2 pints, if engine has fluid in it, 26.2 dry. That's for the whole cooling system. Problem is that if lower rows are cooler by 10F or more, the sludge inside may not move out. And gasket sealers in many cases decide to also attach to the sludge and calcium, making it a worse blockage.

Reverse flush all you can.

The heat gauge points at 50% from about 130F to 240F, so a scanner or Ultra Guage give a much better picture of what is going on. No need to get to 250 or 280. Should run under 220 in most cases. With one of the new 180F soft spring stats you'l be even cooler. But still need a 100% radiator, not one that is 50% full with sponge of gunk.

The plastic side tanks make it not profitable to rod out by the indy rad shops, my D1 was rodded out and hot flushed wih citric acid for $75. The D1 had copper and brass tanks, just un-solder. D2 rads can be had for $150 - $250. Be careful with the screws that attach to the top of the radiator, prime spot for plastic tank crack.

 

thanx Savannah

 

In plain English, the DII takes 2 gal the DI takes 3.

 

Thanx guys, I took the radiator out and put some gunk Rad flush in, left it 5 minutes on a flat surface and then flushed it out. There was all the gunk collected in the bottom of the radiator in the pan I used for collection. I repeated the process several times over a 2 hour period then kept the hose running continuously for 5 mins. It's all back together again now and seems to be working ok. Now, why do they put the bottom hose a third of the way up the radiator, makes no sense to me. How are you supposed to drain the thing...lol

 

Next time you have a problem with your Disco, check with us first, what you did, with all good intent, was in fact probably the worst thing you can do to a Disco.
Never put stop leak in our coolant systems, it can and will plug up your radiator and usually can never get it all out. Also never use tap water to flush the system, use distilled water to prevent any more build up
How many miles on your truck, if over 100,000 your radiator is all ready partially plugged up and flushing it won't get rid of the calcium build up, at some point it will also need to be replaced to prevent engine over heating.