I ordered a soft spring thermostat from RN to try and bring my temps down a little (220-230 in town). My question is if I only replace the thermostat will I mess anything up? Are there other components that need changed to accommodate the new thermostat?

 

Just the t stat is fine, but you have to make sure that you bleed the system completely.

Also make sure that you have the genuine Land Rover part, medium grey in color.

 

http://www.roverparts.com/product/img/Icn/PEL500110.jpg

This is the one I ordered, but it doesn't have a 'G' in the part number, so I am wondering if I ordered the wrong one?

 

Sorry, right number, wrong image...

 

So here's how it turned out. The part arrived and it was definitely not the part pictured above, so I put it in the back of the rover along with the coolant and figured I'd get the right part before I put the time into a coolant flush. Fast forward to Monday and my son and I were on a trip about 300 miles from home driving on a small dirt road in the middle of nowhere. Then the ultra gage starts alarming and I look down to see coolant temp at 255! So I shut the ol rover down and set about trying to figure out the problem. Well, turned out the nipple on the thermostat outlet line had broken off and the hose blew off with it. Luckily, since I had a thermostat and a couple gallons of coolant in the back, I was able to change it out with my gerber. It fixed the problem and we made the trip back running about 197-210. Anyway, I still want to get the right thermostat installed, but was glad to have the spare!

 

Seems like that is one of those failures that are perfect, if there is such a failure.

Amazing how sometimes things just work out.