Parents have. 2006-07 land rover lr3. My dad came home the other day and it smelled like it was burning coolant. Poppedthe hood looks like the reservoir overflowed. I let it cool down and started it, no cel let it get to operating temp then took it for a quick spin the see what would happen. Get a little down the road gauge goes strait to hot and pretty fast. Pull over starts smoking. let it cool down and start home same thing happens so I pulled over until it cooled and started home again. While a half mile from my house the gauge goes strait to hot. Being so close I didn't want to stop again. So I cranked the heat up thinking it would pull heat form the engine bay( but it actually stayed cold the whole time never got not) and put the car in neutral and coasted the temp went down. Pulled into the house turned it off started smoking. All of this and no check engine light. So no code to read. I'm guessing its a thermostat not opening. Does that sound right to you guys?

 

It sounds expensive. If you have it available, a plug in scanner can read the temperature digitally. There is no need to go to "hot". You will likely find that even at 212 - 215 the truck will still show normal. D2's will show normal to about 240F, then start creeping up, even though their head gaskets are being toasted and tested at the same time. Pages torn from the shop manual for you, the whole thing is a free download in links below.

Rovers are infamous for low reading heat gauges. No reason to believe this has changed. Pix of a D1, and two D2s with different heat, but same gauge reading. There is no "normal" ....

 

pix..

 

I'm praying its not the headgaskets. Should I start with the thermostat and see what happens next? Wold be the cheapest lol. It just seems like it's not opening.

 

Yes, but by using the extra test equipment you'll see that temps are not staying where you want them, before gauge moves over to the "extra crispy" setting. Coolant should be at proper level, air bled out, etc. No need to go to way high when testing.

The coolant cap is rated for 16 PSI before it vents.

The thermostat is rated to start to open at 190F, and be fully open at 203F. So if you are testing and get to 215, that would be a strong indicator of problems. The fan clutch is an electric / viscous combo unit. The ECU sends a stream of pulses to control the fan speed, and if electrically disconnected it is supposed to throw a code. The fan should suck a paper towel against the grille, not blow it away. Fan problems show up as overheating at slow speeds and parked.

Head gaskets tend to make coolant disappear into the exhaust (white smoke), the oil (milkshake color), or just drip out. There is a chemical test for about $60 that "sniffs" the coolant for exhaust gases.

Rovers are most intolerant of engine overheating. In grandpa's old pickup, you noticed the coolant going from "E" to "P" on the temp gauge. Every day a little higher. On Rover, the gauge has evolved to basically an idiot light with a pointer.

 

Yea no signs of smoke through the exhaust at all. No over heating while it was stopped and running. I let it idle for about 5-10 minutes was fine. I appreciate all the help. I guess Ill start with the thermostat coolant flush and see what happens from there. And I see you in savannah I used to live in the landings. I have family out on tybee I miss it out there savannah is a nice place.

 

I have yet to see one of these t-stats stick closed.

Most common issue with this overheating is from it losing coolant. I would check carefully for a leak before doing anything else. It is common for the bleed screw on the reservoir to leak, which can make it look like it vented pressure, but really isn't building any pressure at all, hence overheating.

 

Ill check for that aswell. Thank you.

 

Dave, dose the LR3 also make the heater core gurgle sounds from air/exhaust in coolant? And isn't there a low coolant switch?

 

Yes, there is a low coolant switch built into the expansion tank, that will display a message in the message center on the instrument cluster when it reads low.

I haven't heard them make the sound that you hear in discoverys, and have driven several with low coolant, I think it is just how the system is designed, but air pockets are much easier to work out of the Jag engine system then any of the older Rover, or BMW systems.

I have yet to see an overheating issue that started as a more severe issue then just a leak with these yet. But they do 'cook' pretty easy, I have seen ignition coils melt inside the valve cover due to a coolant leak, and overheating too much due to a lack of coolant.

There have been issues with the thermostats and the cooling fans, but these usually don't cause overheats. The t-stat is much more likely to stick open(usually just a bad seal that in turn allows it to not fully close) and the fan failure is generally either stuck locked with no slip, or still spinning enough to cool the engine, but maybe not fully exchange the heat from the condenser.