Hi,everyone. I have been wanting a disco for a while and I finally bought one this weekend.It is a 97 that runs well but I was told it will overheat in heavy traffic.If anyone has any info or can help me pinpoint the problem it will be appreciated.The prior owner told me it was overheating due to a leaking freeze plug.Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

Have you tried searching the forums? There are a ton of threads about overheating.

 

Its 102 before the humidity here in Savannah today. Quick and cheap things to check: look for build up of trash between radiator and AC condenser. Low coolant (where is it going?). When cold, give that radiator fan a spin, it should not spin around, or even go 1/4 turn. When warmed up, turn off engine, spin it again - should be a little looser, but should not freewheel. If suspect, try using a rolled newspaper to stop the blades when at idle. Should not be able to do that (my mechanic grabbed one with a gloved hand once to demonstrate - would not advise that method). Viscous drive fans start out cold at about 70% power transfer (make a roaring noise for a minute or so), then drop to about 20% when warmed to normal. Above normal, they start to re-couple and build back up to 75% or so. Loss of internal fluid (usually a oil smudge on the front seal) reduces what they can do over time. This forum has a really good $50 fix with a Chevy unit. It won't be the thermostat - that determines how cold the unit will stay, unless stuck. It could be a clogged up radiator, both fins (mud, seeds, gunk) and inside (flush, or have "boiled" out and rodded out by a shop). A good running radiator should have around ten degrees spread across it. You can open the fill plug on the top and look at some of the tubes with a flashlight - may see calcium buildup. I doubt that it is the leaking freeze plug. But the PO could have put several cans of cooling system stop leak in before selling it, to hide other nasty things, like a head gasket leak.

By the way, your 97 D1 has the same POS temp gauge as mine, so "normal" is the first 30%, "holy cow!" is the mid point, and "melt credit card" is the last area before the hot mark. Get a scan tool that will show coolant temp - it is an eye opener.

I changed my stat to 180, my mpg has suffered and I am going back to factory spec. I got radiator flushed and rodded ($65), I replaced fan clutch, and got mine to only overheat when at idle with AC on. My PO had reversed the wires to the condenser fans, they were blowing air out instead of in. Hopefully you won't have all that nonsense.

The electric fans work when AC is switched on (can test with engine off), or when coolant gets above 212F, or when coolant and fuel temp is over a limit set by LR (trips and 8 minute timer for cool down). The AC fans are just enough to help keep the AC compressor in a working range at idle or slow speeds. IMHO that are not much for cooling the engine.

There are plenty of posts on overheating, and you should avail yourself of the free down load of the RAVE service manual, 800 plus pages, mentioned many times on this forum.

 

what part of GA?

 

Dahlonega..The site of america's first gold rush...

 

I too bought my first Disco this weekend and live in Dahlonega! Ha!

 

Nice! I was visiting my brother on the 4th (I live in Jefferson). I saw a red DII and a old RRC, any of yours?

 

Hello!! We're from GA too! Yay! I hope your disco lives up to your expectations, I'm sure you'll love it!

 

Did you get it from Savannah sports and imports? I live in savannah to, I got a freelander from there a couple weeks ago.

 

Nope. Mine are DI's. Neither moving at this point.