Running Hot???

[Burke]

For the last couple of years I have had this on again off again issue. I will occasionally notice that the temp gage is just under the red. This happens only sometimes, and it happens on hot days and cool days. It doesn't seem to matter if I am moving at highway speeds, or sitting in traffic. When it first started happening, a local garage checked it over and found nothing. I had them replace the thermostat. It did it again the next day and I took it directly to the shop where they put some gage directly on the block to check temp, it was fine although the dash gage was showing just under the red. I have lived with it, but it makes me nervous. Any ideas? Could it just be a bad dash gage? Thanks!

[dbwitt]

Aluminum engine. I would change the dash gage to be on the safe side.

[wicks]

There are a number of parts involved in the readout on the guage so you might want to get the new guage on loan and see if anything changes.

I'm in So. Cal., 40 to 110 degrees, and it never goes over half except when crawling up a long off-road grade or something.

[kellymoe]

Maybe clogged radiator. Have it re-rodded. Before you do that feel the radiator and feel if there is a differance in temp between top and bottom. If the bottom is cooler than the top it could be clogged?

[Mike Hippert]

Kevin, no one around here recommends rodding Land Rover radiators, I costs to much and they die within a year.

Burke, Get a new gauge the Land Rover ones are not very reliable.

[kellymoe]

I had a RR that was running hot and ended up just getting a new radiator at a local radiator shop after they showed me how bad it was. It ended up setting me back $100. Not bad. My 130 is running hot on hills and I was told to get it rodded. I had never heard not to get them rodded, why is that?

[Mike Hippert]

Well, from talking to a few different Rover shops I have been told that you run the chance that it will get clogged right away or leak within a year. They also said that it will cost near as much as a new one. $100 for a new rad is good! I have heard that rodding can cost as much as $300.

[artm]

$100 for a new radiator?! Am I missing something here? Is this a direct fit? Stock or custom job?

[kellymoe]

Went to a local shop in Burbank California. Lots of shops in the area so I think the competion helps get the price down. It was not an original Land Rover radiator but it fit and was slightly larger. Ran the truck hard for 2 years without a problem.

Mike,
I had no idea it cost that much for rodding. I also did not realize I got such a good deal on a new radiator. Even if they lied and it was just a reconditioned one I still cant complain with the results I got.

[castlerock4x4]

Don't mean to be an alarmist, but I had the same thing on my d110 and played the temp gauge, sending unit, water pump game for a year..... take it to a shop with a CO monoxide detector for the colant system and if its positive, sell your rover quick! What you've got is a cylinder sleeve leak that is intermittant, pretty common actually, where combustion gases are intermittantly leaking around the cylinder sleeve and entering the coolant system... it'll keep running for a while like that, you'll notice intermittant steam out the exhaust and you'll be loosing coolant too!. Most non Rover mechanics will tell you its a leaking head gasket, but I personally now know better.... good luck.

[Burke]

Well, I have been ok for 2 years now since it started, no coolant loss.... I just had a 90K service done and she got a perfect bill of health. I really think it is just a simple gage (or Lucas) problem. Performance wise, just like the day I bought her in '94...