2.25 petrol running very cold

Hi,

Recently acquired Series 3 ragtop with 2.25 petrol. Running sweet at the moment. Probably did about 55/60 miles yesterday in total on A roads through a couple of towns and down a couple of farm tracks. Gauge never climbed out of the white "C" part of the gauge. I believe the gauge is functioning as it does change slightly and climbs slightly through towns but still very cold.

Where should I start, or at this time of year when it's cold (barely above freezing) yesterday should I be using a radiator muff?

Thanks for any pointers.

May not have a thermostat fitted, for winter get an 82 degree stat and pick up the 74 degree summer one they are cheap. you will need top and bottom housing gaskets and one other , look at parts book some series threes had a deflector plate fitted to alter flow. Use new blue antifreeze not the pink stuff. If that fails change the sender, you can check the gauge by getting someone to hold the sender terminal on the head to earth it with the ignition on the gauge should climb up

I had the same problem. New sender fixed it, less than a fiver I think.

Start it up cold with the radiator cap off if you can see water circulating past thermostat it is dubious let it run till warm and check flow has increased if not thermostat is stuck open.

When I bought mine there was no stat present, pretty likely as that's the first bit you chuck away if it overheats. It's fairly easy to replace (download the parts manual and service book from pdf Land Rover Manuals | Landroverweb.com).

If that doesn't fix it then its just the regular land rover over-cooling thing. They're made to run in the desert and the big fan at the front runs all the time (no viscous fan here). Either fit and electric fan, buy a radiator muff or do what everyone else did pre-1990 and shove a bit of cardboard down the front of the radiator - and keep an eye on the gauge.

A good "debugging tool" is a hand held infra red thermometer, I got one for under £20 and it's been good for everything from setting up engines to making perfect toasted sarnies!

Is the engine actually running cool or are you going by the gauge?

To check that the gauge is working, remove the wire from the top of the sender and short it to the block.

Your gauge should go right over to 'hot'

If it doesn't, it's probably a gauge fault.

After a run couple of miles, check that the top hose is hot and the bottom hose is cool.

If they are, it looks as though your sender isn't working and could do with replacing.

same problem with mine, bought new sender( cheap Britpart) and gauge now reads almost in the red!
be careful when removing old sender, it screws into an adapter, not direct in the block