Freelander 1 Cooling system

Right. To add to my list of Freelander jobs, my cooling system is now playing silly beggers.
The temperature gauge reads as normal, the top radiator hose gets hot as does the coolant in the reservoir but the bottom hose remains cold. The radiator doesn't heat up either.
Is the thermostat stuck shut so the coolant can't circulate? Maybe the rad has leak repair jamming it up?
Maybe the temperature gauge sender is located in such a way as to read normal whether the stat opens or not?
I've made a few 80 mile round trips lately and she's not spitting coolant out or dripping anywhere.
Help....!

Is it a 1.8?. Is the gauge reading normal, mid position? Is the heater hot?
If yes to all. All is fine

Nodge68 said:

Is it a 1.8?. Is the gauge reading normal, mid position? Is the heater hot?
If yes to all. All is fine

Click to expand...

She's a TD4, the gauge reads normal - in the middle and yes, the heater gets hot. It's weird.
I did an 80 mile round trip today, on muddy B-roads. She used no water. When I got back the rad was still cold but top hose was hot and bottom hose was warm.

Craig_mate said:

She's a TD4, the gauge reads normal - in the middle and yes, the heater gets hot. It's weird.
I did an 80 mile round trip today, on muddy B-roads. She used no water. When I got back the rad was still cold but top hose was hot and bottom hose was warm.

Click to expand...

Normal. There's no reason or need for the bottom red hose to be hot.

Nodge68 said:

Normal. There's no reason or need for the bottom red hose to be hot.

Click to expand...

But surely once the stat opens the rad will come up to temperature....? Don't get me wrong, if this is normal for a Freelander i'll be over the freakin moon haha! I just thought it was a little strange is all....

Cheers.

Craig_mate said:

But surely once the stat opens the rad will come up to temperature....? Don't get me wrong, if this is normal for a Freelander i'll be over the freakin moon haha! I just thought it was a little strange is all....

Cheers.

Click to expand...

The idea of the thermostat is to keep the engine at the correct temperature. It does this much more efficiently if the coolant in the rad is cool.
The radiator fitted to the Freelander is massively oversized for the TD4 in the UK climate. The same rad is fitted to the V6 Freelander and is sized to cool that monster and it's auto box in the hottest places on earth.
The TD4 is very thermally efficient. This puts minimal cooling loads on the rad. The thermostat will just trickle coolant through the rad. This will then be cold long before it reaches the bottom hose.
In fact LR had to fit a Fuel Burning Heater (FBH) to add extra heat to the heater circuit, because the heater alone will cool the TD4 enough to reduce heater efficiency.
So as long as the gauge shows normal and it doesn't loose coolant, there's nothing wrong

Nodge68 said:

The idea of the thermostat is to keep the engine at the correct temperature. It does this much more efficiently if the coolant in the rad is cool.
The radiator fitted to the Freelander is massively oversized for the TD4 in the UK climate. The same rad is fitted to the V6 Freelander and is sized to cool that monster and it's auto box in the hottest places on earth.
The TD4 is very thermally efficient. This puts minimal cooling loads on the rad. The thermostat will just trickle coolant through the rad. This will then cold long before it reaches the bottom hose.
In fact LR had to fit a fuel burning heather (FBH) to add extra heat to the heater circuit, because the heater alone will cool the TD4 enough to reduce heater efficiency.
So as long as the gauge shows normal and it doesn't loose coolant, there's nothing wrong

Click to expand...

*Sighs
That is outstanding news! You've just made my day!
Many thanks.