Freelander 1 OVERHEATING AFTER DRIVING 1KM NOT WHILE IDLING

Hi all. I have a landrover Freelander 1.8 that OVERHEATS while driving. i had the radiator cleaned by professionals and they tested for gas in my expansion tank and did not find any. i replaced the inline thermostat with new one (tested before fitting). Bled the system as suppose to, when idling top hose warms up as well as bottom hose when thermostat opens. took car for test drive and after 1km the car heats up. what can this be as i am on the verge of setting this car on fire.

Hey matey, there are a number of things that an cause this.

As you've discounted hg with the sniffer gas test and replaced the thermostat I would next check that the system is actually pressurising. If it's not it'll overheat quick.

First test; do you get a hiss/pshhh when you unscrew the coolant cap whilst engine is heated?

If not then suspect the coolant resovoir cap rubber seal may have gone, new cap is £13 from LR.

If your coolant cap does hiss when you open it with a heated engine then you should be looking at the water pump/coolant flow next as a blockage in the system or lack of flow I.e water pump must be the issue.

Cheers

Believe it or not I've seen idiots change k series head gaskets when it turned out the coolant cap was the issue lol

I know an idiot that let a garage tell him that his D1 V8 needed a new viscous fan to solve over heating. When that didn't work the idiot let them replace both cylinder heads. When that didn't work the idiot let another garage change the radiator. When that didn't work the idiot found a garage that said the expansion tank cap was faulty. The 1st new replacement was tested and found to be even worse than the one on the car and the 2nd one was actually the best fix for its overheating - never solved it, but that's probably cos all the other new parts were fecked by the overheating caused by the bad cap.

I don't let garages near my Freelander!