When the mercury rises so does the needle in your rover! Cooling systems should be checked over at least once a year, more if you venture away from the roads. LR recommends changing fluids once every 2 years, but once a year is not too often. The job itself can be done with only a few tools and a little patience. This will give the procedure for a 3.9l engine but others are similar.
Tools:
- Large Bucket to catch coolant (5 Gallon)
- Another large bucket to STORE the coolant if the first doesn't have a lid.
- Flatblad screwdriver
- Radiator flush
- 2 gallons Coolant
- Distilled water
- Water hose for flushing
- Adjustable wrench of socket set
- Redline Water Wetter
The Procedure
Remove the two fill plugs. One is on top of the radiator, the other is the fill tower which is on the passenger side of the engine (US) and is the tallest thing there. The real tough part of this install is removing the bottom hose off the radiator. Begin by feeling the bottom hose at the radiator to see where the hose will come off (hint: its about 8" from the radiator). Loosen the clamp and begin to move the hose. Once you get it moving, place your bucket under where the hose will come off. As you get the hose off the end, coolant will go EVERYWHERE. You'll be lucky to get 2/3 in the bucket. If you are adventerous you can drain the block as well from the plugs that are under the exhaust manifold near the front of the engine. I've never found them so don't ask!
Once you get the coolant drained, let water from a hose run through the radiator and through the coolant reservoir to get all the coolant out. Put the bottom hose back on but don't tighten the clamp. Put the plug back onto the radiator. Fill the system with water using the fill tower. Start the car and let the water circulate to dilute the coolant mix. Drain that out using the same method. fill with water and the flush concentrate. Follow the instructions on the bottle. It will tell you about turning on the heater on high to make sure the flush gets into the heating system. Drain that and then then do a water flush again. Once complete, fill with the distilled water and anti-freeze in a 50/50 mix (for most conditions). Add the water wetter if you have it. It makes the engine stay some 10-20 degrees cooler (yes it really works). Hopefully, you are being kind to the environment and using Sierra or other friendly coolant. Once the system is full plug the radiator. Tighten the fill cooler plug by hand and put the top on the reservoir. Tighten any hoses you loosened
Start the rover and let the system come up to temperature. As it comes up to temperature, keep trying to open the fill tower and add distilled water. It will gurgle over from time to time as the air comes out of the system. Be patient. In about 20-30 minutes you should find the level stays just about even and you can then button up the system completely. This should allow the system to pressurize. If you don't see any leaks, you are DONE!
Over the next day or so, keep an eye on the level in the reservoir and on your temp guage. You should have no problems. Most problems come from not getting all the air out of the system so be patient at that step. If you still get severe overheating, check your fan, the fan clutch, and you may need to get the radiator professionally cleaned.