Freelander running cold??

hey guys hope someone can shed some light here, just got a 2005 freelander for ‘the wife’ it’s the 1.8 k series all seems well and it drives great however it runs cold, when your going slow it will get up to about 1/4 of the temp gauge but at 60 it drops right back down to near nothing, when left ticking over it will get up to normal running temp and not overheat however the heater blows cold unless you hold the revs at about 2 then it blows red hot? So my thoughts are someone has either 1. removed the center of the thermostat 2. The water pump is on its last legs or 3. The head gasket is just starting to fail, however in my experience the heater blows cold at all times when a head gasket fails, there is some oil residue in the water tank (slight scum) however the head gasket was done about 10,000 miles ago so I think it could be due to this (receipt to prove), it doesn’t seem to be using any water. Just thought I would get a few opinions before I tell the wife that I’ve bought her a dud!!

Sounds as though you have an air lock , when you put water in and it is getting warm take the small pipe off the header tank and blow into it , this will open the jiggle valve in the head, then where the pipes go through the bulk head there is one with a valve on the top turn it anti clock wise do not let go and you can let the air out through this valve when just water comes out tighten it up
Hope this helps.

teddywood1 said:

Sounds as though you have an air lock , when you put water in and it is getting warm take the small pipe off the header tank and blow into it , this will open the jiggle valve in the head, then where the pipes go through the bulk head there is one with a valve on the top turn it anti clock wise do not let go and you can let the air out through this valve when just water comes out tighten it up
Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

Thanks I will give that a try, would be great if that’s all it needs, do you think an airlock would cause it to run cold at speed though?

Had the same temp problem on mt td4. Replaced the stat, bleed the system all ok now.
The thermostat failsafe state is open.
Hope this helps.

Sounds like it's not got a thermostat fitted. Sometimes they are left out after a rebuild.

hi I did not read it right nodge68 is probably right unless the thermostat has stuck open

Sorry for late reply guys, I think your right about the thermostat as after bleeding it warmed up great and the heater was hot at tick over and the car ran at correct temp, as soon as I took it out on the road the temp dropped to just below the first ‘arrow’ and heater was only just warm, my question is do these have 2 thermostats fitted? As most parts places state 2 types for the same year, I know it has FF005243 fitted but do they also have the other type fitted as well?

Only 1 thermostat is fitted. The factory stat for early cars was at the back of the engine behind the water pump. This was later removed (replaced by a reducer) and a pressure relief stat (PRT) fitted at the front of the engine in the rad pipework. The PRT is the best stat as it removes some of the thermal cycling the rear stat introduces.

Thanks, thermostat ordered now so fingers crossed that sorts it out, thanks for all the help