Overheating?

[Jabba]

My 200tdi doesn't normally get up to half way on the temp gauge. In winter it needed a rad muff to get even a third up - but it did start to move the needle fairly soon.

I've just towed a friends LWB transit up Greenhow hill and had to resort to low 1st at one point, then ended up working through to low 5th.

The needle climbed to the top of the white section but luckily didn't get into the red. As soon as we got onto flatter ground and I got into high box, the needle dropped down to normal.

I've no radiator cowl on the back of the rad.

Would the sudden gauge rise be due to the lack of cowl? Or it is likely to be the thermostat? Or anything else???

Cheers.

[Matthews]

Wash all the s**t out of the rad !
Matthew

[TwoSheds]

Without a cowl I would think that the effect of the viscous fan would be significantly impaired...

[Jabba]

The rad has been drained recently when I did the timing belt. Would that clear the cr#p out or does it need properly flushing out?

[bandiflip]

I think he means all the mud from the fins!

[Bo]

After you have cleaned the fins, disconnect the heater take off and clamp on a hose pipe. Run the hose until the water runs clean and then refill 50:50 with a good quality antifreeze.

[Jabba]

The fins are pretty clean as I jet wash the rad after off roading. I'll flush the system once I've got it through the MOT (needs welding in the footwell).

Is it worth checking the thermostat and fitting a cowl? My thoughts were similar to Rogers, that no cowl would mean the fan wouldn't draw as much air at lower speeds to cope with the higher engine load.

Cheers.

[repton]

Surely if it stayed out of the red when towing a transit up Greenhow hill then it's working pretty well and there's nothing to worry about? It might have gone higher than normal but Greenhow is a pretty steep hill and with a transit on the back you would have been near enough twice your normal weight so I would say it's working just fine. The fact that you had to drop right down to low first just shows how hard the engine was having to work so it shouldn't really be any surprise that it got quite hot doing it.

Paul

[TwoSheds]

My thoughts were similar to Roger

But not as extreme - I think that it would draw so little air through the radiator (as opposed to moving it around the engine bay) as to be pretty much useless. How far is the fan from the radiator on a 90 anyway? I think you could remove it all together and not see much difference in engine temperature.

I also agree with Paul - I have read often that the 200tdi has an over-spec'd cooling system (some people say 'over-cooled' but to me that's a different thing) and that you are unlikely to overheat it with normal, or even fairly abnormal, use. I ran my old 200tdi Disco for best part of a year with no fan and saw no problems (well not from overheating anyway )

Roger

p.s. Best of luck with the welding - I hope that it is only as big as you think it is

[Jabba]

Paul: I guess it probably is working OK, but I just get worried when it gets that high. The only other time it's got that high was off-road and I don't know if that was down to the home made rad muff that was still on covering half the rad, muddy water partially blocking the rad fins, or something else. I took the muff out and the temp came down but then I did leave it to cool down.

Roger: there's plenty of room between fan and rad as I can stand in there.

Does anyone know if the disco fan cowl is the same as the 90 one for a 200tdi?

Cheers, Dave

[TwoSheds]

The disco fan cowl is much shorter than the 90 one - only about 6" deep I reckon. I assume this is due to the engine being further forward in the Disco?

[nicks90]

without a fan cowl your fan will be doing loads of work for absolutely no good at all.
had this problem with my old series 2a fitted with a 2.5nad and original radiator with no cowl. Overheated on every long climb. Fitted a cowl and the overheating stopped immediately, even though the radiator was well past its best with most of its fins missing.

Either fit a cowl, or as its not the original engine and finding one to fit and work properly may be difficult - remove the fan and fit a mondeo leccy fan to a suitable relay and temp switch from X-eng.

[Orange rover]

you said you jet washed the rad. you didn't get to close and blast the fins away or folded em over blocking air flow?
cheers martin

[Jabba]

Jet washing has just been through the plastic rad grill, so the fins are all still there - just clean.

The engine is the original defender one so a standard defender 200tdi cowl should fit just fine - if I can find one!

Cheers.