towing and engine temperature 300 TDi Disco

I would suggest in the first instance that was the load "true"? Reason I ask, we had a hoss trailer. At the time I had a v6 scorpio. Empty the trailer would almost stall the trailer, but put a 20kg water carrier at the front of the trailer and it would tow up to 60 no problemo.

Found out the axles were slightly twisted and in effect it was like the weight trailer at tractor pulling with zero weight in it, put a 20kg mass up at the front and it went true.

if you see what I mean

Si

The temperature gauge of the 300tdi should be stoicins just under horizontal at any time, I took a 3,5t trailer from Rotterdam to Paris, drive the beach at 80km/u, going up the Gotthard-pass etc, it just doesn't move.

Only ones I was low on coulant the gauge went all up, so whenever de needle moves, something is wrong. Could be a leakage, blocked water channels, air bubble, anything, make sure you solve it before you blow you 300tdi!

cheers Jurjen

Hi, hope you get your over-heating problems sorted. I've not noticed my temperature gauge move at all when towing our club rib, although I have not covered the sort of distances you describe.

JEL is a stunning wreck, especially if you get a bit of sunshine filtering down through the ribs and frames... very envious! What is the vis like down there at the moment? Suspect there are quite a few divers looking in on this newsgroup! Best place I've found for cuttlefish is Babbacombe beach, unfortunately there is not a lot else to see there.

Cheers,

M.

Radiator examination noted, but did you have a good look at the back of the radiator (not easy to see)? The little fins tend to drop off the back, leaving the front looking immaculate but giving just the symtoms you describe.

Richard

On or around Wed, 25 Apr 2007 20:17:02 +0100, Graham Bowers enlightened us thusly:

Frankly, I've never yet succeeded in improving a marginal rad by flushing. Consider the sum total of the bore of all the rad tubes, and compare with the inlet and exit pipes, and you can see why: to clear a blockage in a tube requires a noticeable pressure, and you can't achieve this even with a big hose.

chemical radflush stuff has similar problems - a blocked tube will never get any chemical in it, except where it's not blocked.

Only way I've ever found of solving the "marginal cooling" problem is to replace the rad[1], if it's not caused by external problems like mud in the rad or no fins.

Given the time and ability, I daresay you can take the rad apart and poke through all the tubes with a bit of wire, and then re-assemble it. Generally, ICBA.

Having said that: BiL Tim had a 3.9 rangie which had no end of these problems, and that was eventually solved by removing the aircon rad and decommissioning the aircon. This then allowed a proper flow of air through the main rad. But that only applies if you have a full-width aircon rad in front of the main one.

Have you checked the back of the radiator? The front on mine looked pristine, no fin damage and no mud between fins. When I took the fan anf housing off the rear of the rad was missing probably more than half the fins ... it simply couldn't be seen from the front. I was told, and it sounds almost plausible enough, that it's caused by insects/debris going through the first part of the rad freely, but then acting like a bullet and 'exploding' on the way out, taking fins with them ... ;) Once changed the problem went away.

Possibly, I dislike flushing as it rarley gets to the root of the problem, though can provide a temporary solution.

What is the vis like

Can't comment on Plymouth, but Portland VERY murky last weekend, plankton seems to have come in early. One of our extremely enthusiastic ocean divers estimated the vis as 700 mm on the British Inventor. First time I'd heard that unit used (in that context).

David

Viz was about 8m on the JEL and Scylla but over 10 on the Glen Strathallan so you could see both ends of the huge conger at the same time :-))

Pretty sure thanks as now the weather is warming up the symptom starts to appear at high speed even without the trailer. Graham

Water level is good so I suspect the rad. I have bought a rangie header tank cap which has a float switch, but haven't fitted it yet. With the heater full on the temp was OK. Cheers Graham

Just had a good look and the back fins look OK in the main and the air side of the rad isn't that clogged so I'm suspecting a coolant sized problem. Do you have such a rad I could collect sat morning please? Chassis number starts MA146? I'll probably replace the top and bottom hoses too and possibly their clips as well. Probably the expansion bottle too as I read that these go. Oh, and do you do the metal replacements for the plastic threaded bungs. Anything I've forgotten?? I'm off out now for a cracking curry in Leicester so if you do reply before tomorrow I may not see it. Cheers Graham

New rad time methinks. Cheers Graham

Change the stat first. TonyB

What if the viscous coupling has failed, so it never locks up? Graham

Will have Friday - someones just beaten you to the last one this morning, their day hasn't got off to a good start.....

Hoses in stock, brass versions of the bungs in stock with appropriate ally "o rings".

You kucky, lucky ....

Richard

Certainly a possibility worth checking out if the rad looks ok, and the thermostat while you are there - you can just take that out and see if it makes any odds.

Richard

On or around Thu, 26 Apr 2007 18:39:57 +0100, Graham Bowers enlightened us thusly:

Just realised who's asking; should look more closely at headers. The expansion bottle has been replaced...

stat was replaced as well last time the head was off, ISTR. I did contemplate the rad, but was unable to get it to overheat in normal use, so concluded it was OK - I did also flush it as well as you can so that won't help you.

However, I expect it's the original rad and it did have the engine cooked once (some time back, head was replaced)

Even from 12,000 miles away I concur.

I hadn't a clue what you were on about but thanks to google now feel enlightened. :-)

For anyone equally baffled heres some light entertainment;