200TDi Temperature - too hot?

Out of interest how hot does your 200TDi run when running at 70mph, i.e. Motorway driving?

Mine is a 1992 90 hard top, stock 200TDi with 235x85 BFG AT rubbers. On flatish ground it will happily trundle along at 70 - 75mph (80mph on a Long road) BUT the temperature needle rises from vertical (normal running temp) and seems to stop at the end of the white bit, importantly before it gets to the red!

Question is - IS this normal or is my radiator efficiancy begining to fall (some of the vains are missing or have flies lodged in them!)? Could it be anything else? Do radiators silt up inside over time, requiring a wash out?

On a similar note, I am thinking of a bigger intercooler (Alisport / twisted performance type) that will sit in front of the radiator but will this inhibit the radiators performance further???

By the way i live and drive in the UK, not somewhere hot like Greece!

Any thoughts / comments appreciated.

Jon

Reply to
Jon
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My 1992 110 Station Wagon 200TDi, once up to temperature, stays pretty much in the middle of the temperature guage irrespective of whether I'm driving through town or bombing down the M1.

Radiators do silt up over time, which is why you're supposed to back-flush them at the 12,000 mile service. Other things to check are:

- Thermostat. If this is on it's way out, it might not be operating correctly. As they're only a few quid from Halfords, suggest you simply change yours and see if it makes a difference.

- Electrical earth. My engine temperature used to suddenly rise whenever I put the brakes on. Only after weeks of fault-hunting did I discovered that a bad earth was behind it [the brake lights, of course, come on when you hit the brakes...].

An additional radiator in front of your existing one, whether it be an intercooler or for air conditioning, will inevitably affect the cooling performance. However, given that Land Rover themselves quite happily installed an air aconditioning radiator in this location, I wouldn't have thought it would be a problem assuming everything else is working correctly.

--> Greg

Reply to
grege

Thanks for the reply:

.. better do this, she's done 143k miles and I know it hasnt been done in the last 6k miles cos those are the ones ive done!

good point.

I'd be fairly confident my earths are all OK, one of the things i had to do over christmas was replace both main earth straps. All other electrics are now OK.

..Hadnt thought of this.

Reply to
Jon

The easiest check is to take the thermostat out altogether. If it still overheats, it's because the rad's not up to it. If not, it's the thermostat.

David

Reply to
David French

Jon Hi,

I happen to be driving in Greece and fitting a large full frontal area intercooler had extremely good results for performance, fuel economy and decrease of operating temperature (marginal though on the second and third if you decide to exploit the performance gains)

I would suggest you check the thermostat, the clean the radiator with one of the readily available radiator cleaning solutions and if that does not fix the problem then also check the ground from the engine to the chassis. Corrosion of the contacts of this electric ground sometimes results into getting increased readings on the engine (actually water) temperature gauge.

If you fit a larger intercooler and you do not have A/C in your car I suggest you speak with either Allard, Allisport or Bell. Tweasted Animation and Jeremy Fearns are a bit expensive for what they offer for a simple 200Tdi engine and all three (Allard, Allisport and Bell) offer excellent quality products and very realisticaly priced.

If the problem with the increased temperature persists I would suggest you check the engine for cylinder head gasket failure and also check the fuel supply adjustments of the diesel fuel pump.

Take care Pantelis Giamarellos LAND ROVER CLUB OF GREECE

Reply to
Pantelis Giamarellos

In article , Jon writes

Hi

As long as your thermostat is working as it should, the problem will either be your radiator or your viscous fan hub.

Most likely to be the radiator.

Hope this helps

Reply to
marc

Hi Jon,

I've a 92 110 200tdi with a roofrack. (I don't get to 70 unless theres a downhill and a tailwind) I usually cruse at about 60-65 and the temp sits at somewhere between

1/3 and 1/2. This is in 30 degrees with NO fan (my bodge broke again and I'm driving about without a fan again. Soon to be fixed - honest)

I take anything over half way on my gauge to be the beginnings of it overheating and let it cool down - but then again I don't know that the gauges are that accurate.

In my experience, the 200tdi doesn't over heat unless you start climbing some BIG hills (or your fan doesn't work) Sounds like yours runs a bit hotter than mine.

Have you checked that the thermostat is opening? Are the pipes to the radiator hot after a run? When hot, do you have any cool spots on the radiator? Is the fan VC locked when hot? Flushing the rad would do no harm and you see what comes out.

Is there coolant in it? Is there a fan belt round the pump? ;->

As for the intercooler, I've read that they do reduce the cooling ability a bit. I'm sure someone with experience will be along soon to tell you. I wouldn't fancy fitting one though till I was sure of the existing setup.

HTH, Gromit

Reply to
Gromit

Jon wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Did anyone suggest that it may just be your gauge that is not indicating correctly?

There used to be a temperature gauge on the old Peugeot 504 trucks. Then Peugeot removed them on the later models! My guru at Arnold Clark (Ian at Inverness) said they took it out because owners got unduly concerned when it recorded an inaccurate high reading!

Just a thought. If your 200Tdi over heats, there would surely be steam issuing from an expansion valve somewhere?? Or coolant loss (head gasket)??

Derry

Reply to
Derry Argue

My Disco normally sits at 1/2 no matter how I drive it, but yesterday saw fit to climb to the red while I was towing the GLASS trailer home as the guy who does the shows lives 10 miles away, and also had to get his caravan home...

After it cooled it then ran at about 3/4, without the heater on full to remove as much heat from the system as possible! Having said that, the GLASS trailer is bloody heavy, and I was only able to tow it at about 50 all the way home, so I have a suspiscion that the brakes on it may require some investigation. Performance was significantly down, more so than when the hybrid gets towed on its trailer to events.

Once I dropped the trailer off, temperature dropped back to normal!

-- Simon Isaacs

Peterborough 4x4 Club Vice Chairman, Newsletter Editor and Webmaster (how much more....)

3.5V8 100" Hybrid, now LPG converted Part owner of 1976 S3 LWT, currently under restoration Suzuki SJ410 (Girlfriend's) 3" lift kit fitted, body shell now restored and mounted on chassis, waiting on a windscreen and MOT Series 3 88" Rolling chassis...what to do next 1993 200 TDi Discovery (the Pug 106 is dead, long live the Pug)
Reply to
Simon Isaacs

In article , Gromit writes

If your cooling system is in good order your 200tdi will NEVER overheat in the UK.

Think about what it is designed to do and where it is designed to do it.

If yours overheats on hills than you have a problem.

One of my discos used to overheat but only when towing a trailer flat out up a hill........fitted a new radiator and now it will do it all day without overheating.

Reply to
marc

One thought, check the thin fins between the main tubes of the radiator. I've seen them with empty space between the tubes that causes them to over heat at speed on the motorway.

-- Jon

Reply to
Jon

Don't *ever* do this - the water will not circulate properly without a thermostat as there is not enough restriction to ensure that the water flows through all the cooling passages. If you want to check this way, gut the valve piece out of your old thermostat leaving the outer piece with the hole in it in the housing to provide some restriction. That way water circulation will be acceptable and you shouldn't get any localised boiling problems in the head

Reply to
EMB

Oops.

Reply to
David French

Thanks for all the replies, plenty to go on.

Im wondering if I have a few things that need attention.

Firstly I had a look at the radiator last night and probably 10 - 15% of the tinf fins are missing / squashed up with flies etc - suspect this is not good?

Thermostat ?? Dont know, will taking it out, dropping it in boiling water and watching it determine if its knackared or do I need to be a bit more scientific? For the sake of £5 maybe i should just buy another and have done with it?

From memort top & bottom radiator Hoses do get hot when its running.

There is plenty of anti-freeze / coolant in (I replaced it last November). Thinking about it radiator must be cleanish inside as well because to get the old stuff out i just dropped the bottom hose. (Would this flush the radiator or does the "muck" stick inside?

As for earth straps - will check them again but i'm pretty sure all OK on that front.

Someone mentioned head gasket - general performance seems OK and my oil (and water) are both clean, i.e. no oil in water and no water in oil. Also, no steam through exhaust and not clattering in engine as rings slap gasket so i think this is still good too.

So, short list of things would seem to be: 1. Radiator 2. Thermostat

is the geral opinion to just replace the thermostat or is there an easy way to check it?

Thanks Jon

Reply to
Jon

I'm not in the UK and yes, mine does have a problem as I said, the fan doesn't work. The point being that my runs cooler without a fan in more extreme conditions than the OPs, hence concluding that they are probably overheating a bit. G

Reply to
Gromit

Nope. Compressed air from other side blowing out the accumulated crud is a good idea .. but wear goggles, seriously.

Yup. ;)

Reply to
Paul - xxx

The other night i checked the earth straps again (OK) & pressure washed the radiator till it sparkels... Well theres no mud in now anyway! No difference to 60 - 65mph+ tempereature.

Finally got round to changing thermostat for a new one tonight - didnt make the slightest difference either!

So... Radiator buggered? Water pump not pumping? Sender unit duff?

When the vehicle has been running and the temperature is above normal the top couple of inches of the radiator are *hot*, the remainder luke warm with no apparent hot or cold spots - doesnt this suggest that the radiator is actually working? I did however forget to check if the bottom hose was hot, warm or cold - will try this tomorrow.

Water pump - Im guessing this is OK too as the radiator and top hose are getting hot.

Sender unit????? Do these things often go wrong? Can they be checked or is it like the thermostat, just chuck another one in?

I did have another thought - Head gasket. I have dismissed this though cos the header tank isnt getting pressurised to the point where its blowing water out, nor are there any signs of oil in the water / water in the oil.

Any other thoughts cos I'm running out of them!?

Thanks Jon

Reply to
Jon

Jon wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

I did mention this before but notice it is not on your list. As a surveyor, when everything else checks out, I'd check that the tape measure had not stretched! (It happens more often than you'd think).

In other words, if your temperature gauge shows too hot, are you sure it isn't just showing an incorrect temperature? Maybe you could get a spare from somewhere and just try swopping it.

Derry

Reply to
Derry Argue

It's not circulating it's water properly. 2 most likely causes are the radiator being blocked internally, or the water pump not pumping because the impeller is loose, fallen off, or eaten away by electrolysis.

I'd be pulling the hoses off the radiaor and back flushing it (ie hose in the bottom) with a goodly flow of water to see how much actually passes thru, and also what crap gets washed out.

I'd check the water pump by taking the thermostat out, removing the top radiator hose and filling it with water as far as possible. The start it up - it should pump a *lot* of water out the top hose if you give it a gentle rev.

Reply to
EMB

When the engine is hot (hotter than it should be) how hot should the radiator be? Hot to touch or just warm? Also, should it be hot all over it or shoulf it get progressivly cooler towards the bottom?

will check the water pump at the weekend.

Reply to
Jon

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