Land Rover Defender Heat problem

I would think evryone that ever bought one will reply yes, they all get hot round that area. Well, every one i have had do.

Mine gets hot, but never hot enough that i cant touch it.

When was the oil last changed?

Ditto. I sometimes forget the parking brake light is not functioning though...

AJH

Exhaust heat soak is very common - and is really noticeable starting from mid-spring. Is your seat box getting hot?

Even hotter when towing!

Cheers

Peter

I used the exhaust wrap on the manifold (Kato) to reduce the under bonnet temperature no reason why the other kit shouldn't help with the 110

yes, agreed - "They all do that sir"

Just curious, why would that be so ?

bmc

Mainly because the box is very close to the seat box, and being a defender there is no 'trim' there :)

So when the box gets hot, so does the car!

I like to think of it as an extra heater for the winter - Its a good place to store gloves ;)

There's a lot of friction in the gearbox, some of it actually designed in, (synchros for example), which can be increased by insufficient or incorrect grade of oil, and all the heat from the engine compartment ( rad, engine and exhaust/turbo etc.) flows past that area as well.

Martin

People Hi,

we get the same kind of problem here in Greece also, especially on Defenders fitted with the V8 engines (3.5 up to 4.6)

The solution we have found is the following.

1. Exhaust wrap on the exhaust manifolds up to and including all the exhaust system up to the middle box.
2. Heat reflective material attached on the outside area of the gearbox tunnet and seat box area (a very good material is the "barrier mat" from Noisekiller, mind you I do have an interest since I am their Greek representative and distributor. Cheaper heat reflective materials can also be sourced from hardware outlets such as Macro or stores specialised on insulation materials.
3. Aluminium foil glued on the inside area of the seatbox. A VERY CHEAP and easy thing to do. Just use the ordinary kitchen aluminium foil and spray glue.
4. Open three or four holes left and right of bonnet close to the area where the hinges are but on its sides. This way the heat from the exhaust manifolds will find this way to escape and will not travel through the gearbox tunnel.
5. Fit a 74 degrees thermostat on the engine.

Hope this helps

Take care Pantelis

You are describing a 'new' issue, now the same old hot tranny tunnel most 4x4's have from my understanding of this post.

I would be checking the fluid level in the tranny and t-case right away, if it's low enough in either to cause overheating, it will cause a failure.

If you think it's time for a fluid change, then you should do so, but you should still check the fluid level first. This will let you know if you have a leak someplace that may need to be addressed.

Lots of leaks are so slow that using a liter of fluid a year is not hard to take vs a complete tear down to fix it. Cost wise anyway.

Some leaks are easy to fix.

Mike

It's not so much fun in a Cretan summer tho.... Good thing my 90 doesn't get boiling hot, just a tad unpleasant.

Geo

thanks for all your comments. i think i will check the fluid levels and give it an oil change.

mike