1984 90 200tdi in USA

Hello all - noob here!
Just took delivery; this is my first 90. I have a Freelander however this thingy is quite different
200Tdi installed from a Disco, originally my 90 was a petrol version. I have some cleanup to do and take some time to get familiar. Would be appreciated if someone could tell me about the following:
1) Since this 90 was originally petrol, it did not have wiring and lamps for glow plug operation and indication. Someone installed a button to push and hold at startup and a lamp. The lamp is not working, but the glow plugs are. How long should they normally be activated in cold weather?
2) The temp gauge after warm-up stays at white mark just before red. I used a IR thermometer and the engine coolant temp is about 160F. Since this was originally a petrol truck could the combination of the petrol temp gauge and the Tdi sensor be incorrect? Should I find a gauge that came from a TDi truck? Will the sensor from a petrol engine fit the TDi?
Cheers,
Doug from Kansas

you could try contacting Steve parkers he does sender units for tdi conversions and i should,nt worry about the glowplugs a tdi will start without them

LawnDart said:

Hello all - noob here!
Just took delivery; this is my first 90. I have a Freelander however this thingy is quite different
200Tdi installed from a Disco, originally my 90 was a petrol version. I have some cleanup to do and take some time to get familiar. Would be appreciated if someone could tell me about the following:
1) Since this 90 was originally petrol, it did not have wiring and lamps for glow plug operation and indication. Someone installed a button to push and hold at startup and a lamp. The lamp is not working, but the glow plugs are. How long should they normally be activated in cold weather?
2) The temp gauge after warm-up stays at white mark just before red. I used a IR thermometer and the engine coolant temp is about 160F. Since this was originally a petrol truck could the combination of the petrol temp gauge and the Tdi sensor be incorrect? Should I find a gauge that came from a TDi truck? Will the sensor from a petrol engine fit the TDi?
Cheers,
Doug from Kansas

Click to expand...

Hello, welcome to the forum

To answer your questions. Technically the TDi will not need any glow plugs, and it should start on the turn of the key, first time, every time. In the very coldest of weather, hold the glow plug button down for no more than five seconds. They are very efficient plugs in the TDi and that'll heat both the air in the cylinder and the very tip of the injector ready for an instant start. The injector nozzle and the glow plug tip are only millimetres away from each other in the surface of the cylinder head.

Also with regards to your temperature gauage, you are right. The gauge that you have in the dash must match up with the temperature sender as the resistance level that the standard 200TDi sender and the reading that the gauge will give you are incompatible with one another. Ideally, you want to fit the old temperature sender from your petrol engine, but you may need an adapter. Try the following part numbers, they should do the trick:



I swapped my 2.5 N/A diesel for a 200TDi a couple of weeks ago and this part has done the trick. The adapter and the temperature sender its self are actually specific to the petrol engine so it should marry up with your gauge. It worked fine with mine and the adapter fits the head perfectly - just swap it with the existing TDi sender. Your other option is to find a 200TDi Defender gauge on ebay - more money and more messing about.

-Pos

Excellent guys - thanks!