2.5td running a bit hot when towing?

Hi, just wondering about my 90 2.5td, it gets a bit hot when towing although its not to severe if I nurse it along a bit, not sure if it could do with an electric fan instead of the viscose fan or what? Rad is good, waterpump is ok, any suggestions?

i think its just cos its having a bit of stress on it, i'm pretty much the same, i start to sweat at just the mention of the word work

I need a cure for stress then

try taking the trailer off
fit an electric fan, it will solve the problem

Yes electrics are good, will also save you fuel.

If I leave my 2.5N/A idleing for a period of say, 15minutes, it will get up to just over 1/2 on the temp guage, and if left for long enough head up to 3/4, however after rigging a cab switch into my twin electrics fans, if I am to leave my engine idleing or I am going to be in traffic, I can manualy put them on before the engine even gets to the temp that switches them on (whatever may this be?) and it will never go over 1/4 if these are running, so they do a great job.

If you are towing then the chances are you will be doing a lot more stop starts with a heavier load, making the engine work harder, also not reaching the same speeds the same, so not getting the same volume of air pushing through the rad.

On the topic, if I am going along at 70mph, with the fans on, will it make any difference? my thinking is that surley the air hurtling through the rad at 70mph would outdo any air flow the fans could achive, or am I missing out on a point?

I've never seen my temperature gauge go past 1/4ish, even after leaving the engine running for an hour or so when I went for a nap by mistake.

Are you sure the viscous bit of the fan is viscousing?

I agree with Discomania, the airflow as you drive even at much less than 70 covers 100% of the rad and will take away all the heat it can. I doubt adding a fan would be noticable at speed. Sure with low speed and stop starts and sub 30ish.

My 110 temp gauge would creep up by a big needle width up every longish hill and down again on the other side. Unladen. Always a little more than 1/2 way. I now have another (same 19J) engine and this one runs much cooler always less than 1/2 way and seems to get up the same hills with less temp increase. Maybe someone tossed the thermostat away to help out. your rad might be abit clogged too.

beg borrow or steal a known good rad to try out. you will be amazed at the difference a clear rad, makes.
or try flushing yours out. could be the engine waterways blocked too.
also try another stat. could be sticking?

when your engine gets hot, just switch it off and feel the middle of the radiator, if its cold you know the rad is knackered

thanks for the reply everyone, I have been to the local dump and took an electric fan from a renault (not sure of the model, a small one!) and put it on along with the origional viscose fan. I hooked on the trailer and went for a run , when it started to get a bit hot I switched on the electric fan and sure enough the temp dropped back to normal, so this will do fine for now. I have already flushed the rad so it seems to be clear enough but there are a few areas where the cooling fins are missing so I think the condition of the rad is probably the cause. At the moment I just have it wired straight to a switch but I am sure there is a smarter way to set it up, I would like to have it set up in such a way that it would run, if required, after stopping and switching off so if anyone has any tips they would be most welcome.

Thanks a lot guys

you could try maplins for a timer device to control the fan. but the cost and time involved seems a bit pointless to me. maybe reliability issues too?
better to spend the beer vouchers on a good rad, new or used.
quicker too.

When I was thinking of putting an electric fan on I was going to drill and tap the thermostat housing to suit a sender unit, not the ideal place but the neatest and it would work, if the fan is wired to this independently from the ignition, it would continue running after the engine was turned off, until the sender unit switched off, though this could be a bit dodgy if you're working on the engine, the cars I've seen with this set up have a warning notice on the fan.