300 tdi cooling problem

Hi all,

I am new to the world of Land Rovers having bought a ’96 300tdi commercial discovery, 6 weeks ago. I was out driving on Wednesday and, after a stop of a couple of minuets, I restarted the engine and set off again only for the engine temperature gauge to rise rapidly towards the red! Whilst it was doing this I also noticed that the air vents were blowing cold even though set to hot. I pulled over and switched off the engine before the temp gauge reached the top and let the engine cool. I set off again keeping a close eye on the temp and, just as it was nearing the red, it dropped back down to normal (the middle of the gauge) and the air vents started blowing hot air again! The car was fine for the whole two hour journey home after that. It has done this the day before, the sir vents were blowing cold and I noticed the temp rapidly rising but before it reached the top it dropped back to normal and the vents again started to put out hot air. It has only happened twice and both times it is just after I start the engine (not necessarily from cold). Both times, once the temp had returned to normal it stayed there for the rest of the journey with no problems.

I am guessing that it is a problem with one of the following:

Water pump
Thermostat
Belt slippage
Blockage (where is likely?)
Air pocket


Is this correct, have I missed anything, which of these is the most likely cause and how would I correct it?

A lot of questions I know, but like I said, I am new to the joys of land rover ownership so any advice would be much appreciated as I want to get it back on the road asap!


Thanks for your help,

David

Hi Dave,

I am no expert but i would try the thermostat first. It seems like it takes extreme temp to open it up and let the hot water through.

Regards.

Dale

Hi, i had a similar problem a couple of weeks ago, although the temp gauge (once engine warmed up) remained at normal, the heater took ages to get warm and if i left the vehicle on tickover, the heater went cold. Changed the thermostat and everything now seems ok. I would suggest you get the engine tested for a headgasket leak. Cheers, hairy.

Cheers,

I will change the thermostat and let you know how I get on.

Thanks again,

Dave

hi ya, yours sounds exactly the same as mine even down to the ownership of six weeks.
exactly the same symptoms etc........
i thought the worse like you do.... asked about and got the usual responce, rad, water pump, head gasket!!!!! etc
the land rover was not showing thes signs, ive had head gaskets go nothing like this.

i thought ill try the obvious first before i spend money to get ripped off!

i changed the thermostat after draining the system, filled back up with water/ anti freeze mix and bled the system. now heater is great!!!! gets too hot on a run.

cost less than £5 for genuine land rover thermostat already had anti freeze.

been done now about 2 months and no problens since..... touch wood!

try this first very easy job on the top no having to dig around the engine bay

hope this helps, you ll have to keep us upto date.

mark

markw said:

hi ya, yours sounds exactly the same as mine even down to the ownership of six weeks.
exactly the same symptoms etc........
i thought the worse like you do.... asked about and got the usual responce, rad, water pump, head gasket!!!!! etc
the land rover was not showing thes signs, ive had head gaskets go nothing like this.

i thought ill try the obvious first before i spend money to get ripped off!

i changed the thermostat after draining the system, filled back up with water/ anti freeze mix and bled the system. now heater is great!!!! gets too hot on a run.

cost less than £5 for genuine land rover thermostat already had anti freeze.

been done now about 2 months and no problens since..... touch wood!

try this first very easy job on the top no having to dig around the engine bay

hope this helps, you ll have to keep us upto date.

mark

Click to expand...

Did you simply go to your local Landy dealer and ask for one or did you have to go via your lacal Landy repair garage?

hi ya you can get one from all land rover stockists, most car accessory shops, ebay, j craddocks, just to name afew.
try to avoid garages as they order the part, get it for good price put there bit on and sell on to you at inflated price.
i had mine from j craddocks at cannock, does sell on the web.

markw said:

hi ya you can get one from all land rover stockists, most car accessory shops, ebay, j craddocks, just to name afew.
try to avoid garages as they order the part, get it for good price put there bit on and sell on to you at inflated price.
i had mine from j craddocks at cannock, does sell on the web.

Click to expand...

I looked on web for thermostat <£5 and this was all I could find, is this the piece?
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]ERC5923[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]THERMOSTAT OIL COOLER 90/110 DISCO 1 RRC[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] More Info[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]£ 7.50 [/FONT] [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

[/FONT]

hi ya the thermostat is part no. err3291
looked on ebay- use a company called tamar 4x4 item no 110216921234
they are £2.50 buy now + £2.25 post 16 available
or at craddocks £3.95 don't know about postage.

hope this helps

Hi all,

I changed the thermostat and the coolant this weekend and it has been fine since. The job went pretty well apart from a face full of old water and anti-freeze when i managed to get the bottom hose off!

I had a productive day, also changed engine oil and oil filter, fuel filter, air filter also changed the oil in the front and rear diffs and the transfer box.

Hit a problem with the fuel filter housing when i undid the bleed screw it stripped the thread on the housing so fuel leaked when I ran the engine. Simply re-tapped the hole and found a suitable bolt!

Not so successful were moments before taking a drill to the front wing i realised i had ordered the wrong safari snorkel and nearly made some nice holes in the wrong place on the body.

Went to fit egr blanking plate after spending ages trying to get the bolts out only to discover that a previous owner had already beaten me to it!

Anyway, thanks for all the help, your advice saved me a lot of time and money!

Dave