Cool Running

Advise please gents! Disco 200tdi in a 90, after 10 mile blast at 60, heater is only just blowing luke warm air, temp gauge is about half way ( I know this isnt reading right as ive read on here that the disco sender isnt compatible with the old 90 gauge - cant remember which way round - does it read hotter than it should?), under the bonnet the hoses are only warm to touch. Im going to fit a new stat at the weekend, but whatt sort of temp should the heater kick out if everything is working ok?
thanks
steve

i think you would know if the heater was working or not. their not great, but i would describe them as a bit more than luke warm not sure on the disco/90 compat. but i would suggest making sure the radiator is clean, you have a new thermostat in there, flushed the system and replaced with good, new coolant at the right mix.

G

Under normal running, my 200 TDi is at the bottom end of the white section and air only blows warmish. After 15 minutes at 65-70 on the motorway it climbs to the halfway position and blows hot air. It soon cools down again when you slow down to normal running.

Change the stat then try it out, your heater will blow air too hot that you would leave it on full heat for any length of time unless you were in Siberia.

discomania said:

Change the stat then try it out, your heater will blow air too hot that you would leave it on full heat for any length of time unless you were in Siberia.

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ermmm this is a defender so unless you've swoped yer heater fer an industrial air dryer it's never going to blow that hot - unless your heat intolerant ?

the only way to get an accurate guage reading is to keep the sender and guage matched

the 200 sender will read high when connected to the TD guage, thus giving the impression yer getting overly hot

the TD sender is a different thread that the Tdi on all but a few blocks

There is a thread adaptor somewhere that allows the use of the TD sender in the 200 block, but because of the poor thermal properties of the adaptor it will cause the guage to read slightly low

if you fit a 200 into a TD best to change your old guage for one out of a defender 200, then under normal driving conditions the needle points directly upwards, and moves to approx 2 oclock when under load

Sean said:

ermmm this is a defender so unless you've swoped yer heater fer an industrial air dryer it's never going to blow that hot - unless your heat intolerant ?

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Ah I forget mine has been altered slightly - it really is a beast, and before you ask no, my engine is no overheating. But the heater should at least be hot, check the pipes that go to the matrix, they should be too hot to touch after the engine has been on for a while, IF not then its your stat or a blockage, most likely the stat.

it might just be that the innards of the heater matrix have collapsed

Thanks all - i think its me stat at fault - the top and bottom rad hoses are about the same temp as the heater hoses - easily barable to touch - has anyone ever run without the viscous fan thro winter? You can stop mine spinning by sticking yer hand in it but its always going round - is this wrong? Also re Seans comment on the disco gauge unit - never actually looked at one but will it fit in the 90 dash?

thanks
steve

i didnt say fit a disco guage unit - i said fit the guage out of a 200 Tdi defender if you've put a 200 Tdi engine in place of yer TD

i've taken the viscous fan orf cos there wasnt room for it, it gets fouled by the PS unit and fitted a Kenlowe thingy

the viscous fan should spin freely when cold, but not when the engine is hot - if you look at the back of the fan there's a big bimetal spiral that expands when the engine heats it

You should make it through the winter without a fan, then in the spring fit a leccy unit with a electrostat to bring it on, I have this setup and an over ride in the cab.

i'd be a bit nervious about having no fan fitted, even if it is winter now - what with all this global warming stuff going on you don't want to be sat on the M6 in 10 miles of slow moving traffic wondering how hot yer engine's getting

Sean said:

i'd be a bit nervious about having no fan fitted, even if it is winter now - what with all this global warming stuff going on you don't want to be sat on the M6 in 10 miles of slow moving traffic wondering how hot yer engine's getting

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If you have a good working guage then there should be no wondering about engine temperature.

In 2 years of owning my 90 with the electric fan setup the fan has come on itself ONCE, and that was middle of the summer, low range, climbing some serious hills. I am not saying they would all be like, but I would not be nervous.

pottering round town, taking sprogs to/from jail and up and down a few hills he'd be fine with no fan, mine works hard most of the time and there's no way i'd not have a fan fitted

but butterflies make me nervous

I've redone all the seals in my heater and after 10 or so minutes running, the hoses to an from the heater are hot to touch, you wouldn't want to hold em for too long, an the heater is blowing out reasonably warm air, when the air is directed to the screen it's slightly warmer and a lot stronger blast. Compared to before. If it's the seals that are knackered, I reckon it's definitely worth taking the heater box out to redo them. Cheap as fook to if you cut a sleeping mat up from the pound shop cos it'll only cost a quid, an you'll need a couple of hundred pop rivets.

hi Grunt - by seals you mean the faces the flaps butt up against? is it much of a job to do? i can feel lots of draughts from where the pipes go in and out of the heater box when the fans on full bore - there still seems to be a fair old air flow coming thro inside too. To cap it all, ive just dosed her with anti freeze and the dammed water pump seal has let loose!!! grrrr

thanks steve

if yu can afford it - buy yoself one ofd the new 2007 deepender heater boxes - not only will yu know the matrix aint blocked and stopping any flow - but the 2007 box has a bigger matrix and gives out more heat.
Wud it be worth insulating the heater pipes wot run along the engine to ensure there is no heat loss along them?
and yup - block as many draughts as yu can.

Yup all the flaps have foam glued to them an there's a seal round the pipes where they enter the box. It's a bit of a sod to do Just getting the box off is a pain. It's a matter of drilling the rivets off the top of the box glueing new foam on an riveting the whole thing back together.

have a look in here, dint take any pics of the finished job though.http://www.landyzone.co.uk/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=660&ppuser=2139