Fools rush in...19J

Hi Folks wonder if anyone can advise on my predicament.
The 2.25 diesel croaked in the series 3 i bougth for my wife as a surprise Xmas present ( no it REALLY was for her!).
I was offered a 19j by a friend, and given we know nothing of its history I decided to rebuild it put in, new pistons hot spots, bottom end shells etc.
Unfortunately its one of the earlier 19j's ie not modified with a strengthened block.
Fortunately it won't be used fro a lot of heavy towing or off road, but I want it to last. So, Do I add an intercooler (seems ot be mixed reports on the forum), take the turbo off, or are there any other mods that might help?

Any assistance would be much appreciated.

I've replaced my 19j (ebay 141596577601) with my Disco's 300Tdi because I _do_ tow and I _do_ go off-road as well as green-laning.

And 'cos of the mpg's ..

With hindsight I would have done the same. But having put all this work into it I want to get some return on it :-(

To be fair the 19j is a great engine, but it's far more suited to green laning than the stuff I do a lot of though, where I often want a fair amount of power on tap, or a lot of torque for towing the 'van .. hence the change ..

If I had my old S3 I'd put it in that, but I haven't ..

moorlander said:

Hi Folks wonder if anyone can advise on my predicament.
The 2.25 diesel croaked in the series 3 i bougth for my wife as a surprise Xmas present ( no it REALLY was for her!).
I was offered a 19j by a friend, and given we know nothing of its history I decided to rebuild it put in, new pistons hot spots, bottom end shells etc.
Unfortunately its one of the earlier 19j's ie not modified with a strengthened block.
Fortunately it won't be used fro a lot of heavy towing or off road, but I want it to last. So, Do I add an intercooler (seems ot be mixed reports on the forum), take the turbo off, or are there any other mods that might help?

Any assistance would be much appreciated.

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Strengthened block? Not as far as I am aware. Later engines had coated pistons, so long as you have used those it will be ok, especially if it is not worked hard.
Look after it, quality oil, regular changes and filters, set the tappets every year,40k injector service, it will probably run for donkeys years.

Heheheh, just realised, I didn't answer what you asked!

Personally, I'd leave it standard, see how it goes in the series before doing anything to it, I certainly wouldn't remove the turbo though! General services and regular oil changes work well ..

Paul D said:

Personally, I'd leave it standard, see how it goes in the series before doing anything to it, I certainly wouldn't remove the turbo though!

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Forgot about that bit!

I wouldn't remove the turbo either.

Cheers folks, feel like I'm getting some where.

Couple of points.
I'm going to put in an elecctric fan setting it to run cool, would that help?
Rr an oil cooler it appears to have had one in the past.
I have aslo got an overdrive will that help much?
I haven't checked but I assumt the new pistons will be coated?!
thanks again.

A 19j radiator has an oil cooler in it already, or mine has, so if you haven't got that then an extra fan or an extra oil cooler might be good.

Dunno about overdrive, unless you're doing lots of motorway miles it'll not be used much, I guess. Trouble is with overdrives, to my way of thinking, is all you've done is raised the gearing, a bit like fitting larger tyres, without any of the large tyre benefits for off-roading.

Really need the oil cooler plumbed in to keep the temperatures down. For normal road use, the viscous fan works fine (don't forget it's effectively not used at all at speed) but for off-road it might be worth fitting in a second electric fan on a thermostatic switch to help pull more air through.

You can always adjust the wastegate to reduce the boost pressure slightly without going to the hassle of de-turboing.

I'm fitting the I9j into a series 3, My mate tells me that it wont go in and hence the fan needs to come off and be repaced by an electric version in front of the fan. the present rad is a new one fitted for the now knackered 2.25 so I gues it won't have the oil cooler element?

The present rad is a new replacement one for the 2.25 diesel that is now defunkt. My mate advised that the 19j will not go in unless you remove the fan,hence the new electirc fan to put in front of the rad, so I guess there is no oil cooler. in which case any suggestions what to fit?

Also would a different air filter help at all?

Like the idea of the waste gate adjustment might havbe a play wth that, any idea how much to reduce it by?
Thanks again folks.

If it will fit, the best approach I think would be to use a 19J radiator with the inbuilt oil cooler and fit that. If the viscous fan won't fit, electric would seem to be the way to go. A lot of people seem to just remove the fan completely so it should only be needed when working hard off road.

Not sure about alternative air filters. The K&N type will allow increased airflow but I'm not convinced they don't also allow more dust in. The standard paper type should be perfectly adequate.

I don't think you'd technically need to adjust the wastegate, but if you do, it's worth plumbing in a boost gauge (at least temporarily) to keep an eye on the numbers while you're experimenting). The other option would be to turn down the boost compensator on the fuel pump, so that the increased fuelling on boost is lessened. This should make for a slightly cleaner exhaust.

moorlander said:

The present rad is a new replacement one for the 2.25 diesel that is now defunkt. My mate advised that the 19j will not go in unless you remove the fan,hence the new electirc fan to put in front of the rad, so I guess there is no oil cooler. in which case any suggestions what to fit?

Also would a different air filter help at all?

Like the idea of the waste gate adjustment might havbe a play wth that, any idea how much to reduce it by?
Thanks again folks.

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I don't see why the fan wont fit in, it is the same block as a 2286 diesel.

If you want a couple of Kenlowe fans, you can have the ones I took off mine, but I think viscous fan is much better, and that is what I have now.

Try and use a 19j radiator with an oil cooler in it if you can, I don't know exact details, but I don't think it is too hard to fit it in.

If you want to run a paper filter, a 90 filter housing will fit in where the series one was

19j radiator is likely a costly item, fit a separate oil cooler.The lack of an intercooler was why 19j's tended to run hot [nothing to cool charge air after going through turbo] and needed such a large rad.[had one as working vehicle for 15 years]
However for light to medium use a series rad with electric fan and add on oil cooler would be fine. cheers.

The fan should only be needed when working hard at low speeds (e.g off road) Once you're underway on the road it shouldn't even come on. A viscous fan should be fine if it will fit, but an electric one may be simpler.

tottot said:

19j radiator is likely a costly item, fit a separate oil cooler.The lack of an intercooler was why 19j's tended to run hot [nothing to cool charge air after going through turbo] and needed such a large rad.[had one as working vehicle for 15 years]
However for light to medium use a series rad with electric fan and add on oil cooler would be fine. cheers.

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I had actually forgotten that he was fitting it in a series

You are right, a lot of heat is constantly being pumped into the engine when the turbo is working, which is why I always suggest that 19j owners are very careful with servicing of the lubrication and cooling systems.

I think he would be fine with the series rad and separate oil cooler, but it might be as expensive to get the cooler and fit as to get a 90 rad and mod the brackets and grille, not sure.

FlyingPete said:

The fan should only be needed when working hard at low speeds (e.g off road) Once you're underway on the road it shouldn't even come on. A viscous fan should be fine if it will fit, but an electric one may be simpler.

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I don't agree, I wouldn't dream of running a 19j without a fan, they are prone to thermal stress issues if they overheat.

No problem with Tdi, though, they do run very cool.

Turboman said:

I don't agree, I wouldn't dream of running a 19j without a fan, they are prone to thermal stress issues if they overheat.

No problem with Tdi, though, they do run very cool.

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What I mean is that once you're moving at a reasonable speed, the fan doesn't do anything useful as the forward motion of the car pushes air through the radiator. You'd definitely need a fan of some sort for when you're stationary though.

FlyingPete said:

What I mean is that once you're moving at a reasonable speed, the fan doesn't do anything useful as the forward motion of the car pushes air through the radiator. You'd definitely need a fan of some sort for when you're stationary though.

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Yes, air flow at speed will give adequate cooling, and even stationary should be ok, especially in cold weather.

A long grind in stop start tourist traffic in summer heats them up a fair bit without a fan, though!

I don't think Id mess with the boost or fuelling, 19Js are good little engines until you start messing with them.
You will need a 19j rad, a 19j expansion tank and most importantly 19j top and bottom hoses, as said before they suffer from heat stress, don't go messing with the cooling system.
When I first put one into my 90 I used the 2.3 petrol cooling system, thought it was fine until I tried to go up the Alps in Switzerland in it, It got very hot very quickly. Thing is for months before hand it drove quite happily with the 2.3 cooling system, It just couldn't go up a hill.