Help: Cooling system Def 110 TD5

Happy Easter to all of you.

Checked the water level in the morning. When touring I top up with 1.5
litres of water every day. Never noticed where the water was escaping to.
Only had the engine overheating once because of a lack of water.

Cruising along I noticed loosing power. 5 Seconds later the engine cut off
and could not be restarted. Coolant temperature seemed to be fine. On
opening the bonnet I noticed the engine block smoking because of intense
heat.
After a while I tried to restart but all I got was a whining, humming noise
I have never heard before, not coming from the engine, but from somewhere in
the engine compartment.

One hour later I got towed 4 miles into the next little village. I filled in
9 (!) litres of water. Engine could be started and sounded fine. A few
seconds later high pressure develops in the top up tank and I switch off.

There is no moisture on the oil dip stick and the exhaust is bone dry.
I check for the thermostat and find it is not there. (I conclude the
previous owner must have had temperature problems and removed it. This also
explains the long time the engine needs to reach running temperature.)

It looks like the cooling system is blocked somewhere.
Before I have the Landy towed to Land Rover for repairs (waiting list is 3
to 4 weeks long!) I would like to listen to your valued thoughts, opinions
and advice.

Many thanks for your time,
Uli

Defender 110 TD5 2000 model, bought in August 2004

Managed to download a repair manual (in German) and discovered, that the
thermostat is in a different location then I was told. The thermostat is
present. I have removed it and found it contained many rust particles of
grain size, blocking at least one of the four little holes.

My question: How can I test the extracted thermostat whether it functions
correctly?

Many thanks in advance.

"Uli" <uliatiafrica.com> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Managed to download a repair manual (in German) and discovered, that the
> thermostat is in a different location then I was told. The thermostat is
> present. I have removed it and found it contained many rust particles of
> grain size, blocking at least one of the four little holes.
>
> My question: How can I test the extracted thermostat whether it functions
> correctly?
>
> Many thanks in advance.
>
Don't you just put them in a pan of boiling water and see if they open?
or just buy another as they are cheap?
--
nigel@leginDOTorg
1979 Lightwieght

On Mon, 28 Mar 2005 11:22:40 +0200, "Uli" <uliatiafrica.com> wrote:

>Managed to download a repair manual (in German) and discovered, that the
>thermostat is in a different location then I was told. The thermostat is
>present. I have removed it and found it contained many rust particles of
>grain size, blocking at least one of the four little holes.
>
>My question: How can I test the extracted thermostat whether it functions
>correctly?

Stick it in a pan of water and heat it up over the stove and see if it
opens.
If you have a suitable thermometer you can see what temperature this
happens at and compare it to the one stamped on the thermostat/in the
manual.
This also cleans them up quite well!

Thank you, Nigel and Tom. Did as you said and thermostat works fine.