New 200tdi owner...1st jobs & Oil in Water...any ideas?

Hi all, recently bought a 110 200tdi (1st Landy) & I am really pleased.

1992 in green with roof rack, ladder, rear wheel carrier and a 2” lift

I removed the rear seats and have modified my Dog box (Of cave like proportions) to fit.

I have freed the heater control mechanisms & now have hot & cold air on demand. I have also used some lightweight rubber horse matting that was laying around to line the rear butt, wheel arches & footwells. Really pleased with these as they are Durable, light, removable & Jet washable.

So the big Q?

I bought the vehicle at a good price, knowing the coolant was contaminated and factoring in the possibility of head work. The guy I bought it from claimed it had come from a leak between the rad & oil cooler & that the Faulty parts were replaced. He said he’d tried to flush the system but it needed another go to clear the oil out.

The truck runs well I think?....by that I mean I was previously driving a 190hp Navara with all the mod cons.

The Defender clearly has less poke & is heavier but I think it’s going well enough. Doesn’t have the all through the range pull of the Navara but it’s 25years older in design. I do find if you let the revs fall off the Turbo it’s a bit of a slog or a downshift. All this being fettling yet to be explored I suspect.

No heavy smoke, just a puff on start up. Starts almost instantaneously, no cranking over and over.

The oil is clean, in fact recently changed according to Service History and looks good. No change in levels over the 1st 70miles

Temperature gets upto around 1/2 mast on the gauge and sits there. Heaters all work as expected.

The water is clearly contaminated. Doesn’t appear to be rising or falling but it’s quite hard to tell as the header is made out of black plastic...(stupid idea & likely to be swapped out)

So is the oil cooler/radiator fault a known problem?...how can I be sure this was the case and what’s best to flush the coolant system?

Thanks all....

Dishwasher or washing machine powder, with some fresh water will clean it out, chuck it in take to for a run, allow to cool drain and repeat. may take a few goes, then you can monitor it, no point taking it apart if the faulty rad has been replaced.

Yes it is a common enough problem. As above and after flushing out the last of the soap use bog standard blue antifreeze.

lynall said:

Dishwasher or washing machine powder, with some fresh water will clean it out, chuck it in take to for a run, allow to cool drain and repeat. may take a few goes, then you can monitor it, no point taking it apart if the faulty rad has been replaced.

Click to expand...

thanks lynall I will give that a try

Kev12 said:

Yes it is a common enough problem. As above and after flushing out the last of the soap use bog standard blue antifreeze.

Click to expand...

Thanks Kev, do you run the antifreeze neat or cut with water?

50/50

TheCornishman said:

Thanks Kev, do you run the antifreeze neat or cut with water?

Click to expand...

You have to be careful what you buy, as some is pre mixed ie 50 percent water.

as the above said my oil cooler failed and bullied the water so it was all in the header tank replaced the rad etc ran cleaner through for three times and its been fine ever since , congrats on the purchase btw

Smashing looking motor, best of luck with what will hopefully be an easy remedy - we likes pictures of both Land Rovers and dogs, welcome

Update...several flushes and a new stat and the cooling system is now clean as a fax doorstep challenge. Seems the seller was throwing a straight hand.

Have since also replace the heater matrix & now have a 200tdi that actually blows warm (ish) air

Always nice to have a thread up date, good you are sorted.

Should’ve updated sooner. Always frustrating when searching threads for advice only to find no conclusion.

I used Dishwasher tablets to flush the system...cheap as chips and very effective