Should 300TDi reach normal temp on idle?

Hi i have recently brought my first landrover, a 1996 300TDI. The engine temperature reaches normal operating level during normal driving, ie halve way on the gauge and plenty of heat from the heater.
But i have noticed that during the recent cold weather ie, 0-4 degs it will not warm up on idle alone. And if i have been driving then park and leave the engine running it the begins to cool down to cold.
Is this normal or does it indicate a fault?
Thanks.

c.kempy said:

Is this normal or does it indicate a fault?

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No normal. You wouldn't want it to cook while stood still

c.kempy said:

Hi i have recently brought my first landrover, a 1996 300TDI. The engine temperature reaches normal operating level during normal driving, ie halve way on the gauge and plenty of heat from the heater.
But i have noticed that during the recent cold weather ie, 0-4 degs it will not warm up on idle alone. And if i have been driving then park and leave the engine running it the begins to cool down to cold.
Is this normal or does it indicate a fault?
Thanks.

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No it might not especially in cold weather.

It would have a much better chance if you threw away the fan and fitted an electric one.

A LOT of the heat generated by your engine is dissipated from the cylinder block and head. and at tick-over this heat loss alone may be enough to cool the engine or even to OVER-cool it. The belt-driven fan (even with a viscous coupling) is throwing freezing cold air back over the block, and carrying away plenty of heat.

Knock the fan off completely and in winter you will probably notice a big difference in heating. You will NOT need the fan in any motoring you do as long as you don't stop for extended periods.

Carry the fan with you. You can refit it in seconds any time without tools. You will need a fan spanner to get it off though, and a hammer.

CharlesY

my disco is exactly the same as yours as i could leave mine ticking over all day and the temp would not rise but go for a spin and it soon reaches temp and when i stop again it begins to cool.

As the man says dump the fan - I did and gained some mpg, also I didn't fit a leccie one, and it's made no difference yet.

Yep, me too, got rid of the viscous fan, it's in the back of the car with the viscous spanner just incase I get stuck in heavy traffic, feels better too.

Had a nightmare getting it off though. In the end I did it with the engine warm, handbrake on and in 1st gear came off quite easily.

It made NO difference to the engine warming up though, it still will not get to temp idling but that's not really a problem gets to temp within miles once moving

It's totally normal. The diesel engine is far more efficient than petrol in that produces much less heat (wasted energy) for similar power.

Cheers

I take the viscous fans of our Disco's now as soon as I get them. So long as the rest of the cooling system is operating correctly ,imo, they are unnneccesary.

When I first got my wife's latest TDi 300 the viscous fan was seized, so it was running all the time and the engine wouldn't get up to temp - ever !!

Dumped the fan and it was better, changed the thermostat and she's cracker now, warming up quickly both heater and engine !! So's the Disco

be carefull about carrrying the fan in the boot for this simple reason...

I did that and one day decided to put it back on, although I'd nipped it up with the spanner, it must have spun off when I killed the engine one time.
The fan had dropped off and the blade caught in the fanbelt shreading the blade and the belt. Luckily not punctuing the rad!

I dont have that problem anymore as I ditched it and put on a kenlowe.
Kenlowe was a waste of money really, as it hardly ever kicks in..!

I live and work in Spain/Gibraltar and spend extended periods in a border queue. The car in the winter (17c or so) will lose temperature as soon as I'm standing still and the car isn't being worked - turn your heater on and you'll see it fall drastically!

landymangib said:

I live and work in Spain/Gibraltar and spend extended periods in a border queue. The car in the winter (17c or so) will lose temperature as soon as I'm standing still and the car isn't being worked - turn your heater on and you'll see it fall drastically!

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All I can say is that since putting in the new thermostat and removing the old knackered viscous fan, once mine is warmed up the heater stays warm, irrespective of what the engine is doing.

my td5 is the same only warms up under load ie driving

I took the viscous fan off my 300 TDI last week as it never got up to temperature, and the heater took ages to chuck out anything. The viscous unit was OK by the way. Since I took it off, the Discovery runs much better, the engine gets almost to temp (never even gets to 9 O clock on the gauge) and I'm nice and warm. The fan and spanner are in the back of mine too, just in case. I'm doing a 60 mile motorway trip in the morning, so I'll see what happens.
My brother is an MOT inspector and says a lot of diesels are a nightmare to test, as they never get to temperature properly, and cool down if left idling.

I drove 140 miles today, up and down the M11. It included stop/ start driving in some hold ups and queuing for the bridge on the way back, as well as some fast stuff (70 only of course!) The needle didn't move past 9 'O clock on the gauge, in fact it didn't quite get there. No fan, no problem. I'll probably fit an electric fan off a car just to be on the safe side, and I've got a spare X- ENG controller, so it won't break the bank.

Took my viscous fan off the TD5 today ... so ...?

Apart from it runs noticeably quieter there was no other effect I could tell.

CharlesY

With a correctly functioning stat on the TDi300, it will get up to correct operating temp when driven normally (ie not thrashing it) within 1 to 2 miles, even in sub zero temperature with the fan fitted.

Mine behaves like this after I put a new stat in!

FYI - I have also subsequently taken the fan off - which was working fine anyway - and it's made no difference to the warm up time that I can notice.

However if will not get up to temp if left idling, but if I run it at fast idle around 1200 RPM she warms up quite quickly and will reach operating temperature in say 5 mins.

Regards