TD5 Fan Belt Snapped On M6

Afternoon All,

After the recent purchase of my first Defender after a number of series vehicles i headed up to the Lake District for some green laning over the weekend. Everything went well, the 200 ish mile journey up there was faultless bar a slight issue with the clutch having no fluid. Luckily this was fixed by just topping it up and full clutch operation was resumed.

The weekend went bad on Sunday when i realised that the fan belt tensioner had seized just as i was about to start driving home. The belt had started to rub and had started to shred itself and overheat, i headed on my way got 30 miles and it snapped. Not wanting to stop on the M6 i backed off and drove about 2 miles to the next exit and stopped. The temperature gauge initially dropped but did climb but not into the red, just before it.

From this problem i noticed that there was a water leak from the heaterbox hose joints and a leak from the lower radiator hose joint. Also when it had cooled overnight the fuel cooler was leaking from both ends.

Now i can fix these issues that's pretty easy by the looks of it, my worry is that it may be linked to an overheat and potential damage to the head. It starts are runs fine now. My thought is that i have just changed the coolant and it may have had radweld in before due to previous owner noticing leaks and my new coolant has reversed any help this did to the leaks.

My question is really has this happened to anyone before and do you think i may have damaged the head over that sort distance. Any input will be appreciated.

A quick picture from the weekend near windemere.


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Jack

temp gauge will read low if its short on coolant ,all you can do is fix leaks and try it and keep an eye on level best done with checking for coolant at bleed screw as well as expansion tank , level in tank isnt allways a sign engines full

Just fill it up with rad weld again 😜

Ill get some O rings ordered for the fuel cooler and some stronger clips for the water pipes that should sort the leaks.

Why not fit the 200 out of the series in it, much more reliable

Fix the leaks, change the coolant, and just keep an eye on it. It will probably be OK.

My Td5 was running hot due to a bad thermostat (just beyond halfway on the gauge), and that extra pressure definitely made it prone to leaks in various places.

The temp gauge is run off of the ECU and doesn't show what would be considered a true "analog" temp -- so I'm not sure what temp it was before it hit red. But it's likely fine. I would get a new genuine coolant reservoir cap, as it helps to regulate the coolant pressure and it's cheap to replace and the proper system pressure keeps the coolant temp in check. Sounds like perhaps your system did get some additional pressure and it leaked in some common areas as a result.

I'd also check that the coolant is the correct type, the Td5 takes coolant with OAT (organic acid technology) as a rust inhibitor, and it's red-orange color usually. And if your thermostat and water pump are working correctly (along with everything else) the temp gauge would usually sit about 11 o'clock, which on my nanocom is 86-88 degrees. With a non-working thermostat mine would run beyond 12 o'clock and would be between 90-95 degrees. When I first bought mine it had very diluted regular coolant and had a lot of corrosion inside, thus thermostat was stuck b/c of it.

And, with a Td5 I'd recommend a Nanocom. It will tell you the true temperature, give you a warning it if exceeds a temp setting, and lets you read the sensors. It's not cheap but for me it "completes" the Td5 to make it very reliable and so you can tune it well and understand how everything is working and also monitor it on long trips. If you plan on keeping it for a while it will pay for itself.

Ok thanks for the input guys, all fixed now. New tensioner and belt changed the fuel cooler seals and that's leak free. Runs upto temperature fine with no issues. Also bought some heavy duty clamps for the water pipes have yet to fit those but it's on the list of jobs.