We are overlanding in South America in our 130 TD5 and have run into a spot of bother. Advice please! Here's the story:
We are driving from Mendoza, Argentina to Santiago in Chile. We are driving through an amazing mountain range and are at about 3000m above sea level, It's warm during the day and freezing at night. Yesterday we were driving up another hill after about 200km when rusty coloured water began spouting out of the water filler tank. We pulled over (noted that the viscous fan was running and the temp gauge was on COLD and the engine did not seem overheated), let her finish her let tantrum, topped her up, waited 20 minutes and drove back down the hill but she definitely felt low on power especially pulling off in first. There were no other issues on the 10 km drive down to the next little village. This morning both the aux fan and viscous fan are running full strength on start up which I think is a bit strange. So far we have established that the following may have caused the original overflow (and associated loss of power?):
- Thermostat stuck closed - have removed the thermostat but we don't have a replacement and therefore will break the plastic unit and remove the thermostat and refit the housing
- Faulty Airflow meter
- Water pump failure - have tested the water pump and seems to be fine
- Viscous fan failure - have been advised that it's not a problem as the ECU probably has registered the problem and will keeping having the problem until it has been connected to the diagnostics unit
- Gunk in the cooling system - have flushed the radiator and all hoses and have replaced the hose connecting the top hose connecting the radiator, thermostat etc. - was a fair amount of orange gunk in the system
Advice please. You can also follow what other international Landy drivers are advising on http://www.facebook.com/a2a.expedition
And try not to make fun of the photos of the wife and me with most of our kit off
Thanks
Graeme
