Essex90 Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 Apologies from the outset if this is a completely newbie question. 200Tdi been running fine no issues with overheating, temperature gauge needle sits about 3/4 of the way around most of the time, nowhere near the red area. Went out the other day, it was lashing down and freezing, had the lights on, 'heater' and fan on full, wipers on max. I only had to nip down the road, a mile on windy lanes then a couple of miles at 55mph on an A road, by this time the temperature gauge had rocketed up right into the red. Luckily by the time I noticed I had got to where I was going and pulled off the A road, turned lights off, wipers off, heater off for the last 1/2 mile at 10mph and temperature gauge instantly dropped back down to normal. The next day I took it out in the dry for a couple of hours and no issues at all. Is it possible that having all the electrics on somehow caused the overheating? Draining power away from the pump or something? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurt Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 Just thinking out loud here but maybe an electrical issue causing a false reading somehow? I would try putting all the electrics fan , wipers at first start and see what happens to the guage whilst the engine is stone cold. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miketomcat Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 I would suggest your gauge it being affected by other electrics. Get it up to temp then turn everything on and watch the gauge if it moves let it settle then turn everything off. If it goes back to where it was you issue is electrical not temperature. Repeat with one item at a time to pin point the cause. Mike 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cackshifter Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 What they said, plus, if you can get it to repeat the trick, measure the voltage at the battery and alternator if you can , as maybe the load is somehow causing the alternator to overcharge 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 ^ I agree with them - 1st of all 200TDi's are overcooled so if it's running more than 1/2 way up the gauge I'd be suspicious anyway... is it an engine conversion by any chance? Also I'd say it's almost certainly an electrical issue, bad grounds are very popular causes - it will get "worse" the more electrical stuff you turn on. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crwoody Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 Badly slipping fan belt when wet, causing poor coolant circulation. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miketomcat Posted March 5, 2019 Share Posted March 5, 2019 The discovery temp sender reads hotter than the defender from memory. This would explain why it's reading 3/4 normally which is high for a 200tdi. As fridge says it is unusual for a 200tdi to overheat. The causes are normally: head gasket, dead water pump/no belt (even a slipping belt is normally ok as the alternator will cause problems before the temperature), completely blocked radiator either external or internal or water leak/no water. Mike 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Essex90 Posted March 6, 2019 Author Share Posted March 6, 2019 Thanks all, I'll do some experimenting at the weekend and see if I can get it to repeat it. Its not a conversion, needle sits half way round I guess, I think I meant 3/4 of the way up the white section. Its sits pretty much bang up vertical so I guess that is half way. Fan bet IS slipping a fair bit. Although wouldn't that stop the coolant circulating the whole time it was wet, i.e doesn't explain why it cooled as soon as I turned the electrics off. Unless I've missed something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 Almost guaranteed to be a faulty earth and there is no actual overheating problem. Check the earth strap is in place between the engine/gearbox and the chassis. Remove both ends and give them a clean before refitting. I had a 110 that on the drive home from collecting it displayed a variety of alarming temperature gauge symptoms, I soon realised that the gauge rose whenever I turned on an additional electircal load - e.g. lights, wipers or heater. The gauge danced up and down in time with the intermittent wiper. Cleaning up the engine earth fixed it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe1 Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 And also you might want to source/check the correct sender - (lots of threads on here about it and a can of worms in its own right!) as has been said should normally sit at halfway point on the dial Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex Member Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 57 minutes ago, joe1 said: And also you might want to source/check the correct sender - (lots of threads on here about it and a can of worms in its own right!) as has been said should normally sit at halfway point on the dial Not on a stock 200TDI.... Land Rover changed from an 83 C thermostat in the previous engines to an 88 C with the 200TDI, but did not change the gauges.... Thus all period correct 200TDI Defenders should read above half way normally. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted March 6, 2019 Share Posted March 6, 2019 I’ve had several factory 200Tdis and every one has read bang on half way with the standard gauge. It’s not linear by any stretch and like most factory gauges is designed to be very non-responsive in the middle range so I doubt it would show a difference between 83 and 88 degrees. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex Member Posted March 7, 2019 Share Posted March 7, 2019 The early gauges (pre 300TDI) are actually quite linear and responsive. You can clearly see the difference between 83 and 88. You can easily see when the thermostat opens. When it is all working properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted March 7, 2019 Share Posted March 7, 2019 9 hours ago, Red90 said: The early gauges (pre 300TDI) are actually quite linear and responsive. That's the first time I've heard that said about ANY Land Rover gauge! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quagmire Posted March 7, 2019 Share Posted March 7, 2019 My 90 does exactly this, often (but not always) when I turn the heater on the temp gauge will go to the red. To check the temp I have to turn off the heater momentarily 😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex Member Posted March 7, 2019 Share Posted March 7, 2019 3 hours ago, Quagmire said: My 90 does exactly this, often (but not always) when I turn the heater on the temp gauge will go to the red. To check the temp I have to turn off the heater momentarily 😂 That is a grounding issue. Most likely the engine ground or the main bulkhead loom ground is poor. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quagmire Posted March 7, 2019 Share Posted March 7, 2019 Yeah, agree that mine is definitely an earth issue. If/when other things stop breaking/falling off etc I *might* get round to looking at it... 😂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Essex90 Posted March 8, 2019 Author Share Posted March 8, 2019 So I had a play around last night and the temperature gauge shows exactly proportional to how much electrical things running. With everything off it sits just to the left of vertical, about 45% say. Gradually creeps up as more electrics are turned on. Its not instant though, it does take 4-5 seconds to creep up after something is turned on. Thanks Retroanaconda, I'll check the earth strap tomorrow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted March 8, 2019 Share Posted March 8, 2019 clean all the plain black earth wires atbulkhead bolt too adjacent to the clutch master cylinder assembly, 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snagger Posted March 10, 2019 Share Posted March 10, 2019 CRWoody's suggestion of a slipping belt is a very good one, but I agree that it's almost certainly a dash earth issue - the switches are on the earth side of the circuits, so if their combined earth is bad, they will try to earth through any other circuit they can. This happens frequently on Series vehicles, where the dash lighting causes the gauges to over-read. It seems that many gauges casings are not completely isolated from their inner workings and that their accuracy is easily affected by the grounding of their cases, which is shared with other dash items like switches. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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