Bigj66 Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 Has anyone removed their viscous fan and is now running an electric fan such as a Kenlowe on their TD5? Any issues with doing this for this engine as my heater only produces a decent amount of heat when on a long run and pottering about town or short runs is very uncomfortable in this weather 🥶. At idle the temperature gauge hardly moves out of the blue as the engine just isn’t getting hot enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paime Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 I have the same issue on my TD5. I finally had enough of wearing gloves and a hat everywhere i went and have just installed one of those cheap Chinese diesel heaters. Now my cabin warms up in about 5 minutes and i don't even notice what temp the engine is running at. Took about 2 hours to fit and now i just need to find a better place for it. Worth considering imho. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crwoody Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 If the engine is not getting hot enough it would suggest to me that you may have a faulty (failed open) thermostat. There shouldn't be any significant flow of coolant through the radiator until the engine is hot enough to cause the 'stat to open, so whether you have a running fan or not should make little or no difference. The Td5 engine doesn't seem to generate much heat until it's being worked fairly hard, so in stop/start slow traffic conditions from a cold start, you won't get much heat out of it anyway. Maybe the Diesel heater idea as above would be a better solution. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigj66 Posted December 3, 2019 Author Share Posted December 3, 2019 As soon as it gets a run it’s up to normal temp and the heater works well so I think the cooling system itself is healthy. Will look at the heaters as I was going to fit one for overnight camping anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 Indeed, changing the fan won't help as the viscous will not be doing anything when cold. It will spin with the engine but not be engaged properly and so move very little air, with the radiator also not being used as above. The engine should be up to temperature within 4-5 miles of normal driving, though if it's all stop-start town traffic it will be longer. For that sort of use a diesel heater is a good option - or put a big trailer on! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawl12 Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 It's not exactly the same installation, but the TD5 in the Discovery 2 also runs cool - but as said above, it should get warm enough to create heat in the cab IF the thermostat is working OK. I run without a viscous fan Autumn to Spring, but only because I have a separate temperature gauge that I trust - as the TD5 engine is very sensitive to overheating & very expensive to repair if it overheats. I presume the temp gauge in the Defender operates the same as the Disco 2 & is electronically "modulated" to avoid worrying the driver until water temperature is very (dangerously) high. It stays in the middle from mid 70s C right upto 110C + - ie NOT great if you've removed the main cooling fan! A Kenlow has nowhere near the cooling capacity as the OE viscous fan - which is designed to cope with the worst excesses of towing on a very hot summers day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mo Murphy Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 ^ ... in the Sahara. Mo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedLineMike Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 the td5 thermostat is actually sucked open by the waterpump when the engine speeds are above 2000rpm IIRC, on my own td5 i fitted a freelander themostat (grey one i think, opens at 82c) instead of the standard one which opens at 90/92c Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FridgeFreezer Posted December 4, 2019 Share Posted December 4, 2019 17 hours ago, Pawl12 said: A Kenlow has nowhere near the cooling capacity as the OE viscous fan - which is designed to cope with the worst excesses of towing on a very hot summers day. A properly sized leccy fan will be fine although I wouldn't bother with Kenlowe, there's far better OEM stuff in scrapyards. I've got dual fans from a Freelander on my V8 and they work lovely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.