Matteo Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 Hallo, this is my first post so please forgive the newbie... I own a 90 that has had a Disco 200 Tdi fitted to it. The temperature sender is still the wrong one as the previous owner who did the transplant did not bother with such minutiae. Thanks to this forum, I have been able to check that the sender is the wrong one and have duly ordered the right one. Now I suspect that the thermostat is also at fault as it reads low (and it once read high) and the heating I get from the fan is even less than what I was accustomed to in my previous 90 (of similar vintage and ex-military too). Given the relatively low price I have ordered both parts and they should now be in the post. The question is: how big a job is it to change these two bits? I have located the housing and the three bolts look pretty normal. I have the parts catalogue and have downloaded the workshop manual and it all seems pretty straightforward... to the point that even an academic like me might give it a go. What are the potential pitfalls and to what must I pay attention? Thanks in advance for any hints. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 the Discovery sender is a different thread &/or diameter to the Defender sender, if possible try & obtain the lower section of the Defender thermostat housing [LR part ERR1499] & the gasket that fits between that & the cylinder head, the Defender sender will screw straight in also it maybe worth getting the 3 bolts [new] just if one does shear, you'll be able to finish the job, make sure you have the gasket for the joint betwween top & bottom sections of the thermostat housing, work with a cold engine & make sure you top up the cooling system when the thermostat & sender swap is complete, then do a road test to get it to working temp. Welcome to LR4x4.com, Please read the pinned info at the top of this forum thread list Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matteo Posted February 19, 2008 Author Share Posted February 19, 2008 the Discovery sender is a different thread &/or diameter to the Defender sender, if possible try & obtain the lower section of the Defender thermostat housing [LR part ERR1499] Thanks for the welcome! the lower part of the housing on its own is £93.88 before VAT I found one like that on Ebay but I doubt I can get it for much less .... At that stage I might be better off changing the gauge and keep the Discovery sender... Would that be an option? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 Only if you can figure out where the normal working temp needle position is on the gauge, the Discovery sender isn't matched to the Defender gauge or vice versa, you'll need the correct Defender sender as you've ordered. check out ebay item 270211625545 ends in 3 days ERR1499 stat housing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddy Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 my new sender fitted my engine and and the temp gauge appears to work fine, its a defender tdi one i believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matteo Posted February 24, 2008 Author Share Posted February 24, 2008 check out ebay item 270211625545 ends in 3 days ERR1499 stat housing the good guys won Thank you for telling me about this extra bit. Will see what happens when I get all the bits together... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjolliffe Posted February 24, 2008 Share Posted February 24, 2008 Hate to put a downer on you buying all those parts but i've just solved this problem on my 90 (credit due to Lars L who gave me the tip). Bought a temp sender from turner engineering that they supply with their new heads for the 2.5 N/A and 2.5TD, it is matched to the temp guage you have in your landy currently and the thread pattern is correct to fit the disco 200tdi engine. Quick easy fix, only cost £6! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matteo Posted February 24, 2008 Author Share Posted February 24, 2008 Hate to put a downer on you buying all those parts but i've just solved this problem on my 90 (credit due to Lars L who gave me the tip). Bought a temp sender from turner engineering that they supply with their new heads for the 2.5 N/A and 2.5TD, it is matched to the temp guage you have in your landy currently and the thread pattern is correct to fit the disco 200tdi engine. Quick easy fix, only cost £6! Well I spent more than £6 but not as much as I feared any way. So if it does work, I am not that bothered, I must say But then it is not as if I had a REAL problem as it stood. The issue is that I wanted to be able to trust the reading of the temperature gauge rather than knowing that the engine was cool any way regardless of what the gauge said. Now I don't know, but given the choice and the expense not being as massive as I thought it would be, between a modification with original matching parts and an after market fix... I think I would have chosen the original parts any way... Might be silly on my part I know but there it is! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monster Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 Hate to put a downer on you buying all those parts but i've just solved this problem on my 90 (credit due to Lars L who gave me the tip). Bought a temp sender from turner engineering that they supply with their new heads for the 2.5 N/A and 2.5TD, it is matched to the temp guage you have in your landy currently and the thread pattern is correct to fit the disco 200tdi engine. Quick easy fix, only cost £6! hi tjolliffe, Do you know if this is a specail part or standard landrover part? Is it exclusive to Turners or could you buy it from any LR dealer? I have used the same on my disco engine but something has suddenly gone amiss so i need a new one! I also bought a 2.5 NAD turner head prior to transplant and transfered this sensor over but unfortunately lost the paperwork/details. By the way the sender i have has the black plastic surround and the meter i am using is a PRC3105. (What meter do you have fitted). It would be great if you had the part no: Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjolliffe Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 Hi Monster, i'm running the standard LR 90 guage. I think that the Turner sender I bought is a specialist part (ie. only available from them), i've got a feeling they use the same part number for it as a standard LR sender which from memory is PRC6663 (dont quote me on that though!). The threads are certainly different between the standard one and the Turner one (obviously) so whether they have just cut new threads on the pre-existing LR sender i'm not sure but it definatly fits the disco 200tdi. Your best bet is to call Turner and buy one directly from them, cant go wrong then, and for the sake of £6 it's got to be worth getting one. Hope thats a help Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars L Posted February 25, 2008 Share Posted February 25, 2008 Since I have been referred to... B) I must admit that I decided not to go the original "indicator" route, so I bought myself a VDO temp gauge that reads true degrees instead of differently coloured fields. And subsequently drilled and tapped the Disco sender to accomodate the VDO sender. Now it reads just a wee bit under 90° with an 88° thermostat. The guy who bought my old engine was also pleased with the fact that the head didn't have an open hole... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matteo Posted March 17, 2008 Author Share Posted March 17, 2008 Hate to put a downer on you buying all those parts but i've just solved this problem on my 90 (credit due to Lars L who gave me the tip). Bought a temp sender from turner engineering that they supply with their new heads for the 2.5 N/A and 2.5TD, it is matched to the temp guage you have in your landy currently and the thread pattern is correct to fit the disco 200tdi engine. Quick easy fix, only cost £6! Sorry, could I ask you to be a bit more precise about this? The route of changing the lower thermostat housing has proven too complicated. I have just called Turner Engineering and asked for the part that you mention but they have flatly denied ever having done anything of the kind. Indeed the lady I spoke to was quite stern in saying that they did not meddle with engine conversions. Are you sure you got your sender from this Turner Engineering http://turner-engineering.co.uk/? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimAttrill Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 I agree with Lars, I can't see the point in getting the LR gauge to work, as it is pretty worthless. If you test it, you will find it reads 'in the middle' from about 50c to over 100c. By the time the gauge moves your engine is possibly toast. I (and lots of others here) have fitted a VDO gauge with matching sender. I couldn't get a sender with the correct thread at the time so drilled and tapped the brass plug on top of the thermostat housing. The difference is, that previously the gauge was 'in the middle' after about 2ks, whereas now it takes about 15ks to get to 80c. On motorways the gauge goes up and down with the hills, which some people do not like. But in a hot country it pays to know exactly what is going on. If anyone wants a free Defender gauge, I have a couple on the garage wall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matteo Posted March 17, 2008 Author Share Posted March 17, 2008 so I bought myself a VDO temp gauge that reads true degrees instead of differently coloured fields. And subsequently drilled and tapped the Disco sender to accomodate the VDO sender. Now it reads just a wee bit under 90° with an 88° thermostat. So how would I go about this in the UK? I have done a first search for VDO gauges and found them a little short of £40. Merlin Motorsports. This is the webpage with the senders : http://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/INSTRUME..._2_4/index.html There are four types depending on the thread. I am sure none of those threads is going to match the existing one in the Discovery housing as that would be too simple... But how do I know that the sender is the same in diameter as the hole in the housing? Thanks for all the replies... Why on earth did they not just make the senders with the same thread? Would that have been too logical and therefore not Land over enough? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjolliffe Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Hi matteo, Yea thats correct, turner dont deal in any sort of engine conversion. Best thing to do is not even say what it is for, just ask for a replacment sender for one of their 2.5td heads that they make. That way you will get the correct part, thats what I did anyway and works a treat. Hope that helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matteo Posted March 17, 2008 Author Share Posted March 17, 2008 Hi matteo,Yea thats correct, turner dont deal in any sort of engine conversion. Best thing to do is not even say what it is for, just ask for a replacment sender for one of their 2.5td heads that they make. That way you will get the correct part, thats what I did anyway and works a treat. Hope that helps Oh I see... Well I did feel as if I had suggested that they dealt in child prostitution given the reaction that I got. So can we get this straight? It is actually by sheer accident that the temperature sender for THEIR 2.5 Diesel Turbo head has the same thread as the later 200 Tdi Discovery one and given that the temperature gauge is the same for a 90 from 2.5 NA to 200 Tdi, it does match somehow... Out of interest then, has the original Land Rover sender for a 2.5 DT got a different thread? The more I investigate this matter, the more mysterious it all becomes I keep asking myself the same question why did they not go for a standard thread? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars L Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Matteo, I used the sender with 1/8 thread. Simply because I happen to have a tap of that size... What I did was to drill through the Disco sender with a drill of suitable size (which I don't remember). Some "things" fell out when doing this but there is sufficient material left to make the thread. So the Disco sender became an adapter. I can also say that I feel a lot more secure with the VDO meter, certainly a piece of precision showing true degrees. It also looks good, in fact so good that I just had to get an oil pressure gauge as well. B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tjolliffe Posted March 17, 2008 Share Posted March 17, 2008 Oh I see... Well I did feel as if I had suggested that they dealt in child prostitution given the reaction that I got. So can we get this straight? It is actually by sheer accident that the temperature sender for THEIR 2.5 Diesel Turbo head has the same thread as the later 200 Tdi Discovery one and given that the temperature gauge is the same for a 90 from 2.5 NA to 200 Tdi, it does match somehow... Out of interest then, has the original Land Rover sender for a 2.5 DT got a different thread? The more I investigate this matter, the more mysterious it all becomes I keep asking myself the same question why did they not go for a standard thread? Hi Matteo, Yes it is in some sense 'sheer accident' that they have the same threads (although I rather suspect it is because all engines after the 2.5td have the same thread as the disco sender). Yes the 2.5 TD has different thread to the 200tdi discovery temp sender. Put simply: turner make new heads for land rover engines (in this instace we are talking about the 2.5 N/A and TD), the sender they put in them matches the existing guage in the land rover (ie. the guage reads correctly), it also so happens that the thread they put on their senders (and tap into their new heads) also match that of the discovery. Hence why you can use one to give the correct reading after doing a 200tdi into 90 conversion. I hope thats a little easier to understand. Let us know how you get on with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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