ananab Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Fan belt (auxilary) went yesterday and i didn't notice the battery warning light for a while and by that point the water temp was off the guage. Changing the belt isn't an issue (although i should know better and had a spare); however i'm a bit worried as it seems i've managed to boil away most of the coolant. Being a bit of a pessimist i'm worried about damage this will have caused; what's the worst case i'm looking at? I have not been able to check engine function as the new fan belt doesn't arrive until tomorrow. All the coolant hoses seem intact and it appears the coolant mostly boiled out through the over flow. THe oil temp never went above normal and the level is ok, plus the engine seemed to be running fine before i stopped. I'm a bit worried as a bit inexperienced on the mechanical side, any ideas would be welcome. Also noticed when i took the fan shroud off the radiator cooling fins are quite corroded, would this be a good time to maybe replace it (although it doesn't leak). It's a Defender 90 (1993/94) 2.5 NA diesel 19j engine. As a last one, what's the difference between a viscous fan and just bolt on one? Cheers in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewHorsfield Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Roughly, a bolt on fan will turn whenever the engine turns. A viscous fan free-wheels until it is hot and it locks up and spins with the engine. The 2.5NA engine is pretty durable (often described as a tractor engine!), so may well be OK. I have just taken a good one out if you find you do need one, but surprised if you do. Best of luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paddy Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 From what you describe you’d be unlucky to have damaged the engine. Make sure you get any airlocks out of the system especially cab heater(will run cold if air locked), run it up to normal temp and look for water leaks all round the engine. Let it cool and top up with water/antifreeze if needed. Then just run it and keep an eye on water and oil levels (water in oil or oil in water) until you’re happy nothing is a miss. Forget worse case scenarios you’ll scare yourself. Bolt on electric fan would continue to run when the belt snapped and saved the boil over, but they can have their own problems. Time enough to change the rad when it leaks but its your call depending on how bad the fins are, I tend to leave well alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ananab Posted February 19, 2014 Author Share Posted February 19, 2014 Cheers. All sorted, although when looking for the engine id plate i found it by fuel lift pump and it's says it's an 11J.....(think someone is having a giraffe). The coolant wasn't as gone as i thought it was and the new belt went on sweet and simple (didn't bother removing the fan in the end). Engine is running sweet (well as sweet as they do), just need to replace a couple of glow plugs now. Think i'll give radiator a miss this time as i have to fork out for 2 new front tyres (almost fainted when i got first quote for michelin xzl's (mind you i suppose they do last for years)). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete3000 Posted February 20, 2014 Share Posted February 20, 2014 19j was the old turbo diesel just before the 200tdi, check your alternator bearings aren't shot. My belt went due to colapsed bearings in the alternator. the giveaway was the no charge light flickering more until it stayed on. then the temp creeping up. the belt must have failed for a reason have a look for rubber dust on offending places. You could remove belt and give the alt a spin by hand to see if the bearings are smooth or gravelly, then check the fan/water pump boss the same. make sure the fan isn't catching the radiator or the metal cowl. (look for bright shinyness on rad or cowl). my cowl also dropped first weekend i had it because two of the three isolation rubbers had perished allowing the cowl to drop onto the fan. HTH Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ananab Posted February 22, 2014 Author Share Posted February 22, 2014 Thanks Pete, in hindsight i think the belt had been going for a while (my fault for not checking as regularily as you should), and there had been a couple of clues (charging light flickering on when going through deep puddles for one). I also believe that the alternator securing bolts had slipped as there is a fresh dent in the side of the alternator on the engine side; the adjusting bolts were not as tight as they should of been too. Close scrutiny of all related parts shows nothing is amiss at the moment and the alternator and fan spin smoothly. The fan cowling isn't causing any issues either, all in all i think i have dodged a potentially nasty bullet. The only issue is cold start as it a takes a good 20/30 secs to catch, even after giving a good 25 secs on the glow plugs (lots of white smoke before it catches), but onces she starts, no smoke at all apart from an initially nice sooty black belch (reminds me of being in the MT hanger when all the land rovers and 4 tonners are started in the morning). I've got spare glow plugs and am about to check the wiring and the existing glow plugs (their state should tell me if there's an issue with injector spray pattern too). Also gives me an excuse to clear away the last of the wiring from when the 24v system was removed. Mind you I think who ever initially put the wiring loom in decided to have a laugh and just randomly use the wrong coloured wires to the wrong system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paddy Posted February 22, 2014 Share Posted February 22, 2014 Similar engine to yours, mine starts first time after a 10 seconds on the glow plugs. I assume you aren’t touching the accelerator pedal, just pre heat, foot down on the clutch and turn the key to start. Try the glow plugs before you put them in, make sure they glow well !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ananab Posted February 24, 2014 Author Share Posted February 24, 2014 Thanks Paddy, all ok. What I will say however; ensure when testing glow plugs you make sure the mole grips have it nice and secure and that you don't wear trousers with big gaping pockets that allow the red hot glow plug to fall into, when the mole grips slip. Apparently this is highly amusing to onlookers; although extremely painful and humiliating when doing a mad 'no dad' dance whilst trying to retrieve said red hot item melting its way through your family jewels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paddy Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 A new insight to thermal runaway and melt down ... Maybe we should have a health and safety forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete3000 Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 btw if you are after a cheap source of isolation rubbers for your fan cowl or for other peoples 300tdi air filter mountings, search ebay for "go cart exhaust bobbins" or "exhaust cotton reel" m6 thread work a treat especially for the 300tdi. (may need m8 for the fan cowl can't remember) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snagger Posted February 25, 2014 Share Posted February 25, 2014 I had a 12J in my 109 for many years, which I rebuilt myself at considerable expense. It would start instantly every time, without the use of the heater plugs, even in sub zero conditions after weeks of standing unused. I think you have cracked pistons - the 12J and 19J pistons are prone to cracking when overheated. I had to replace my pistons because the standard SIII exhaust was too small and caused the temperature to get close to redline on long hills, though never into the red. Cumulative damage took its toll... It always started and ran well, but forced oil out of every seal and gasket. I also had two 19Js - the first threw 8pts of oil out the rad expansion bottle the first time it was used, and the second I got cheap to rebuild had a cracked head and each piston was split in half across the full diameter of their crowns (it was harvested for viable parts and scrapped). It's very common, though the 12J heads seem to suffer less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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