themunster Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 Morning all! Couple of weeks ago I replaced the radiator on my discovery, old one had about a dozen fins left on it and was leaking nicley! Replaced it with a new rad (britpart from mm4x4). Whilst I had it out I flushed the engine with a hosepipe, after 15mins it was running nice and clean, also took the pipes off the heater matrix and got some nice brown water out of that before it ran clean. So all back together, filled and I was confident no airlocks anywhere. Now been using the disco for a couple of weeks and it runs well, heater blows warm and engine warm-up time is sensible, havent done any long runs in it yet but I've been keeping an eye on coolant level and it hasn't budged and no leaks visable. My drive to work is about 7 miles so only just warmed up by the time I get in however I've noticed a couple of things and I'm not sure if they're to be expected; top half of radiator is nice and warm, bottom half is cold oil cooler feed and return pipes are both cold I know its only 7 miles but I'm not getting why the bottom of the rad is cold, I assume flow from rad is in at the top, then over to oil cooler on the right then back along to bottom hose on the left? Is 7 miles enough to open the oil thermostat? Placing hand on top of the engine and it feels a sensible temp and I'm confident I'm not over heating.. think it might be over cooling heh. Have checked coolant thermostat and it's working fine. Shall I just find an excuse to blat it down the motorway for 20mins then check rad/cooler? mmm mm4x4 is about 30mins away, sure I could find something to buy when I get there! Cheers, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrRob Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 New rad will make a difference to cooling efficiency. I think you need to go for that long blat to MM4x4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discomikey Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 there will be a temperature difference between top and bottom of the rad. Top end is hot water coming out of your engine, bottom end is cooled water going in, sounds like your rad is working nicely. and unless you are travelling those 7 miles with a LOT of weight, and at high engine loads, i cant see why your oil should get that warm either side of the cooler over those 7 miles from cold start. I think only a long run will tell but if i were you i would be happy with the rad so far Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejparrott Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 Perfectly normal I'd say Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themunster Posted July 9, 2014 Author Share Posted July 9, 2014 Cheers guys. Just been asked to help move about 5 ton of logs this weekend, so that should help test. New coolant is rusty already, I might stick some flush in and actually use some antifreeze. Holts 2 part flush OK to use? Thanks again guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team Idris Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 If you are running the engine at high power then the water flow is at max and all the rad will be hot. The flow will make all the tubes in the core work. But a closed thermostat means no flow, so only the top part gets hot with old-school vertical tubes. Looks like the cross-flow of the 300tdi finds it's own way of showing hot-water-rises Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrRob Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Don't run a Tdi without antifreeze - it helps it cool aswell as stopping it freezing in the winter. Don't use 100% water! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Er yeah. Drain it and put some antifreeze in! It also stops corrosion, hot water and cast iron block is why your water is rusty... Antifreeze is designed to work in water at the proper ratio (which varies according to type). 100% water is no good, and nor is 100% antifreeze! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
themunster Posted July 10, 2014 Author Share Posted July 10, 2014 Thanks for the replies gents! I know I know but I didn't have any in the garage when doing the rad change :-) and MOT was in 2 hours heh. Going to flush everything out and refill with antifreeze now I know it's cooling ok. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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