wood-gee Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 I'd really appreciate if someone may be able to offer me some advice. I've got a 200 tdi in a series 3, and up until recently it's always ran very well, with the temperature needle never really moving. A few weeks ago I noticed it would occasionally creep up a little on the temperature gauge but didn't think anything of it. Last week it overheated noticeably according to the gauge, so I popped in a new thermostat, although I then checked the old one which seemed to work fine. A few test runs later and still overheating, what I found was if I stop it cools down fine with the cab heater on, but can't seem to deal with the heat of driving. Today I pulled out the rad, gave it a good flush through, (it seemed to be flowing water ok), checked the hoses, refitted and tried a test run again. Still overheating. What I noticed is that when the gauge indicates it overheating, the very top of the rad is cold, the very bottom is cold and the middle warm. I wondered is whether this is because the oil cooler is doing it's job fine but waters not getting to the rad? If anyone has experienced something similar before or might be able to point me in the direction of a likely cause I'd be most grateful. The main other element I feel I've not checked is the water pump, is there an easy way to do so? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejparrott Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 It sounds like you've got the disco/defender rad fitted? You say the top of the rad is cold when the gauge indicates the engine is getting a bit too warm? That would indicate that the engine is actually fine but there's some other issue going on. What's the heater temperature like? Does the fuel gauge give mysterious high readings at the same time as the apparent overheating? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wood-gee Posted March 29, 2015 Author Share Posted March 29, 2015 Sorry I didn't clarify on that, I have the disco radiator fitted. The heater temperature is hot, I've had it on full chat and had to keep the front vent and window open to prevent myself cooking. The fuel gauge has stayed sensible whilst the temp gauge has shown overheating, and the fact that it was going up and down rather than constantly showing hot led me to conclude that the gauge is fairly truthful, whereas I would have expected a constant offset in the instance of a dicky earth or suchlike, plus I had checked the regulator output earlier and it was chucking out a sensible 10V. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejparrott Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 Hmm..doesn't sound like regulator, and if the heater is hot then it sounds like the engine is actually hot. Is the stat actually opening, that would be my next question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wood-gee Posted March 30, 2015 Author Share Posted March 30, 2015 As far as I know it is, I tested the old stat that I removed and the new one I put in a pan of boiling water, both of which opened? I put the new one in reasoning the old one might have gone out of calibration. Today I removed the water pump to check it's working. The impeller is attached to the spindle fine (I've read about 300tdi ones coming apart from it occasionally), however the blade edges did look a bit messy, pictures elaborates below: Most of the blade edges looked like this; is that normal? I would reason it wouldn't be enough to cause overheating but doesn't look ideal to my untrained eye. Other than this the fan feels ok, bearings don't feel brand new but could be worse. After pondering it a lot today my current thoughts of the cause for overheating are: 'stat not opening - unlikely having proven to open in sauce pan unless there's other causes I'm unaware of? Semi blocked rad - did seem to flow some water though when hosepipe tested Head gasket blown (suggested by one of the technichians at work) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwakers Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 blocked or otherwise degraded rad. theres more than one reason for a rad to fail to perform its desired function, my p38 for instance the rad was completely free flowing (confirmed when i took the end tanks off and weighed it in) but the truck was overheating, was in the end a rotten core. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wood-gee Posted March 30, 2015 Author Share Posted March 30, 2015 Thanks for the input qwakers; that would be more in line with the symptoms I've had, and in fairness I think it's the original rad, the lad in the landy shop also said rad when I went to get a water pump gasket today but I thought it worth checking the pump before forking out the cash for a new rad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejparrott Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Yeah...you've skipped on ahead of me now....pump looks fine, was worth a check. I would be looking at rad next. Friend with a 200TDi 110 was having overheating issues....I can't remember why but he had a full hed rebuild....I think it was smoking as well so he decided it ought to be done, as it was a relative unknown...that made no difference, but a brand new rad did! Only problem was it fell apart on the way to South Wales Luckily, the AA man took him on to MM4x4 who had a replacement out ready for him when he arrived, which the AA man promtly fitted My friend carried on to south wales and promptly covered it in mud....for 4 days...!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wood-gee Posted April 1, 2015 Author Share Posted April 1, 2015 So as an update on this, having pulled the pump and concluding that although a bit worn, it was still serviceable, I went and bought a new rad today. Fitted after work, test drove and its still bl**dy overheating. Rads now getting good and hot but I left it sitting ticking over after my test drive and the rad heat soaked after a few minutes and the needle started rising. Man am I fed up! Going to go a garage tomorrow to try and do one of those tests for your coolant, but the only option now seems to be head gasket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejparrott Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Is it loosing water though? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roverdrive Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Does it have the viscous fan, and if so have you checked it is working correctly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wood-gee Posted April 1, 2015 Author Share Posted April 1, 2015 Doesn't appear to be losing water, Or at least not at a noticeable enough rate for the short test drives I've done this week, but I must say I'm stumped for other reasons, also changed temp sender tonight, checked connections and voltage regulator output (9.8v but my multimeter isn't the most accurate). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wood-gee Posted April 1, 2015 Author Share Posted April 1, 2015 It doesn't have a viscous van, and has ran well over the winter with the needle never really moving much, even without the electric fan on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wood-gee Posted April 30, 2015 Author Share Posted April 30, 2015 Thanks for the advice everyone on this; in the end I borrowed a fancy temperature sensor from work and it was the electrics - (either regulator or gauge, not gt round to proving which one yet), even though the regulator was chucking out 10V (or maybe 9.9V but thereabouts). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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