2.5d running cold

I have just bought a 96 2.5d P38. the only issue is that it runs very cold.
With an outside air temp showing at 6 deg, and after a 30 mile motorway run the temp gauge is just above blue. Is this normal for this engine.
what can be done to bring the temp up.
I'm not sure if the thermostat is in place or not. If it is clearly its working ok.

It should run with the gauge in the middle, too cold normally means the thermostat is stuck open or it's not in there

daveb284 said:

I have just bought a 96 2.5d P38. the only issue is that it runs very cold.
With an outside air temp showing at 6 deg, and after a 30 mile motorway run the temp gauge is just above blue. Is this normal for this engine.
what can be done to bring the temp up.
I'm not sure if the thermostat is in place or not. If it is clearly its working ok.

Click to expand...

To totally contradict what clutchdust said...

my 2.5 DSE has ALWAYS run with the needle in the low end of the temp guage. Only on really warm summer days last year did it come and sit in the middle of the guage. Ive had everything checked by my specialist and he assures me everything is ok so ive always accepted it as normal. I know other 2.5 owners who also have the same thing and they have always had it, it was discussed a while ago at rangerovers.net with several users reporting the same thing. so either we have all got something wrong OR its just a normal thing for the diesel version of the P38.

I know my father used to have quite a few diesel company cars when I was alot younger and the temp guage in those always used to move around quite a bit depending on how it was driven and the outside temp.

Personally, I would ignore it and not let it worry you. If you want to get it checked out then do let us know whats found.

-Wills

Wills, thanks for that. everything seems to be fine with it. Think I'll leave it for a while. Better to be cool than hot.
My TD4 Freelander is always mid range, but it does have that silly preheater fitted. Burns fuel like hell.
I'm getting 28 to 30 mpg out of the RR, so cant be bad.

28-30 mpg is much better than me, mine is rapidly decreasing.

I agree, my temp gauge was always on the low side. The only time it got hot was on a very long very steep hill in the middle of a hot French summer. Other than that it ran pretty cold. (older) Diesels do run a lot colder than petrols - the fans weren't running on my diesel Espace and I managed to sit in stationary traffic for > 20 mins before the gauge hit the top! Would have been 5 minutes in a petrol model if I was lucky!

Matt

Thanks guys. Its good to know.

yup same for me, runs just above blue. before i had my viscous unit changed it ran just below half way.