Am I over heating?

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GogsJsy

Member
Posts
35
Location
Jersey C.I
Hi folks,

I've had my 200TDI defender for about 6 months now and the water temp needle has always sat bang in the middle of the guage since I've had it. It is mainly used only at weekends and not as a daily driver. This last week I have had to use it for the drive to work. Only a 20 minute drive on 30-40mph roads with lots of stop start and stationary traffic. On one such drive the gauge went up past the middle point slightly, not into the red though, and stayed there for the rest of the drive.

I've done some testing today to verify what my guage is telling me. I removed the sender from the engine and made up a test loom. Boiled some water in a jet boil and held the sender in there with a peg so just the sensing part of the sensor was in the liquid (I didn't want water getting in the top of the sender and possibly causing some issues if i just submerged it) I placed a digital thermometer in and this is what I found.

This is my test set up.
20190831_134544.jpg

The sender held in the water
20190831_134052.jpg


Here you can see the gauge in the same position when I noticed it driving the other day,and you can see from the digital thermometer its at 99 degrees.
20190831_134500.jpg


The stat is opening as the top hose is toasty hot (maybe not fully or its sticking - I dont want to attempt to remove the housing) , there is also luke warm water coming out the bottom hose. The radiator is not blocked with mud or crud externally. Obviously it being a pressurised cooling system the coolant is not going to boil off at 100C but after doing some research it seems that everyone else has there engine running around 80C.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.
 
GogsJsy said:
Hi folks,

I've had my 200TDI defender for about 6 months now and the water temp needle has always sat bang in the middle of the guage since I've had it. It is mainly used only at weekends and not as a daily driver. This last week I have had to use it for the drive to work. Only a 20 minute drive on 30-40mph roads with lots of stop start and stationary traffic. On one such drive the gauge went up past the middle point slightly, not into the red though, and stayed there for the rest of the drive.

I've done some testing today to verify what my guage is telling me. I removed the sender from the engine and made up a test loom. Boiled some water in a jet boil and held the sender in there with a peg so just the sensing part of the sensor was in the liquid (I didn't want water getting in the top of the sender and possibly causing some issues if i just submerged it) I placed a digital thermometer in and this is what I found.

This is my test set up.View attachment 188400
The sender held in the water
View attachment 188401

Try getting an infra-red thermometer pen from Screwfix or other outlets, they are only a few quid. you can go over the engine and find out exactly how hot the different components, block hoses, rad, etc, actually are.

Here you can see the gauge in the same position when I noticed it driving the other day,and you can see from the digital thermometer its at 99 degrees.
View attachment 188402

The stat is opening as the top hose is toasty hot (maybe not fully or its sticking - I dont want to attempt to remove the housing) , there is also luke warm water coming out the bottom hose. The radiator is not blocked with mud or crud externally. Obviously it being a pressurised cooling system the coolant is not going to boil off at 100C but after doing some research it seems that everyone else has there engine running around 80C.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Try getting an infra red thermometer pen from Screwfix or similar, they are only a few quid. You can go over the block, hoses, etc, and see exactly what is going on.
 
GogsJsy said:
haha sound. Yeah I have on of them somewhere i've always just questioned their accuracy and the fact they only give surface temps, but ill give it a go and see if anything jumps out.

Cheers
Click to expand...

Works very well for me on boat engines. If what you see is a block temperature about thermostat temperature, and a hot hose going to the rad, and a much cooler one coming back to the engine, all is probably well, and suspect the gauge, sender, or earthing.
 
Turboman said:
all is probably well, and suspect the gauge, sender, or earthing.
Click to expand...

Ive shown with my test that the gauge and and sender are working correctly and that if the needle reaches that point on the guage the coolant is at 100c, my problem is that everyone seems to say 200TDIs don't run that hot...
 
GogsJsy said:
Ive shown with my test that the gauge and and sender are working correctly and that if the needle reaches that point on the guage the coolant is at 100c, my problem is that everyone seems to say 200TDIs don't run that hot...
Click to expand...

They shouldn't. Stat temperature is about 86C, from memory.
 
I have a 200tdi in mine and it doesn't run hot at all. I don't run the fan unless it's really heavy traffic and it's a hot day :)
The thermostat opens at 88 degrees and as soon as it does open, the temperature drops.
 
GogsJsy said:
Yeah something is definitely wrong. I plan on a a full system flush and to give the radiator a good rinse and see where I am then.
Click to expand...
Reverse flush the rad with a garden hose until the water runs clear sometimes helps. You may have to leave it overnight on an old vehicle.

Then try the IR pen, it will tell you if there is flow or not, as well as the temperatures.

You could try removing the thermostat altogether and driving around, that will diagnose a stat fault.
 
GogsJsy said:
Yeah something is definitely wrong. I plan on a a full system flush and to give the radiator a good rinse and see where I am then.
Click to expand...
That's a good idea, when I first got mine I flushed the whole system as I thought it ran hot.
Mine was in fact a dodgy sender but it is worth it for piece of mind.
 
Turboman said:
Reverse flush the rad with a garden hose until the water runs clear sometimes helps. You may have to leave it overnight on an old vehicle.

Then try the IR pen, it will tell you if there is flow or not, as well as the temperatures.

You could try removing the thermostat altogether and driving around, that will diagnose a stat fault.
Click to expand...
You beat me too it :)
 
I'll give that a go some time this week and update this thread.

I had done a quick flush and new coolant only a few months ago but it can't hurt to do it again and check with the IR probe. Which will hopefully save me from having to disturb them dam stat bolts
 
GogsJsy said:
I'll give that a go some time this week and update this thread.

I had done a quick flush and new coolant only a few months ago but it can't hurt to do it again and check with the IR probe. Which will hopefully save me from having to disturb them dam stat bolts
Click to expand...

You will have to get them out sometime. Better now than later.
 
GogsJsy said:
I'd really rather not haha. But it would be nice to chuck the stat in a pan of boiling water and check it's operation.
Click to expand...

It is going to fail sooner or later, if it hasn't already.

And the easiest way to check it is to remove it, and drive around a bit. If the stat is causing your problem the engine will barely heat up at all.
 
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