Defender 200Tdi 1994 coolant

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Captainflint1967

Captainflint1967

Member
Posts
60
Location
Leicestershire
Hello Everyone,

I have a Defender 200Tdi 90 1994 which has stood in my garage for the past 20 years - I bought her from new and bought a Discovery 2 once the children started to arrive.
I’m going through everything to get her back on the road.
As I was doing the timing belt, I drained the (green) coolant from the vehicle. But what do I replace it with ?
Many different opinions on forums and I was sold the pink OAT coolant from Halfords (they said it was the right one ???).
I haven’t replaced the coolant yet because of the various opinions whether to use Pink OAT or Blue.
Could anyone please advise whether it is safe to use the pink OAT coolant I’ve purchased or should I buy the blue coolant..
all advise greatly appreciated thank you.
 
Good old blue glycol 50/50.
Oats may be fine, its your call.

Halfords are not that clued up on many things.
 
Go with the blue, you will not get all of the old out any way. Some stays in the bottom of the block and unless you take it out the heater unit will not drain.
 
Take a look on opieoils.co.uk I use them for a lot of the fluids I buy for the family fleet. You can plug in your reg number and it will give you a choice of products for your type of vehicle.
 
I have pink OAT in my 300tdi .... my understanding is that the (anti corrosion) Organic Addatives are longer lasting that Propolyne Glycol which is better at cooling but needs changing more often and I don't driver around (nomally) in temps over 25C .... I change mine (when I remember) every 5 years (ish).
No problems so far.
 
I thought 300tdi and earlier were blue Glycol 50/50 mix.

I looked into it and would have preferred the OAT stuff due to its longer lasting properties, but I sure I read it wasn't compatible with the engine. I can't remember what it was but I am sure that you will find it if you look on the Web.
 
Dr Strangeglove said:
I thought 300tdi and earlier were blue Glycol 50/50 mix.

I looked into it and would have preferred the OAT stuff due to its longer lasting properties, but I sure I read it wasn't compatible with the engine. I can't remember what it was but I am sure that you will find it if you look on the Web.
Click to expand...
I should think it says blue in the manual. But so does a Series manual, and we have run the Series on OAT for 3 years with no apparent ill effects.
When we bought it, the coolant looked, and smelled, like rusty water. So I figured either there was no antifreeze in it, or any that was present had long ago degraded. Put the OAT in, it hasn't been a problem.
Tdis have alloy heads, but other than that I can't think there is much difference.
 
I did another quick look on the Web and it says OAT can affect seals and pipes. I don't know just how accurate it is but I decided to take the cautious route and use the blue Glycol stuff.
 
Iirc it is something to do with paper gaskets being the reason not to use Oats in old motors.
Most Oats engines seem to either have orings or metal gaskets.

For example 200 stat gasket is paper, 300 is o ring.
Remember 300 P gasket used to be paper then they modded it to metal.
So as we all know 300 owners are gay maybe the engine is bi!
 
Thanks for that lynall. It's good to know the actual reason for something as it helps remember - and my memory is dire!

Do you if land rover actually fitted metal P gaskets to the 300tdi in later production? I wonder if that could be a reason for some suppliers recommending OAT for it?
 
Thank you everyone for the replies, much appreciated.
As the opinions vary I called Landrover themselves and was informed that due to ‘other’ metals (copper,brass etc) being used in the 200Tdi engine, then blue coolant was the way to go. So I’m off to Halfords to exchange the coolant from pink to blue.
The vehicle has a new water pump, belts , gaskets and seals and new silicone hoses. With a full flush (including the engine block and radiator) I’m hoping that all the previous ‘green’ coolant is purged from the system and won’t mix with the new blue.

Just as a side note, my 90 was previously always ever serviced by Landrover dealers ,( one in particular in Leicestershire where I purchased the vehicle new), with a full service history , essentially my vehicle was ONLY ever serviced by Landrover. BUT . The number of missing bolts and clips / rounded fllanged bolts / and cross threaded plugs I have encountered on the vehicle is an utter disgrace, so much for the ‘LANDROVER CARE’ on serviced vehicles.
She was serviced before I put her to bed 20 years ago when I purchased a new Discovery 2 due to family requirements , and have kept her warm and dry in my garage since. Now she’s having a second lease of life, but I’ll be doing all the servicing myself from now on (to guarantee the quality) …. CAVEAT EMPTOR !
 
My friend was a mechanic from age 16. He ended up being one of their top technicians (before all the electricery). It used to p**s him off that the experienced guys got all the hard jobs where it was difficult to hit targets/bonus yet the apprentices got all the servicing work which was easy on targets - says a lot really!
 
Captainflint1967 said:
Thank you everyone for the replies, much appreciated.
As the opinions vary I called Landrover themselves and was informed that due to ‘other’ metals (copper,brass etc) being used in the 200Tdi engine, then blue coolant was the way to go. So I’m off to Halfords to exchange the coolant from pink to blue.
The vehicle has a new water pump, belts , gaskets and seals and new silicone hoses. With a full flush (including the engine block and radiator) I’m hoping that all the previous ‘green’ coolant is purged from the system and won’t mix with the new blue.

Just as a side note, my 90 was previously always ever serviced by Landrover dealers ,( one in particular in Leicestershire where I purchased the vehicle new), with a full service history , essentially my vehicle was ONLY ever serviced by Landrover. BUT . The number of missing bolts and clips / rounded fllanged bolts / and cross threaded plugs I have encountered on the vehicle is an utter disgrace, so much for the ‘LANDROVER CARE’ on serviced vehicles.
She was serviced before I put her to bed 20 years ago when I purchased a new Discovery 2 due to family requirements , and have kept her warm and dry in my garage since. Now she’s having a second lease of life, but I’ll be doing all the servicing myself from now on (to guarantee the quality) …. CAVEAT EMPTOR !
Click to expand...

Glad to hear another TDI is getting back on the road. I have to say i'm surprised land rover didn't tell you to jog on and read the manual re: coolant as it tells you all you need to know there ;-). I only use distilled water when mixing coolant, bit OCD i know, but any excuse to pour more money into the old girl.
 
payydg said:
Glad to hear another TDI is getting back on the road. I have to say i'm surprised land rover didn't tell you to jog on and read the manual re: coolant as it tells you all you need to know there ;-). I only use distilled water when mixing coolant, bit OCD i know, but any excuse to pour more money into the old girl.
Click to expand...

JFI - When I contacted Landrover regarding the coolant for the 200Tdi, they did say that for the 300Tdi engine, it was now ‘safe’ to use the Pink OAT, as the formula had since changed over the years from the original OAT coolant. Hence why there are contradictory opinions about OAT coolant on the forums. Apparently the ‘new’ version of pink OAT coolant doesn’t ‘eat’ it’s way through the delicate parts. Although they didn’t recommend it (pink OAT) for the 200Tdi engine. Coolant formulas have changed since 1994 inline with newer engine designs. For a 200Tdi engine- Blue coolant is the recommended choice. Similarly the transfer box / diff oil (EP90 in the manual) has changed its formula too over the years. Many fluids have changed their formulas in the past 20 years inline with engine development. Manual data from 1994 aren’t always correct with todays fluids due to the changes made to their chemical makeup. Makes life interesting to say the least.
 
Captainflint1967 said:
JFI - When I contacted Landrover regarding the coolant for the 200Tdi, they did say that for the 300Tdi engine, it was now ‘safe’ to use the Pink OAT, as the formula had since changed over the years from the original OAT coolant. Hence why there are contradictory opinions about OAT coolant on the forums. Apparently the ‘new’ version of pink OAT coolant doesn’t ‘eat’ it’s way through the delicate parts. Although they didn’t recommend it (pink OAT) for the 200Tdi engine. Coolant formulas have changed since 1994 inline with newer engine designs. For a 200Tdi engine- Blue coolant is the recommended choice. Similarly the transfer box / diff oil (EP90 in the manual) has changed its formula too over the years. Many fluids have changed their formulas in the past 20 years inline with engine development. Manual data from 1994 aren’t always correct with todays fluids due to the changes made to their chemical makeup. Makes life interesting to say the least.
Click to expand...

If you ever get really bored, take a look at the ACEA oil specs, it is interesting how many are now obsolete.
They are changing or being superceded all the time.
 
lynall said:
If you ever get really bored, take a look at the ACEA oil specs, it is interesting how many are now obsolete.
They are changing or being superceded all the time.
Click to expand...
Not sure what was wrong with the old MIL numbers that we were supposed to look for when I first started! o_O:D
 
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