Defender cooling issue

Hi all, im new to the forum. Ive just finished building a 90 and im trying to iron out teething problems as its not been on the road for years. The previous owner has retro-fitted a factory defender 200Tdi engine and a td5 bulkhead and dashboard but used what i beleive to be the 200 binnacle and clocks. The issue i have is my temperature gauge indicates over heating, occasionaly climbing up the the start of the red but the heaters are coolish and the header tank is only very slighty warm. Im guessing at a mismatch in gauges and ive bought a brand new radiator and thermostat. Does any body have a picture of a 200Tdi guage or a 2.5D gauge to compare the two with mine. Many thanks

Mostin3

What engine was originally in it? You need a new sensor from steve parkers, £8 or £12 depending on whether fine or coarse thread.

The original engine was a 2.5 flat diesel according to the previous owner. I'l whip the sender out and have a mooch and the thread pitch, thanks

Better still see if you can get a 200 temp gauge off ebay - i did this and it went from being at the top of the red to being in the middle as it should be.

yeah that's what I thought. Does any body have a picture of the original 200Tdi temp gauge please?

Get a proper graduated guage that reads in degres[not just white and red] available from ETB guages and see what the actual temp your motor runs at.About 35 quid including sender.

Mine is bog standart 200 tdi engined 110 and on along M way incline and 36c ambiant the temp goes to end of the white mark on the geuge . i try to help maters by putin the heater on much to the anoyance of the passengers

yeah thats exactly the same here. First time i drove it was to LRO peterborough, a 300 mile round trip for me. It had to be nursed there and back and the missus was boiling, didnt help matters when her bag got covered in mud on the off road course as it was in the passenger footwell aha.

if your blowers are blowing cold you might have an air lock, had this prob when my water pump died

and a lack of coolant which is why it died

You sure you haven't got anything earthing where it shouldn't be? I extended the temp wire from my td loom to suit the 200 but realised thee was already a connection there for it. When the one I made touched the block the temp flew up.

I just put the td temp sender in the 200... Works fine.