TD5 aluminium rad and fan options

My 110 seems even though cooling system is working very well as while offroading yesterday and doing it's job nearly too well with following friends and very little being asked from it especially as we were cold inside the Defender so heater was on full wack at times which was even robbing more heat from it so was dropping to low 80s or even to mid to high 70s at times

But on the other hand, it still finds it a little tough to cool itself when towing while at low engine rpm as it's still making a considerable amount of boost and heat.
Still not going over 93 or 94 degrees under heavy load but at the same time, I'd like it to stay around 86-88 all the time no matter what it's doing.
Friend was helping me get it ready for the mot too last week and as I've nowhere on my winch bumper to put my reg plate, he cable tied it temporarily to the grille. warped the old rad in it then when went towing bales of hay as wasn't getting enough airflow and I really should have replaced both the rad and matrix when putting the new engine in but just was getting sick of it taking so long at the time to get done while recovering with a broken leg while doing it lol.
New standard heater matrix and rad now but would still like alloy versions for peace of mind

Was thinking of fitting an electric fan as it'll be able to stay off while doing very light work and help keep some heat in the system and also when it is warmer, irrespective of engine rpm, it'll be able to cool the rad at it's full potential.

While at it and thinking of getting an alloy rad and heater matrix if in for a penny, in for a pound.

Has anybody any recommendations for the alloy rads. Seen various cheap ones on ebay for about 150 to 250 quid but am I really better off with an Alisport one for peace of mind. Already have an Alisport intercooler and exhaust manifold and can't question the quality

Also need to get the best fan for the money and a cowling if possibly off the shelf as pointless sticking a universal fan onto the back of a radiator and still half the rad getting nothing pulled through it. I see loads of fan, cowling and rad packs for V8 models but none that I can find for the TD5

I think you have already talked yourself into an Alisport rad ;-)
I've been looking at electric fans recently as my engine came without a fan. Magill Motorsport seem to be good value: http://www.mcgillmotorsport.com/ maybe combined with a cut down standard cowling?

If you speak to Allisport they do make some hefty fan/rad packages which would do the trick!

zeaphod said:

I think you have already talked yourself into an Alisport rad ;-)
I've been looking at electric fans recently as my engine came without a fan. Magill Motorsport seem to be good value: http://www.mcgillmotorsport.com/ maybe combined with a cut down standard cowling?

Click to expand...

LOL, yea.... your right

Sent an email anyway and will see what they can do

Thing is even with the new rad the temp will still run the same especially when lightly loaded as temp is controlled by the stat and as your new super rad will be more efficient it will cool the engine down even quicker when running light.

That's true but at least the coolant in the rad should stay abit warmer than when the viscous is cooling it at the moment.

Tracked down my problem to a faulty tensioner though as pas pump and waterpump was slipping abit so wasn't able to do its job well enough under load and low rpm

Still creeps up to about 94 under heavy load at low rpm but not threatening to overheat like it was doing and blowing hot and cold in the heater but still thinking of getting alloy rads and fans

I know, technically won't have a problem until temp reaches boiling point or there's a loss of coolant or airlock developing but I'm just paranoid

I bet you will find 94 is well within the td5 std operating range a lot of modern cars run over 90 and some very close to a 100 pretty much all the time.

I know especially as stat doesn't open fully until 96, I'm just being paranoid

The new standard rad is warped a little again however only after a 1000 miles so still would feel better with upgrading them

I removed the useless and broken air con from my CSW and used the electric fan from the air con radiator which also got binned to make room for an decent intrercooler. I simply removed the visco fan and mounted the leccy fan where the visco fan was using the original shroud. Worked fine with an adjustable stat and manual over ride switch but I've since gone back to the visco fan as it does appear to draw more air than the leccy one did. I regularly tow my fully loaded Ifor trailer at slow speed in woods etc so need decent cooling.

Is it acceptable to just remove the TD5 viscous fan in Winter? On my Transit TDCi the electric fans never kicked in during Winter, even when in traffic.

On the older motors 200/300 it was with minimal worries you could bin the viscous fan but on the newer stuff especially if you tow or work it hard at low speeds I would be very very careful as td5 heads arent cheap.
Even with the 200/300 I have had some close calls as the elec fan simply cannot shift enough air and when they get hot they then get very hot very quickly.
The other problem you get with retrofit elec fans and not viscuos fans is heat soak especially if you work engine hard for some time, eg motorway then shut it down, the engine is still making massive heat and unless your diy elec fan is full time live the whole lot can get very very hot.
The amount of air a viscous fan can shift is way more than an elec fan, youve all heard them roar from cold when engine first started/driven?

Thanks, you've answered my question, l will leave the fan as it is.

I use a radiator muff/wadding blanket and leave the fan on. I cover the full grill and intercooler but leave about the bottom 5th exposed.
The viscous fan still drags a fair amount of air through if needed (which it hasn't at Temps of up to 8 deg) I do 50 miles a day of town/a road and motorway. Although using the boost guage I'm not keeping it on boost as the intercooler is covered. I can now sit at 60 with the heaters on full belt rather than having to drive it harder to keep the heaters warm! plus it doesn't cool down as quick at lights or in traffic, and yes my thermostat is fine.
It's seconds to unclip and get back to normal if needed

My heater works fine once warm even in very cold weather.
l don't need to drive it harder or use the turbo to keep it blowing hot air.

lightning said:

My heater works fine once warm even in very cold weather.
l don't need to drive it harder or use the turbo to keep it blowing hot air.

Click to expand...

it's probably because I've also got a bilge blower in the inlet to my heater. It makes it blow like a normal car but over cools the motor
with it off it keeps its temperature but the fan is feeble.

It's a funny one with Defenders. My 2005 CSW has a great heater and the fan works well, the missus has a 2003 CSW and on that the fan is feeble.

I think feeble fans are the first sign of heater motor failure, Ive had two in bits recently and on both of them the bush was seized to the shaft and the seized bush/shaft was spinning inside the casing.
I admit they were 200tdi ones both from 1993 but pretty sure they are the same all the way through incl 200/300/td5.

I've got a brand new fan in mine, it's good for a defender but no where near as good as say the wifes disco 3 on full chat. With the bilge blower in series with the normal fan it's up there

Got news back from Andrew at Alisport anyway regards an electric fan. Below is what they offer with a built in fan mount to the rad and thermostatic switch then but he still advised the viscous fan for maximum cooling.

I'm of two minds what to do lol