Davies Craig EWP - preliminary results

Hi guys,

Yesterday while I was rebuilding the head, Diesel Do fitted the EWP and controller and when all was done we got some pretty interesting results. In terms of prep, I renewed ALL the hosework in the cooling system, including the metal coolant rail - about £100 worth in all. I also gave the rad a very thorough flush. We also deleted the thermostat, the upper rad hose goes straight to the upper rad and the lower one goes straight to the coolant rail via the pump. We replaced the mechanical water pump with a new one that we removed the impeller from - so this is now a totally electric system. The water pump is now just a fancy bearing basically. The pump itself was easy to fit, the controller required some finesse and I think DD did a sterling job as it was clearly challenging to get all the wires around. We mounted the controller in the cubby next to the fuse box in the driver glove box, and the warning LED was bedded into a blank button next to the parking sensor button - very visible and very bright when it comes on. You won't miss it even during teh day which is very important.

First off, this pump is an absolute monster on full power. When we were bleeding the cooling system, we hard wired it to get the air out and at full volts it pushes more coolant around than the pipes can handle so it gets backed up in the expansion tank. However we very much doubt it will ever get even near full power under normal operation unless you fit it to a V8 track car. This backing up was not a problem when we were running it when wired to the controller - though the level in the tank does raise slightly when the pump is on but not really an issue.

Initially we set the operating temp target to 75 deg. To briefly describe it, the controller turns the pump on for 10 secs at 6v and then off for the 30sec until the temp is 30 deg under the target temp, then it goes 10 secs on 10 secs off until the taget temp is reached at which time the pump is on constantly with variable speeds depending on the needs of the engine. This does mean that at idle it takes quite a bit longer to get up to temp from cold start than with the thermostat system. It will proably be the same but to a lesser extent when driving from cold start. The only way you'll notice is that the heaters will take a while to get hot air through in winter! Luckily I have heated seat!

The temp guage moves around alot more with this system - because it is actually giving an accurate reading. The needle will twitch but didn't seem to jump around. It never went over the half way mark and sat at about 11 o'clock on the dial.

The only problem - if you can call it that - is that it seems thus far like the pump simply cannot go slowly enough to allow the engine to go over 75 deg during extended periods of idle. It pulses on for 10 off for 10 as with startup and this means it just can't "be hot enough." If it went any slower of was off for longer between pulses you'd get hot spots. I really don't know if this is a non-issue or not. But I don't see how too much cooling can be a big handicap on the K series!! Also, the first time we started it from dead cold and left it at idle the controller gave an error code 6 - meaning that it had not reached 30 deg within two minutes. But if you were to start and drive off I doubt this will happen, but it's something to be aware of.

The extended run on feature is effing brilliant. As soon as you kill the ignition the pump stays on for two mins, and at the end of that two mins you can touch the upper rad hose and it is just warm but not scalding so we know it's doing it's job. So heat soak will never be an issue, which many would argue is a major cause of HGF.

Otherwise though it worked pretty flawlessly and I'm looking forward to trying some short journeys with it and see how it gets on. I have no reason to believe that it won't be a vast improvement on even the modified FL cooling system, so I'm happy.

I'll update as things develop .

Will.

interesting write up

Watching

Proper road test and set up tomorrow evening?

Sounds good mate, what with the ****e weather today I didn't sort out the timing cover. But certainly ready for a road test!

I sent an emila to DC about whether the pump is suitable for off-roading and Richard Davies said "Off roading is not a problem, as being mounted in the radiator hose, the EWP is insulated from vibration etc. The pump body material is the same as nylon radiator side tanks - Nylon 66 with 30% fibreglass, and the side tanks are not affected by off roading. Mud is not a problem, but avoid immersing the EWP in water for long periods - a quick river crossing is ok."

So there you have it, still good for mudders . I have to say DC's comms have been great - there aren't many companies who's MD will take the time to answer your questions personally.

Will.

Well we went out for a spin tonight with the reader plugged into the ECu and boy is this thing the mutt's! Took us a while to find the sweet spot - ended up being 90 degrees on the controller but actual temp tends to stay between 85 and 95. No matter how hard you thrash the thing it just keeps going. During very high revs the temp actually drops to low 80's no matter how hard you go. In the beginning we were getting some faults because the temp was set too low - fortunately when the controller registers a fault it immediately goes into overdrive and dumps the temp right down. But once we had it calibrated it was a dream and the run on feature works great!

So for anyone who has a high mileage k series Freelander, I would seriously consider investing in this system - I see no reason why mine won't now reach 200k maybe even more.

Brilliant write-up.
We could do with more of these. It is definately one of those "must have" mods for a petrol freelander. Let's hope it means no more overheating probs.
I would suggest you go for the low coolant reservoir sensor mod as well tho.

Yes we're on the lookout for one, may be that we can fit one from a Rangie. It would have been really good to record the telemetry yesterday, as it was we just stuck to live temp readings from the ecu. Maybe we'll try that with DD's diagnostic wizrdry some time. That way you can see exactly what the pump is doing relative to RPM, Speed and gears.

But I really do urge anyone with a K series FL that's coming up to the 100k mark to look into this.

There is a how to on here - by hippo I think

Just a quick update, I drove about 50 miles today and the temp guage was totally solid the whole time, not so much as a twitch and just where it should be. I think I won't bother with the fan coupling, it seems to work beautifuly as is .

Now I'm getting a fault on the camshaft position sensor, probably knackered by all the oveheating. Ordered one from Paddock and then I'm ready to drive to Wales this weekend.

Brill news .

Keep us informed. Don't forget the sensor

I actually drove out to Paddock in Matlock, they didn't have any in so I just ordered one at the counter. It'll be here saturday. I also need to fit my new clutch slave bracket, looking a bit ratty and could give any day now . Then it's tyres, then VCU, then whatever breaks after that.

on a Freelander 1 it is easier to make your own.

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f38/low-coolant-sensor-84777.html

also nite time reading.... http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f9/kv6-thermostat-rover-freelander-42880.html

Today's a bit of a milestone - driving all the way to South Wales for the East Mids so this will be a great endurance test. I've just fitted the new clutch slave bracket too, the old one was in very poor shape! I hope all my work holds up!

I'll let you know how it goes, but I haven't had a peep of trouble out of the pump since we installed it and so far it's working a charm.

It'll be fine

Yep. went entirely without issue ! The HDC warning light and TC light came on together a few times toward the end of the joruney. Methinks another job for the snappy reader some time perhaps ?

The clutch is now noticeably smoother thanks to the new bracket - the old one had a dirty great crack in the slave mount !!

But the BLOODY TAILGATE LIGHT comes on every time we go over a bump!! Going to have to sort that b&stard switch out.

EDIT: I checked the coolant level this morning and I think something is up. I don't think it's a leak, but the level is pretty low. When I checked it during the journey it was right at the cap, and it's clear some has/had spilled out. I'm thinking it's being forced out of the top by the pump's strength. DD, perhaps we need to look into a way of limiting the flow into the tank - it's possible that the bleeder from the radiator is the culprit. Is it really needed with this system? I assume it's just for bleeding so perrhaps we could fit a manifold in there so we could bleed it when filling and then shut it off during normal use. Either way I thjink this is something that will need to be addressed.

Glue the lid on

does anybody else see "Craig David EWP" when they look at this thread?

he was an annoying tw@t at the best of times and know he is indelibly linked to a bloody Gaylander in my head

hi wl jayne, thought you might be intreasted to know that STERLING AUTOMOTIVE in eastbourne, east sussex do a low coolant level warning kit for "k" series engine (acctually developed for mgf), might be worth giving them a ring no: 01323 438754, would have thought suitable for fl, regards, emandem

Cheers for that mate! That will help alot of people here. It's my hope that our collective knowlege we will be able to offer a complete K series uprate solution on here to anyone who's interested in having a go. This should have been done bloody years ago, by bloody Land Rover and MGR. Oh well cheaper motah's for us eh ?

I'll give em a call some time. In good news the trip went off sans-hitch so I'm pretty chuffed about that. The car is noticably better - if I can solve the over-filling issue in the header tank then that will be the cooling system pretty much proven.

Oh and Discopol:



Will.