Speckydude
Well-Known Member
Nicely titled and useful thread
I've only had my 300 tdi Defender for 5 months and haven't really done a great deal to it apart from change all the fluids, and had it MOT'd this weekend.
Over the last few weeks it has really struggled to get up to temperature in the morning when it's below 10 degrees. Even after 13 miles it wouldn't get to the optimum mid point on the coolant temperature gauge, one morning it barely got over the white mark. Everyone at work says "yeah all old diesels are like that" or similar, so I had started looking into radiator muffs' on eBay, but was a bit reluctant seeing that the ones I liked the look of cost £60-80. Decided to opt for the cheaper option first and spent £5.95 on a Bearmach thermostat as some have suggested in other threads about struggling to get up to temperature.
End result, the coolant gauge now starts moving within 1.5 miles and is up to the mid point by 3 miles, and stays there abouts until I turn it off. The air emitted from the vents is also a lot warmer, almost too warm to hold your hand right next to it, double bonus!
I'd do the bottom 1/3rd of the rad if I think it needs help, on a TDi the oil cooler lives inside the Rad, right hand end tank, so just be aware of that too.
