roverdrive overdrive

I'm not sure what tourists are being referred to here, but for those of us who actually live in the far north anything that can't consistently handle the heat isn't of much use.

The oil that burnt in my Roverdrive was a fully synthetic Shell gear oil, which was the best I could find. The engine is only a 2&1/4 petrol and at the time we were doing 90-100kmh. What was different to the other times that the Roverdrive worked well was only the extreme heat.

There was some mention many years ago of a Californian customer who made an oil cooler for his transmission when it had a Roverdrive. If I was doing this again, I wouldn't consider the Roverdrive for use up here without some sort of a cooler and a temperature gauge. Once again, it was great down south, but not up here. There just seems to be a certain point where it's overloaded with heat that it can't dissipate - my guess would be at about 35-40c ambient, a bit higher than the heatwave in France that was used as a comparison in an email.

It's been the reason that I'm going to change the whole drivetrain to Stage I spec as the LT95 is more suitable for outback conditions, which is in keeping with the whole KISS principle anyway.

For what it's worth my LT95 has peaked at 130 deg farenheit & that was towing a boat for 3 hrs @ 100klm/hr on a 38 deg day with a Chev 350.
I could'nt rest my leg against the seat box it was that hot.:eek:

Hang on, 130F is 54C, which doesn't seem so bad. Did the oil turn black and smell awful as it did in my Roverdrive?

I too live in the Pilbara and am accustomed to high temperatures I like the idea of the Rover drive but cant chance it.
60 Degree road temperatures are quite common

Quote:

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Originally Posted by harro

Hi Dan,
I didn't know you could get a cooler for the t/case.
I know you can get one for the R380 (gearbox) but If the gearbox ran cooler it would probably help to cool the T/case as I am sure heat is transferred from the box to the T/case during normal operation.
Good luck with your Disco T/case, if not for the roverdrive I certainly would have gone that way;).

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Hey guys,

While I having been getting my beast ready for the road again, I have had it in Neutral and running checking for coolant leaks etc for 10 min at a time. I noted that temp of the T/Case was getting to just about 50*C and I put this down to the heat coming from the G/box. I imagine that by fitting a g/box cooler you would help reduce the heat in the T/Case like Harro suggested above, and might be why I was getting such high T/Case temps.

*EDIT*
I have found in a LT230 Manual/Guide that even L/Rover recommend keeping it below 140*C and the NAS version had a temp switch that warns the driver when you hit this temp.

I have never had much to do with oil coolers, Is there any thing complicated or special about adding a oil cooler to the R380, and will any oil cooler you can find a space for do the job????.:confused::confused:
Dave

Ps And what sort of pressure would it run at???

The cooler Ashcrofts sell is here: Ashcroft Transmissions - R380 Oil Cooler Kit

I don't think it would run at a terribly high pressure.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rick130

BTW, duty is only 5% on imported motor vehicle parts and then a GST (VAT) of 10% is added after importation.
http://www.customs.gov.au/webdata/re...es/ACN0949.pdf

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Import duty is always blamed, however distributor/retailer markups are usually the issue.

I was in meeting only yesterday with a large international company who make CCV filters ( ;) ) - and they were complaining about the "ridiculously high" markups that Australian distributors charge.

I agree with you on the oils Rick. As for t-case temps, I have never measured exactly, but have checked my t-case fluid level when hot on long trips. I would estimate ~80-90 oC as a ballpark. Mine is a disco Q case.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Davo

The cooler Ashcrofts sell is here: Ashcroft Transmissions - R380 Oil Cooler Kit

I don't think it would run at a terribly high pressure.

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Thanks for the link Davo. Looks like a good bit of kit but a lot of $$$.
What I am hoping to find out is if it is possible to remove the cooling pipe that is there at the moment and replace it with a second hand oil cooler from another vehicle. Got a feeling though that I read some where that the R380 oil pump won't be able to circulate the oil ??:confused:
Dave

If your R380 already has cooling pipes on it it is just a matter of splicing in some additional pipe/hose and the cooler. My defender with and early R380 did not come with the thermostat and pipes so a bit more involved in adding a cooler if the pipes are not already there.