temperature gauge

[stray dingo]

Traveling back from Alice in October, towing, 40 deg day, and head winds saw the engine/water temp gauge in the d4 slide up into the red. Air con off and slower travel, and a drop in outside temp of a few degrees got me to Coober Pedy.
LR said it was a cracked plastic pipe on the turbo which was replaced. All fixed.

I've just gotten back from a few days in SA, and again have found the temp gauge creeping up. No restricted performance messages. Again dropping back on the throttle got me to my destination. On one particular day it was only a 100km run. But generally it only occurred after a few hours of normal driving (towing 2100kg)

It seems each time the outside temp reached 39 deg, the engine temp gauge would rise. Another D4 driver driver, same MY came over and asked if I had anything odd with the temp gauge as he found the same thing. For 2.5 years, no issue for either of us, but now......

So, before I get on the blower to the dealer tomorrow;
- is this normal?
- Is there anything that needs to be checked?
- How does the engine temp gauge work? (its obviously electrical - but the fact the gauge immediately starts going down again as soon as the revs drop off is curious - no engine can cool that quick, so what is driving it)

Maybe worth considering...the car is at 46000km, and towed 20000 odd km. So maybe transmission oil is worth changing. Any relationship between the issue and tranny oil?

thanks
Andrew

[letherm]

Had a similar problem with my old Pajero. It was fine until I was towing a heavy boat up big hills/mountains at which point the temperature went sky high. Happened over 6 months or more.

Eventually it ended up blowing a radiator hose and needed a new thermostat and radiator etc. Luckily I was only about 3 km from my mechanic when it happened so I got the car towed straight there. I was lucky I didn't end up wrecking the motor.

Different car, but my advice would be to get it checked out sooner rather than later as whilst you're only experiencing problems under load now you can bet your bottom dollar there's something wrong.

Martin

[LandyAndy]

Does anybody know if the D4 temp gauge "tells the truth"????
If you have owned a TD5 D2 you will know the gauge is a computer generated value,ie it stays on half once warm and doesnt move until it gets to 107degC.
If its the same I will be buying an aftermarket temp sensor.
Andrew

[Geedublya]

Andy, It is normalised like the D2.

[Epic pooh]

Andy, my D3 gauge does not tell the truth so I monitor water temp using a scan gauge. My normal temp is around 95 (+/-4) and max I have seen was 101 and the temp gauge did not move an mm. I'm not sure this is the best way to monitor temp but at least the scan gauge gives unfiltered real time info from the temp sensor (which gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling given my gross distrust of the plastic cooling system bits).

[Tombie]

Normalised gauges were born out of panic stricken public freaking out when the gauge went above half way mark.

There are thresholds at which it should move noticeably.

A scan gauge is a great addition without having to hack into the cooling system.

Haven't looked, but does the D4 have a low coolant alarm built in?

[Epic pooh]

My d3 has a low coolant warning but apparently it will only sound when the overflow tank is defective or after the system has emptied out via a plastic bleeder and spat a head gasket ... Assume d4 would be the same or improved.

I have an old car with an old style temp gauge that I really like ... It actually moves when vehicle is hot (such as stop start traffic) ... Very honest gauge that has saved my bacon on at least one occasion due to a failed water pump. My new v8 holden hatchback has the worst gauge I've yet used - cold or normal that's it (and it reads normal long before it's actually up to operating temp).

[the_preacher1973]

My d3 has a low coolant warning but apparently it will only sound when the overflow tank is defective or after the system has emptied out via a plastic bleeder and spat a head gasket ... Assume d4 would be the same or improved.



My Low Coolant Level warning saved me when my plastic breather failed. My leak was slow so it triggered the warning before the header tank was empty.

My main issues is that it doesn't trigger any major bongs or warnings, just the little "i" pops up in the LCD display. When I saw it my wife said it had been on for the last week or so.:eek:

[Epic pooh]

My nose saved me when mine started seeping (and my habit of opening the bonnet each time I fuel up ... So quite often haha).

Did you replace yours with a metal one preacher ? If so, what did you use and where did you source it ?

[winaje]

Should the expansion tank, where the air bleeder threaded cap is, be completely full, without any air in it? If so, how does one accomplish this?

[Epic pooh]

The expansion tank area of mine is currently completely full with no air, I think this is normal. Mine has been recently bled as a result of changing (yet another leaky) plastic breather - just get to operating temp and let the air out gently and repeat as necessary is what I did.

[the_preacher1973]

The expansion tank area of mine is currently completely full with no air, I think this is normal. Mine has been recently bled as a result of changing (yet another leaky) plastic breather - just get to operating temp and let the air out gently and repeat as necessary is what I did.

I thought the expansion tank had a line on it to indicate the cold fill level?

[Epic pooh]

Yep that's the overflow area. Wil and I mean the top of the tank directly under the bleed screw.

Mine has water level in the tank at the cold fill line and the top area under the screw is completely full. I think it is normally like this but confess that I don't look at the top area often.

[TDV6]

I have two bits of gear mounted above my steering column, a "Scangauge" and an "Engine Watchdog".

The Scanguage is set to Temp and Volts etc, the temp as far as I can tell is internal engine temperature from some sensor, it is very reactive when towing 3 ton van with outside temp around 30-9 it will climb to 104-6 towing uphill and within 5 minuts be back to 95-9 on the other side.

The Engine Watchdog gives me coolant tenp from the radiator as its returned to the engine and Automatic Transmission temp from the gearbox, both sensors are clamped on, the coolant to the top radiator hose and the gearbox one, to the pipe going from the gearbox to the oil coolers as close to the gearbox as I could get it.

Temp of coolact being returned to rhe engine is generally 20 to 30 degrees below internal engine reading.

Temp of auto when towing is around 86 to 96 degrees.

MR Auto sells and installs engine watchdog.

Ryall

ENGINE WATCHDOG TM2, Engine Overheating Alarm, Gauge & Sensor (http://enginewatchdog.com/)

[LandyAndy]

Good to know.I ran my Nannycom in instrument mode in the D2 to monitor real temps.
Something to add to the touring list.
Andrew

[LandyAndy]

I have noticed on very hot days the engine fan is quite loud,it also knocks the edge off performance.I wonder if they reduce output in hot weather.Talking 38degC plus days.Wouldnt surprise me.
Andrew

[the_preacher1973]

My nose saved me when mine started seeping (and my habit of opening the bonnet each time I fuel up ... So quite often haha).

Did you replace yours with a metal one preacher ? If so, what did you use and where did you source it ?

Sorry, don't have any useful information on the fitting used. It was a last minute rush job as we were going away on holidays. A local industrial hose fitting place found a suitable part and fitted it for cash in a couple of minutes.:angel:

[mawhite]

I have noticed on very hot days the engine fan is quite loud,it also knocks the edge off performance.I wonder if they reduce output in hot weather.Talking 38degC plus days.Wouldnt surprise me.
Andrew

Same here. Doesn't need to be that hot - say 30+

[Dagilmo]

I have noticed on very hot days the engine fan is quite loud,it also knocks the edge off performance.I wonder if they reduce output in hot weather.Talking 38degC plus days.Wouldnt surprise me.
Andrew

It may have something to do with hotter air being less dense, you therefore get less bank for your buck (so to speak) in the combustion chamber. I have always noticed all my cars have run better on cool nights.

[Graeme]

The fan is going to use some HP once the viscous coupling locks.

[TDV6]

When the scanguage said my engine temp was 107-8 was when the fan went into overdrive, back down to 104-5 and it was normal fan noise. I did not notice any change in the LR dash temp guage.

Ryall

[Nomad9]

Hi Winaje,
There is a very specific coolant filling procedure, fill system, bleed, run at idle for 5 mins, run at 3000 rpm for one minute bleed, run at idle for five mins, run engine at 3000 rpm for 1 minute, return engine to idle for 1 min switch engine off and allow to cool, check coolant level. From memory it is something like that, the procedure is on one of those disc manuals or TOPIX if you want to clarify.

[stray dingo]

Had a chat with MLR, and basically no solution. Yes I could flush the coolant, I could do the transmission oil, I could replace the battery etc, but understandably I won't know if anything works till I next tow in those conditions - unlikely to be until next summer now. No suggestion of even bringing it in to the workshop for a look over tho (warranty expired 2-3 weeks back).
I might get the coolant done anyways, three years untouched seems a bit long to me, and just keep my eye on it. (and plug in a fault reader)

[Tombie]

What have you got fitted to the nose of the vehicle that interrupts airflow?
Anything?

[gghaggis]

Had a chat with MLR, and basically no solution. Yes I could flush the coolant, I could do the transmission oil, I could replace the battery etc, but understandably I won't know if anything works till I next tow in those conditions - unlikely to be until next summer now. No suggestion of even bringing it in to the workshop for a look over tho (warranty expired 2-3 weeks back).
I might get the coolant done anyways, three years untouched seems a bit long to me, and just keep my eye on it. (and plug in a fault reader)

Does your car still make a roaring noise from the fan when first started up? This is the system testing the fan's electronic over-ride. If you don't hear this, your problem may be that the pcm circuit to the fan is faulty. As the cooling system has quite a large capacity to dump excess heat, the only time you'd notice a problem is towing or steep sand dune work. All other times the viscous coupling is enough to keep the temperature under control.

Had this happen to me, and found a pin in the multi-pin connector was not making contact.

Cheers,

Gordon

[stray dingo]

What have you got fitted to the nose of the vehicle that interrupts airflow?
Anything?
bar and small lights. Considered that, and was the first question by MLR too. But the other guy who was experiencing the same I believe had a stock front. MLR did say even the stock front was pretty poor for the air flow.....