Thread: Warped the head on the 300TDI

Ouch. Something not right there. My 97 disco, no mods other than bullbar with lightbar, has got through a 40C day with AC blasting cold on the highway. Temp guage planted just below half.

Whats the story with new head? Have you tweaked the fuel pump, is the radiator in good nick, checked thermostat, viscous fan etc etc?

Sounds like you needed a digi temp guage and low coolant alarm! You would have been able to stop before roasting it.

700 for EGT is too high IMO, but it might have been due to the engine already on an overheat. Much smoke out the tail pipe?

Originally Posted by manic

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Sounds like you needed a digi temp guage and low coolant alarm! You would have been able to stop before roasting it.

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+1

Could have been many reasons.

partially blocked rad, someone mucking about with fuelling and it's running hot(as already said, 700°C is the upper limit for EGT).

Mine used to run similarly, would run to over 105°C on the aftermarket coolant gauge .. so I'd back off to keep it cool, and turn off A/C if needed.

Cleaned out rad and helped a lot now max coolant temp I've seen has been 100°C pushing a bit(not a lot!) .. up hill in 40°C ambient weather .... but will be replacing rad soon as well.

Thanks for your responses; and to answer some questions

Yes fuel has been tweaked, but the exhaust wasn't smokey.

The radiator looks good - I pulled it out and does a reverse flush but that didn't produce anything.
I've worried about the viscous fan, but, we were at speed and the air cond. fans should have been pushing air through the radiator too.

I had a low water alarm (home made) but as I discovered, you can't see the red light from the driver's seat (doh!!).

The story of the new head is a long and sad one: but to summarize - boiled it in Parramatta, found the hole in the radiator hose in Lithgow. Replaced the head gasket in Bourke, replaced the head in Tennant Creek and came home with tail between my legs.

So I'm a bit sensitive to issues in the cooling system.

Flushing the rad rarely does much good on an old radiator. Considering your troubles you should get it rodded or if any sign of fin corrosion get it recored. Aluminuim replacements are fairly cheap alternative but perhaps not as durable.

You need to know your coolant temps not just egt. Egt should be under 600 pre turbo almost always and alarm should sound at 650C. Coolant should sit at 88C to 95C rising up to 100C when copping it with AC. 100+ is a warning. ALARM at 110C!

Sorry to hear and I did the same to mine about 5 years ago when I first got it. Turned out radiator was 90% blocked. Previous owner had spent heaps on it but forgot to do radiator. So after head repairs and mega flushing then new copper radiator it runs great. I can do high speed air con running summer driving and rarely see temp above 91C (measured by probe downstream of thermostat). Forget the factory gauge, its sits on half and never moves...except when the head blows

Originally Posted by stumps

.... So after head repairs and mega flushing then new copper radiator it runs great. I can do high speed air con running summer driving and rarely see temp above 91C (measured by probe downstream of thermostat). Forget the factory gauge, its sits on half and never moves...except when the head blows

Good to hear.
Both for your sake and also from the perspective of another D1 owner on this side of the net

ATM, I'm running grill-less and am seeing massive temp drops both on the coolant side AND now EGT side too.
For the coolant side, I've also had an aluminium rad I've wanted to fit for over a year now, but am planning a few other things I want to add and reconfigure at the same time.

I want to do a separate oil cooler mod at some point, as well as a double core IC too, so keep putting off the Al rad install to do it all in one go .. but also leave myself contingency options if something doesn't go according to plan(ie., fitment, or running right.. etc).

My current all copper rad does it's job 99.99% efficiently, except for that 0.01% of the time if I want to run the A/C at speed(ie. rarely).
Only reason I'm running with the A/C over this summer is for testing.

So now I've embarked on another mod which is to cut my grille up, and install an open mesh centre section like the Saudi grille part that's available for the D2.