Thread: What happened to your Discovery 2 today?

My D2 runs at about 82C -85C on a 30C day on highway and 83-85 in traffic. Heat soak takes it to 88C-90C or so. On steep hills towing my 1800Kg caravan it can get up there to 95C-100C .

All stock except that I have a mesh grille and a relatively new radiator and now replaced coolant 50/50 Nulon longlife. ( which strangely has reduced temps by about 1c or so. This is head temp through a dry sensor positioned on the top radiator exit from the engine. I did cut some bars out of my mesh grille so that may be a factor) . The gauge temp correlates within 0.5C with the Nanocom temp.

I also use water wetter truck version, but this probably would not be a factor at those temps. Mine has never been over 100c even climbing the Alpine way from Tom Groggin to Jindabyne towing a 1tonne camper trailer. I did give it a short rest at 100C, but I had air on under 28C so the electric fan was not working. I then turned air off and temps dropped.

I question whether you have achieved anything with your mods but in the spirit of experimentation applaud your initiative.

I used to wonder if the expense and mods of electric fans and electric water pump were worthwhile .

Regards PhilipA

Originally Posted by PhilipA

......

I used to wonder if the expense and mods of electric fans and electric water pump were worthwhile .

Regards PhilipA

I think they can be, but not only for the 'obvious' reasons that it helps with actual temps.

eg. if your td5 viscous dies suddenly whilst on a trip, where do you get a replacement(easily). Of course you can get a replacement, but if you're up whoopwhoop, getting one is not as easy as a standard run of the mill part.
Happened to bro in his Patrol years back. We weren't in whoop whoop, we had easy access to "Patrol country" parts system .. that is a large city that should have had easy access to a Patrol viscous hub part.
No way Jose! .. none of the shops had a GU 4.5 viscous hub, so the only option was to lock it up with a couple of tek screws.

If an electric fan set up could be made to work(and no reason it shouldn't be), then most parts retailers will likely have an electric fan of some sort that could be used in place .. or most wreckers may have something.
The point being that in a worst case scenario .. acquiring vital parts would be made easier .. so the expense of modding in such a way is not only the potential to help maintain performance or better .. but also parts availability.

Back in the 90's I got tired of replacing my 79 RRC viscous unit every years or so. I did many trips to central Aus .. Lake Eyre particularly. Find a viscous hub for a RRC in Maree or Lyndhurst .. let alone Oodnadatta! .. good luck with that.
I had no issues with the twin fans I used for my RRC, even when the rad just 'stopped working' one time up Uluru way.
The only issue that time was that the fans pulled so much current, and being a night type driver, I didn't realise that running the spotties(135w globes) and having fans on full time .. I was draining the battery dead. Luckily the RRC had an ammeter, and I noticed it just randomly .. switched off spotties and got back the charge to the battery .. the alternator just couldn't keep up with the power demand. Soon after I modded the 45A alt with a much more reliable 80A Bosch unit ..

That would be my primary concern for now for RRT .. he's placed a huge electrical load on an already highly electrically loaded vehicle. The 120A Alt should be able to keep up with demand, but add spotties, and fridge and ... blah blah .. what's the worst case scenario for power usage. I'd be adding it all up and looking to mod the alternator next up so it's not over extending itself.

Weirdest application of logic I’ve read in a while there.

If a mechanical part fails and I need a tek screw to get it running..

Vs

Hunting down a complete electric fan, that may or may not have the required CFM (in these applications almost none do) because that’s likely to be sitting around somewhere…

been having trouble with Crumby and some codes P0150 codes and the P0171 / P0174 codes so I bought a new set of Bosch O2 sensors and put them in, cleared the codes with Hawkeye went for a drive from Parramatta out to Wetherill Park to test and buy some Brisket for lunch. get back home and he / it is throwing P0150 again!!!! so on the hawkeye, the Maf looks ok, getting 11.7 and 9.8 ohms for the heaters, .64v on bank A and 000 V on Bank B . I made a test cable to insert inline for the sensors, the heaters look ok, I get earth on I think the (Pink Brown) colours pretty washed out. not sure where to look next - I"m thinking did I get a dud sensor or do I have a faulty ecu. with the P0171 got friend giving me a hand to change the injectors and plenum gasket and check for leaks - I sprayed some carb cleaner around the vacuum hoses and did not get any change from the engine hence looking at the injectors. I did have to put a new end on the sensor plug a the previous owner had a fire on the drivers side of the engine bay and the repair looked dubious - only in last couple of months have I been getting the codes thrown for the o2 sensor.. Owen

Originally Posted by Tombie

Weirdest application of logic I’ve read in a while there.

If a mechanical part fails and I need a tek screw to get it running..

Vs

Hunting down a complete electric fan, that may or may not have the required CFM (in these applications almost none do) because that’s likely to be sitting around somewhere…

Yep! just another point of view ...

where do you just get a tek screw that fits .. not just any tek screw, has to be a certain size ... then where do you get a drill to get it into the body of the viscous?
Granted you may find one at the local wrecker who may or may not be kind enough to let you use one .. as opposed to them selling you a part, which they always will if they have it.

Then you get the tek screw in, but how long will it keep you going before the entire unit explodes .. you still need to find the possibly unobtainable part in a remote part of the country.

So on the face of it .. yeah, the tek screw sounds like the simpler solution .. but the reality of it may not be.

I think this is why folks think that Toyotas are more reliable, when evidence can show that they are not necessarily so .. correcting issues is probably easier due to a wider coverage of parts and more know how of the people in remote areas.
Issues get fixed quickly and by a wider pool of capable people, so the time wasted in having a disabled vehicle is not as annoying. But waiting a week for a part to arrive .. the vehicle owner then questions the wisdom of ownership of that vehicle.

With a mod like viscous to electric fans .. while the viscous is really the only point of failure(fans are also known to fail, but not the point here), it's pretty much done and dusted .. electric fans have basically three points of failure, and the higher probability will be that it will be a relay or fuse.

replace fuse/relay or .... locate tek screws and then how to get them into the unit.

I guess an argument could be made that you could maintain a spare too .. but at what point do you need to start hauling a trailer for it all.

So the reality is, taking the TD5 viscous unit as the example ... go to any parts store in the middle of nowhere and you may need a couple of weeks to get a replacement .. also depending on which way you're heading.
Go into most parts stores and they have a semi decent range of electric fans that could be used as replacements.

Even here in Melbourne .. If I have a TD5 I need to replace the viscous unit for, I may have to wait about 2 days to get one, not all vendors will have in stock. I walk 1 minute to Bursons and have a 16" electric fan (as long as it's capable to do the job of course) .. and I have it installed in an hour or so.

So where your point of view comes from the perspective that you may not have 'been there and done that' .. mine does!
Therefore my reply still stands as a valid argument, despite your efforts.

Fitted Polyair bags to my D2 today.

I am getting too old for this ****.

Had to remove the brake calipers and unclip the ABS sensors and of course undo the shock. I didn't undo the anti roll bar.

Even then with the axle free I had to use spring compressors to get the spring out and in.

Hints- compress the airbags by standing on them then folding the ends in and tying them tightly with zip ties to get them into the spring and then replacing the seal on the air nubbin to keep it compressed
It really doesn't matter where they sit in the spring as long as there is room to place the top plug in.
Of course thread the hose through the top mount and insulator and place the spring over the hose and push the hose on and clip it before refitting the spring.
I found it easier to zip tie the insulator in place before trying to refit the spring and also top out first and bottom in first with help from a lever.
I cut 20MM of the bottom plug as my past experience with them is that if left at full 2inch lift they cause a harsh ride.
As it is at 30PSI they lift the ride height by about 10MM from unladen at 52-53CM vs 51 from wheel centre to Flare. They lift 20Mm from ride height with 150L in my Long Range tank.
Mine initially looked a bit twisted but a drive round the block over some speed humps fixed that.
A few jacks are handy and it is great to have my Ryobi Rattle gun and the 1/2 inch air ratchet for the spring compressors. IMHO the best way to jack up to line up the shock is to use the car jack under the trailing arm.
I have quite high axle stands which held up the chassis under the through bolt for the towbar, with another under the chassis just in front of the trailing arm front pivot for safety.
I fitted the valves between the tow eye and hi lift hole in my steel rear bumper.

I did notice that the roll stiffness was greater with even 5PSI which is understandable as they add roll stiffness like a thicker anti roll bar. And of course I have 2inch medium duty King springs which are AFAIR 240 or so lbs to the inch.
Regards PhilipA

Originally Posted by PhilipA

My D2 runs at about 82C -85C on a 30C day on highway and 83-85 in traffic. Heat soak takes it to 88C-90C or so. On steep hills towing my 1800Kg caravan it can get up there to 95C-100C .

All stock except that I have a mesh grille and a relatively new radiator and now replaced coolant 50/50 Nulon longlife. ( which strangely has reduced temps by about 1c or so. This is head temp through a dry sensor positioned on the top radiator exit from the engine. I did cut some bars out of my mesh grille so that may be a factor) . The gauge temp correlates within 0.5C with the Nanocom temp.

I also use water wetter truck version, but this probably would not be a factor at those temps. Mine has never been over 100c even climbing the Alpine way from Tom Groggin to Jindabyne towing a 1tonne camper trailer. I did give it a short rest at 100C, but I had air on under 28C so the electric fan was not working. I then turned air off and temps dropped.

I question whether you have achieved anything with your mods but in the spirit of experimentation applaud your initiative.

I used to wonder if the expense and mods of electric fans and electric water pump were worthwhile .

Regards PhilipA

As did not have the Nanocom log for the trip, cannot say what the file would have shown but, for a whole lot of other trips I have done with the log as we tried to sort out the boost issue, the last two showed temps on the log being mid 80's (dropping into the 70's for long periods mind you) to 91C which correlate pretty closely to yours but have not done a towing one which I accept is a failing at the moment but as of yet I am NOT stating categorically that the EWP and EF with Controller 'works' just a good likelihood it does!

The EWPC was showing at these times, temps in the 90's up to 96C which is One (1) Degree over the temperature which the mechanical Thermostat opens fully (this is coolant and not TD5 sensor temp of course) and blocks the return line to the upper radiator hose, which I am sure is not a rare occurrence in TD5 land! I have included the latest log below of the run which was on a 30+C day for clarity. This with the Roof Top Tent and I do not turn off air-conditioning, front and back by the way, it gets too hot and I am soft!

BP02.CSV


I can accept that the EF as the sole cooling agent may not work as there is evidence out there of failures both real and anecdotal, but what I am trying out is the full package of EWP, Controller and EF and as previously stated believe whole heartedly the EWP at least is a must have.

Having had conversations with Davies Craig yesterday I am now going to add the Air Conditioning fan into the system, they suggest to run it as separate relayed system after I suggested just tapping into the current relay, which will add the total CFM of the system. This with an EF only could be a viable system with the 16" fan bolted to the radiator (as they recommend) as to meeting the cooling needs but this would have to be done by another LOL. I am reasonably confident mind you of the current system being viable but don't mind having additional cooling for literally no expense.


Would be great to know of others who an actual coolant sensor rather than the standard sensor or other dry sensor as to what temps they are seeing as to whether mine are higher than expected

Originally Posted by AK83

I think they can be, but not only for the 'obvious' reasons that it helps with actual temps.

That would be my primary concern for now for RRT .. he's placed a huge electrical load on an already highly electrically loaded vehicle. The 120A Alt should be able to keep up with demand, but add spotties, and fridge and ... blah blah .. what's the worst case scenario for power usage. I'd be adding it all up and looking to mod the alternator next up so it's not over extending itself.

It's a good point re the Alt and one I did look at before going this way.

One of the aspects of this was that at night time with lower temps I was expecting the fan not to be on as much and don't use spotties during the day. As noted the head room in the system is good compared to some older systems with much lower Amp ratings and it must be noted that if I did have an Alternator failure, the load on the batteries will be much higher and more petrol like, not sure how many amps the various ECU's use but not running an ignition system versus EWP and EF (intermittent of course) would be an interesting comparison (max 20amps on cooling).

What Sunday showed is that I could possibly disconnect the fan and not overheat the engine, have to keep the EWP connected of course. IT would be common sense to disconnect a fridge and other drains if you had an alternator failure anyway.

Are there options for the Vac Alternator out there with higher ratings, haven't seen any in memory?