Every now and then I get to borrow the campervan of a mate of mine, mostly when my range rover is not available for camping In return I do a bunch of maintenance on the old girl whenever I have the time or space.

Last year we took the van out (a 1991 VW transporter T4 with the 2.4 diesel engine) to the abenteuer und allrad messe in germany which meant driving through hilly terrain, something we don't have over here. I noticed the engine getting hot, the fans always on and a whole bunch of other defects. So upon our return my mate brought it to an expert to have it all fixed since we both did not have the time for it and it came back with a fair bill and everything in perfect order, or so I thought.

My mates son took the van out for a weekend and reported the darn thing still running hot but... he's a youngster with little to no driving experience and certainly not in an old vehicle like this so I can not be certain what was meant with hot. I assume he saw the needle moving which in older vehicles like these still happens unlikely some more recent cars where the needle sits still until you need a new head gasket.

Since we plan to take the van out next month I am going to have a look at it but I can't really test the alleged over heating since it is only 20c down here at the moment and no hills like I mentioned. So, my question is:

Should I be able to drive full throttle in this vehicle without it overheating? With that I mean full load on the engine, shifting down a gear when needed of course. I mean, the engine is only 78hp (or was when new) so it was never fast to begin with and as a work van sold in all sorts of countries and climates it must have had to work hard it's entire life and I can't imagine it would not be able to be used as such.

My memories from my youth letting cars cool down by the side of the road after a heavy climb up a hill are from cars that were built in the 70's but by the 90's this surely would not have been needed anymore?

Mind you, I do not intend to hammer it down the highway foot welded to the floor, but I do intend to power up hills where needed, slowing down to a crawl does not seem like it would help anyone or anything

Cheers,
-P