Hi there,
I have a 1988 Defender with a replacement 300TDI engine, and I have had an aftermarket air conditioning unit fitted.
Whilst traveling normally at 100Km/h with the air conditioning on my temp guage is just inside the white area (see attached photo).
Over the weekend I was towing a 2000kg caravan at a slightly lower speed on 80Km/h with the air conditioning on and the needle went off the white and just tipped into the black area (but not into the red).
My immediate reaction was to turn off the air conditioning and lower the speed and fortunately the temperature gauge did not creep any higher.
Did I do the right thing and as a separate note I noticed that the engine seemed to be whirring, and almost as if it was being held back. I'm new to the caravan but know that it was standing for at least a year and I did not think the tyres need changing, but doubt whether this should have had a effect on the temperature.
I suppose my hope is that this is something simply like the temperature gauge needs changing but wanted the opinion of those in the know.
My One Ten (with a different engine mind you) reads a bit less than midway at worst, usually about a third of the white from the left, but remember the gauge could be as individual as the car is...
Assuming your gauge is accurate, I would be concerned that yours is running too hot.
If you haven't done so recently, it would be a good idea to flush your radiator or even better, get it rodded at a radiator shop.
Landrover temperature guages are generally crap, and commonly fail (especially on 80's 110s). The best thing you can do is swap to a VDO (or similar) guage and sender which has actual degree readings, rather than vague colour bars.
But what you did is correct. If the temp climbs too high while towing (etc) you should turn off AC and turn the heater on with the fan on full (as uncomfortable as the latter may be).
FWIW, mine (with isuzu) used to sit about midway, until the guage died and it moved to the black (but at the same temperature). After swapping to a VDO setup, the temp normally sits exactly on the thermostat opening temperature.
I have had two 300Tdi Defenders with what looks like a slightly newer version of your temperature gauge. They both sat pretty much dead on half way all of the time. The one in my current 130 did sometimes go slightly above half on a long climb (and would then stick there) but that engine has had a fair bit of modifying and tweaking. The standard gauges are notoriously useless really. I've just replaced mine with a VDO mechanical gauge which apart from being more accurate, eliminates any potential electrical issues such as poor earthing. In normal driving conditions a 300Tdi sits between about 87 and 90 degrees.
The VDO kit part number is 180 077 022 and contains everything you need to bolt straight into a 300Tdi.
Howdy
Might be worth fitting a vdo temp gauge so you can see the actual temp .
The factory gauge won't move until its over 100degrees ( I think that's correct)
With my 300tdi the ac brings the operating temp up about 7 degrees .
As a reference point ,on a 40 degree day with ac on ,it sits on 97degrees at 100km ( new radiator 50/50 mix coolant)
It doesn't. I only installed mine about three weeks ago. You remove the original sender unit from the front right corner of the block and simply screw in the VDO one.
As far as the complete installation goes, it's really quite easy. You'll need to remove the instrument cluster (4 screws, unplug about 4 or 5 wiring harnesses, and the speedo cable), swap the new gauge for the old one, find a suitable hole to feed the sender though (I drilled another hole in the plastic plate that the speed cable runs through), and then just feed the sender the cleanest way down the right side of the engine to the front. The 1600mm sender pipe is plenty long enough to leave some excess inside the dash for easy removal of the instrument cluster in the future.
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