Thread: towing tdi auto temperatures and coolers

Originally Posted by justinc

It is the main problem/ difference between the D1 hydraulic control and the d2 electronic control. D2 can have a lock up and sport mode etc. D1 trans is a dinosaur using no electronics whatsoever.

JC

Yes JC, but the Dinosaurs lasted for squillions of years,LOL, Regards Frank.

AND they don't stop on the spot if water gets into the electrical connections cause they don't have any.

AND the selector uses a thing called a "rod" and not half a dozen switches that get wet from aircon condensation and again no go.

You know the more I think about this the more I'm thinking this vehicle simply isn't up to the task I've intended it for. ( towing one ton camper around oz)

While it will be a slow trip I cannot accept that a 300Tdi would have any difficulty at all towing a 1tonne camper around Australia. Remember Australia is mainly flat anyway and I would think you could tow at over 80Kmh most places.
If you want more power , then adjust the fuelling and maybe fit diesel /gas.
While my camper only weighs about 600Kg loaded, I have towed on beaches in low range, up the OTT, and through many rivers with my RRC 3.9V8.
My trans has now done 210KK and seems in perfect shape. I always tow on sand in low range to get the torque converter slip down, and use Transmax Z changed regularly. I have never seen the overheat light except when the sensor was drowned in Litchfield and then it came on cold. I do not have an extra cooler.
Regards Philip A

Originally Posted by Tank

Yes JC, but the Dinosaurs lasted for squillions of years,LOL, Regards Frank.

Correct Frank, I wasn't knocking them, quite the opposite

JC

Originally Posted by DiscoDevil

I'll try to get them both in there.

You know the more I think about this the more I'm thinking this vehicle simply isn't up to the task I've intended it for. ( towing one ton camper around oz) Now that I know what a lock up is in an auto trans and this only has one in fourth, well I'm kinda screwed either way. I have to go over eighty or in low range at 40 kmh! To keep the heat out of the trans. So crawling around at sixty is a no go! Great!!

Oh well, I'll see if the coolers change things, but really land rover, what were you thinking!

I might even sell it and get a pootrol.

Pretty sure you can get a mod on the gearbox for lock up in third. I have seen others discussing it on here so do a search or look for a Manuel Automatics in Thomastown;

353 Settlement Rd, Thomastown VIC 3074, Australia
Phone number(03) 9464 5958.

I think these are the guys.

But it means you will have to take your gearbox out to get to the valve body. I don't know if you can get at it in situ.

We have a 98 300tdi Disco with the 4HP22 auto box.

When my old auto box lunched itself, I got a refurb exchange from ATS in Melbourne that had the third gear lockup mod done. Since the "new" box has been in (and we also fitted a larger cooler from the P38 Rover) back in 2009, we have regularly driven on lots of soft sand (live near Stockton) and just completed early this year 17,000k's towing a 1.3 tonne camper trailer around outback NSW, SA, Vic, the Oodnadatta Track, across to Dalhousie Springs and on to Alice and many long k's averaging about 95 - 100k/h on the open road. We also did a month in Tassie during that time, where the roads are anything but flat .... we got down to 50k/h up many a hill.

Only cooling problem we had was two burst top radiator hoses and a stuffed water pump. The gearbox was and is running perfectly.

Cheers

Goldey

Cheers guys ive got a new cooler setup and a temp guage on the hot side of the cooler. I hope to get it running tomorow and im sure she will be happy to keep on lumbering around oz.

At the moment its using atf 3, but will look into changing to synthetic at some point.

Just gotta get moving in a forwrd direction first!

Last time I replaced my cooler I fitted one of these

B&M ENGINE/TRANSMISSION COOLER 11"X1.5"X11" B&M70274 | eBay

I'm also running full synthetic oil with heavy duty clutches.

May look into a second cooler.
I'm also running a oil to coolant unit in there!

Also have a transmission temp guage so I know how hot the box realy is.

Just been reading this thread with interest and would appreciate if Gordo can confirm that his auto does indeed lock up in all forward gears please.

I have a 99 series 2 disco that had the auto fully rebuilt with heavy duty bits (so I was told anyway) and run full synthetic oil. I have a Madman unit that monitors the auto trams temp, from the pan and after the cooler because I wanted to see the effectiveness of the cooler. (typically 10-15 degrees difference).

The oil is apparently good up to about 180 degrees. I has only ever reached about 130 driving in sand loaded and pulling 1.3 tonnes, yeah I had it in high range with selector in D. Did not take me long to work out this was not a good idea and changed down. Brought home the importance of selecting the right gear as the temperature dropped to around 80 degrees at a slightly lower speed once I had dropped gears.

I do not know if mine being an earlier model locks up in all gears although I have never tried it.

Anyone confirm this one way or another?

Apologies for the long post.

Mike