Thread: Defender VDO Temp gauge, replacing with 40-120deg C

for what ever reasons, the stock temp guage is widely distrusted on the Pom boards. XCrook earths can also play merry hell with them. I used to turn the headlights on and the temp guage would slowly go up. Spun me out the first rtime I noticed it, I thought I'd split a hose or done a welch plug.
I swapped mine out quite a while back with a VDO mechanical guage. The supplied well is a straight fit for a late 300Tdi (IIRC, 1/8-27 NPT) You can watch the t/stat open and modulate.

i went to test mine today and i could not get the thing above 50deg on idle in the carport.... Must have been cold.....

Tommorow i'll take it for a drive and check it...

It takes mine almost 1km to move from the 40* zero mark, and almost the entire 6km to the bitumen at around 60km/h to get the t/stat to open at @ 90*....

makes sence...
i'll check it tommorow

Originally posted by rick130
for what ever reasons, the stock temp guage is widely distrusted on the Pom boards. XCrook earths can also play merry hell with them. I used to turn the headlights on and the temp guage would slowly go up. Spun me out the first rtime I noticed it, I thought I'd split a hose or done a welch plug.
I swapped mine out quite a while back with a VDO mechanical guage. The supplied well is a straight fit for a late 300Tdi (IIRC, 1/8-27 NPT) You can watch the t/stat open and modulate.

Yeeeesssss..... The thing to watch out for is that you have a proper earth connection to the engine rather than rely on the one fitted by LandRover!

On the Defender, the earth connection for the engine is on the transfer case. That's fine when brand spanking new but after a couple of years when all the faces have corroded & lost some of their electrical continuity it plays merry hell with all things electrical.

The tell tale signs are that the starter motor has problems (sometimes only when hot!) and the temp gauge starts shooting into the hot without any other obvious signs of over heating.

Cure: Run an earth strap from the engine to the battery. (It took me 1x thermostat, 1x radiator & 2x head gaskets to work that out!!!) :roll:

Mark.

Mark
Your location still says Going home.....

Should it not be

Grey old London???? compared to Green Sunny Melbourne

Originally posted by camel_landy+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(camel_landy)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-rick130
for what ever reasons, the stock temp guage is widely distrusted on the Pom boards. XCrook earths can also play merry hell with them. I used to turn the headlights on and the temp guage would slowly go up. Spun me out the first rtime I noticed it, I thought I'd split a hose or done a welch plug.
I swapped mine out quite a while back with a VDO mechanical guage. The supplied well is a straight fit for a late 300Tdi (IIRC, 1/8-27 NPT) You can watch the t/stat open and modulate.

Yeeeesssss..... The thing to watch out for is that you have a proper earth connection to the engine rather than rely on the one fitted by LandRover!

On the Defender, the earth connection for the engine is on the transfer case. That's fine when brand spanking new but after a couple of years when all the faces have corroded & lost some of their electrical continuity it plays merry hell with all things electrical.

The tell tale signs are that the starter motor has problems (sometimes only when hot!) and the temp gauge starts shooting into the hot without any other obvious signs of over heating.

Cure: Run an earth strap from the engine to the battery. (It took me 1x thermostat, 1x radiator & 2x head gaskets to work that out!!!) :roll:

Mark.[/b][/quote]

Do RRC have the sme issue? I am at 1 thermostat and 1 sender ATM :roll:

Mark&#39;s Cure: <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'>Run an earth strap from the engine to the battery.[/b][/quote]
What size wire do you need?
and
Is there a preferred place to connect the earth to the engine?
Thanks.