 | Home > Maintenance & Modifications > How would you blanket the radiator... |
 
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| Mountain_man Member Since: 09 Dec 2011 Location: Right side of Offas Dyke Posts: 756  
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300 tdi with alisport intercooler. Always runs cool but takes too long to warm up in winter so plan to shield some of the rad to speed it up a bit. Question is, how to most effectively blanket the radiator without compromising on the intercooler performance. Following diagram shows set up, green is intercooler which is in front of radiator (red). How much area to cover? Top, bottom, left, right??? Anyone care to share an opinion?
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12th Dec 2014 12:03am |
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| Alive Tuning Member Since: 01 Mar 2010 Location: Louth Posts: 609  
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When the engine is on warm up, the thermostat is shut and so the coolant does not flow through the radiator at all!
Switching off the cab heater fan, and driving/loading the engine will warm the engine faster. The heater matrix acts just like a coolant radiator too, remember! 
Radiator Muff's are a dumb idea!!!  |
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12th Dec 2014 12:11am |
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| Mountain_man Member Since: 09 Dec 2011 Location: Right side of Offas Dyke Posts: 756
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My big trouble is that I live in the hills and majority of my trips would be to town 10 miles away and then home again later in the day. Town is, however, all downhill from here, so in winter the gauge will barely lift going to town. Coming home it is not so bad, but it is usually not so cold outside either then
In summer, or while towing, the gauge will rise to half way within about 3 miles so nothing wrong with cooling system, just in winter when not working hard it is obviously overcooled. |
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12th Dec 2014 9:03am |
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| theorangebandit Member Since: 03 Jun 2013 Location: Stowmarket Posts: 862 |
The best way to achieve a warmer engine would be to change the stat. So it runs warmer. But that's a bit invasive for a seasonal change unless you are so inclined to-do so.
Lots of people I've met say good things about an electric fan in place of the viscous fan. Personally I've never felt compelled enough to change mine. But I imagine the engine could be allowed to run a little warmer when cruising if you add a switch to the fan to turn it off. I have spoken to a few people that have simply removed the viscous fan and stuffed it in the boot with a fan spanner (just incase its needed on a journey ) lets face it for such a short journey and given your engine isn't warming up to optimal the fan isn't desperately needed. I considered a webasto to heat up the cab in the mornings as I'm certain on a cold day I could let mine idle for 12 hours and it'll never warm up haha. But cab heaters are quite pricey |
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12th Dec 2014 9:55am |
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| roel Member Since: 08 Aug 2009 Location: Lelystad Posts: 2039  
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Like Alive said, switch the heater off and the engine will probably get warm.
 Roel
1984 90 2.5 na Diesel - RR V8 (1994-2001) 1997 Camel Trophy Discovery 300TDI (2001-2009) 2005 G4 Discovery III 4.4 V8 (2008-2018) It's gone but it still hurts. 2003 90 Td5 (2009-now) |
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12th Dec 2014 9:57am |
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| Mountain_man Member Since: 09 Dec 2011 Location: Right side of Offas Dyke Posts: 756
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Kind of defeats the object! I have nothing against a cool running engine.... except when I want heat in the heater matrix. To be fair the heater matrix would probably suffice as a radiator for much of winter, if it were possible to divert water there instead of the main rad. However, this not being practical I (mistakenly it seems) kind of assumed that reducing the effectiveness of the main rad would somehow make the engine water temperature a bit higher when the engine is not under any sort of serious load.
Ah well. Will leave it as it is I guess. Thanks for replies |
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12th Dec 2014 10:09am |
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| Timo K Member Since: 23 Aug 2012 Location: Helsinki Posts: 171 
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I already popped out my viscous fan. Its just a quick turn with the fan spanner. It's hovering around +-5 celsius here. When it gets properly cold I'll had a radiator blanket.
No probs with heat even at motorway speeds. The cooling system is designed to handle desert temps, and during the winter at -25 degrees C it just never gets warm. Also keep in mind it's not good if the engine doesn't get to its proper operating temp. Lubrication suffers and wear increases. |
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12th Dec 2014 10:39am |
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| munch90 Member Since: 26 Oct 2013 Location: guildford Posts: 3558 
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trouble is the cold air going through the rad will also cool the engine block, head etc down making it longer to warm up as well
covering the rad is not ideal , but a restriction in air flow will help , but need to remember if there is a warmer bit of weather or you need to do a motorway run etc to uncover it |
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12th Dec 2014 11:36am |
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| shaggydog Member Since: 12 Aug 2012 Location: Kent Posts: 3347 
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Give your heater matrix a wash through with a hose to clear the crud out of it.
I do mine every winter and it seems to perk it up a bit. I am aiming to do the Nordkapp run next year so have opted for a webasto heater which I'm slowly gathering parts ready to install. You think a 300Tdi is a slow warmer, in my 200Tdi I regularly get all the way to work after a 25 mile journey and the temperature gauge still hadn't reached middle  Running Restoration Thread http://www.defender2.net/forum/post323197.html#323197
Self confessed mileage hunter  |
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12th Dec 2014 1:36pm |
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| Mountain_man Member Since: 09 Dec 2011 Location: Right side of Offas Dyke Posts: 756
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Nothing wrong with heater matrix. The truck was basically a new build 2 years back. When the water around the engine gets hot, the heater is hot, just in cold weather and with engine not working very hard, it never gets especially warm (top of the blue). Stick 3 tonnes on the back or hit the motorway at 80 for 20 mins and she will soon hit halfway on the gauge and stay there all day long.
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12th Dec 2014 5:49pm |
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| Retroanaconda Member Since: 04 Jan 2012 Location: Scotland Posts: 2645 
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That's effectively what the thermostat does. The engine should be hot within 5 miles of normal driving on country roads. However if you're all downhill to town then that will be the crux of the issue. Blocking the airflow will help this to a degree but I wouldn't bother personally, your issue is the lack of work the engine is doing. |
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12th Dec 2014 6:52pm |
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| spudfan Member Since: 10 Sep 2007 Location: Co Donegal Posts: 4660 
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On the 110 200 tdi, when Winter came I had a fancy highly technical mod for the radiator to help warm up time. I had a piece of cardboard cut from a box painted black with duct tape around the edges. This was inserted into the lip at the bottom of the radiator and the lip at the top. There it sat all winter doing it's job until removed and refitted next Wiinter. Don't cover the intercooler and don't cover the radiator completely. You can experiment with different sizes by watching your temperature gauge. As far as I remember my cardboard covered just over half of the radiator face. By painting it black and putting duct tape around the edge of it you make it waterproof and making it invisible to all intents and purposes. All you have to do to fit it is to remove and refit the plastic grill. 1982 88" 2.25 diesel
1992 110 200tdi csw -Zikali 2008 110 2.4 tdci csw-Zulu 2011 110 2.4 tdci csw-Masai |
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12th Dec 2014 9:15pm |
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| bpman Member Since: 21 May 2008 Location: Oslo Posts: 8069 
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IMHO it really depends on your situation , I did not bother with a blanket etc for the Arctic because the engine was running for hours and the block heater already heated up the engine but in Mark's situation I'd just block as per his rectangles. To be honest if that does not do the trick just blank off less until you get to a happy medium... My 2p
Alternatively get a webasto block heater or an electric block heater |
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12th Dec 2014 9:36pm |
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| Kent_keith Member Since: 01 Jun 2014 Location: Kent Posts: 388 
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I bought a radiator muff and installed it last Saturday, I was driving the defender to Dover in the afternoon and left the flap down just to see what affect it had on the temperature, the temperature gauge never went over the normal position (pre-muff) but I think it warmed up a little quicker and the heater was a little hotter. Plus I think it looks cool others may disagree
2005 TD5 90 CSW XS |
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29th Dec 2014 4:43pm |
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