viscous fan

[Dr.Ed]

been doing a fair bit of towing with the discovery recently (200 TDi) and the temperature when cruising at 60 with a 2 tonne trailer on has been sitting at around the 3/4 mark. anyone know what temperature the viscous fan is meant to kick in?

Thanks.

[Ja1983]

viscous fan basicallly spins all the time, but as the engine bay temp increases, the fluis inside expands, tightening the grip on the shaft... thus it spins at the same rate as the engine...

i find mine runs at a needles bradths either side of halfaway mark, sometimes a little higher if i`ve had to spank it...

.....did someone say kenlowe?

[chris9119]

In the work shop manual, it gives no clear data......, the thermostat opens at 82 degrees.

The viscous works on a bi-metalic coil process and as the temp rises, the fan blade "works harder", thus cooling the rad......

My 200tdi temp gauge runs at 3/4 also, but have seen on here others that run at 1/2....., however, that could be for many reasons......, correct earthing included........

If it's not going into alarm, why worry :?:

[JimsMowing]

Couldnt you blead the system just to make sure there isnt any extra air in their making it run hotter than it should?

Im sure most engines arnt meant to be at operating temperatures at 3/4's of the way up the guage..  :?

[hobbit]

Hmm, been dragging a 109 on the trailer today, gauge sat at 1/3 (halfway between 1/4 and 1/2) no probs, never even topped the half

If you are worried pop the stat out and try it that way, you might need a lower opening temp one, or the one you have isn't opening at the corect temp

Another thing is to back-flush the rad and block though, have a good look at the vanes on the rad, my old rad they had disintegrated

[bilge rat]

bet iff you check the stat its an 88 in it . there fitted to the 300's but for some reason i had a hard time getting an 82 for the 200. in the end contacted qh. got the part no somewhere iff you need it . let me know. alan.....

[fezzy192]

my disco 200tsi runs at just over a 1/4 but when i give it some stick on the motorway it creeps up to hal way
so i fitted a electric fan on a switch to be safe

[Range Rover Blues]

Kenlowe? I spent an hour on the 'phone to them yesterday for some advice and I must say they were very helpful.

BUT

For towing anything above 1500Kg they do NOT recomend fitting electric fans in place of the Viscous unit, rather they recomend upgrading the air conn fans or fitting pushers to the outside if you have no airconn, though admittedly you are unlikely to have an overheating problem without air conn.

So if you are then it may be time for a new rad.  Julie's TDi rad had almost gone blad if you catch my drift but was still capable of doing it's job, even towing.  The new rad is having a 16" electric fan, more for economy though.

I did hear that Pacet made a fan with a better utput than the Kenlowe, IIRC it was 13" or more (a V8 needs 2) but for now I'm staying with the Viscoous and thinking about spending the cash on a re-cored Rad, perhaps with more surface area and/or a new viscous hub as the engineer at Kenlowe thinks it's slipping too much.