Disco Temp Gauge

[roscoe]

Went for a test drive in a 95/N 300TDi yesterday, 64k on the clock, 1 owner. £3995

Drove for about half an hour and the temp gauge came up to about a quarter. Once we got back to the garage, I let it idle whilst I had a good poke around and the gauge dropped down to cold. The heater was producing hot air at this time...........any ideas as to the cause?

I'm not going to be buying this particular one as it has had a full respray and the gagrage selling me it said it hasn't. Also the carpets were soaking inside.  Other than that, it drove well and everything else worked.

The search continues..........

[denviks]

my 200 was the same up until a few days ago. if you pushed it very hard then the temp would rise to about a quater. the heater was warm but not hot. so i changed the thermostat and the temp started to rise. it went to just under the half way mark which i believe is normal after talking to a few fellow owners. i now have a nice hot heater in the disco for the first time in months  :D .....as for a wet carpet i would say sunroof leak or maybe a windscreeen leak  

my misses had a drip land on her foot in the disco ( passenger side ) last night . she had a look around and found water dripping from near the bonnet release mech , so thats where in gonna start my search for the leak ( windscreen.) hope all this helps  :D  :D

[Frankie-Boy]

Roscoe,

As a rule most diesels do get cooler when idling, mine does as do most of the trucks I drive, It's a diesel thing.

[Tyke]

Welcome to the world of Land Rover heaters - they all much one and the same . . . . . two steps from useless, unless you mess about and tweak them  :twisted:

Other thing is the viscous coupling on the fan. You will have cooling all the time the motor is running. In my experience the standard cooling system overcools at best and at this time of the year they take ages to warm up at regular road speeds. Swapping out to electric fans goes someway to curing that problem.

Wet carpets may not be leaks, could be the result of condensation depending on where the vehicle has been stored or, as I found out lateley when I went to buy a used Expert van for the swmbo, due the seller recently having the 'interior steam' cleaned . . . . he said valleted  :lol:

[roscoe]

Thanks for the replies guys.....the gauge was actually right down again back to the bottom.......

I walked away from this one because it just didn't seem right, I'm sure I can find better for my £5k

[hobbit]

Could be something like the thermostat is stuck open or out completely.

At least it didn't over heat

[roscoe]

Very true hobbit......it was a nice car, was just put off by the fact the dealer said it hadn't had a respray when it so obviously had...oh and the damp carpets and the lack of service history....

there's quite a lot of 94/95/96 300tdi's for sale up here for around £5k at the moment, mostly with 100k plus on the clock, so I have plenty of choice...it's just a case of finding the right one for me.

Again, thanks for all the advice guys, if any one else has any tips on buying a Disco, they will be most welcome.

[joe90]

Mine seems to be working the other way round. Normal temp but cold heater. Have just replaced the p gasket and water pump gasket and fitted a new thermostat, but it seems to have an air lock.

Run it up to temperature, the heater blows cold, took the cap of the header tank and it was full..... yet the radiator top hose was cold

Im now confused and have given up for an hour ...... any ideas?

[hobbit]

Back flush the heater matrix, put a hose onto the bottom fed port on the heater and turn the tap on, watch the lovely brown stuff flow, if your lucky

[muddyjames]

When I bought my disco in November I only had warm air along motorways and the gauge only went to normal at motorway speeds and then it dropped again as soon as I did town roads. I got Mat_H to replace mywater stat as I couldnt work out how to do it and found the oil stat (dont you dare saying anything clever here. I just looked up thermostat in the Haynes manaul and followed the instructions!) and anyway my heater blows out air so hot now the heater stat kicks in and you have to turn the knobs down abit to drag cool air through to get it to kick in again. Also the car warms up in about 2 miles from engine on to needle at half way point on gauge. Cost something like £4 to replace I think.