Hello all,

This is my first Land Rover, a 2001 Disco II that was originally a V8 but then was just converted to a 300TDI a couple months ago. The mechanic who imported the engine and did the conversion seemed quite confident about his capacity, but we've had a lot of problems since, largely due to low quality used spares that he used in the conversion (i.e. hose pipes, etc). He's had to replace the turbo, the head gasket, the manifold gasket, all from the engine overheating. For the last couple weeks it seemed like my overheating problem was resolved after he swapped in a bigger radiator, but just yesterday it shut off when I put it in drive after idling for 10 minutes after being driven for about 40 minutes. The reservoir tank was boiling and overflowing when I loosened the cap. I let it cool for awhile, added water and bled it back to level and then it started fine. Since then I've been running it without the AC again. It's worth noting that the temperature gauge through all of this has never gone above half way. He said it did one time when they were testing it, but including the time the head gasket blew I've never seen it above half way. I apologize that I'm relatively inexperienced and don't really know what I'm doing, but aside from all of the headaches, this drawn out experience has at least started to give me an education. The engine conversion was warrantied, so since it happened I haven't had to pay anything to have it worked on. The mechanic said when he changed the radiator that this was his last idea and then he'd have to look at getting a different engine from Japan. He said that those are somehow different than the TDI's he's been importing from the UK. I don't know if that makes any sense. Any help that anyone can provide would be very much appreciated. I'll try to answer or find answers to any questions you have. Thanks in advance!

Richard

 

The gauge in the dashboard is not a reliable indicator of engine temperature. Land Rover lore says that if it moves past halfway, you're already overheated. The most reliable way to check engine temperatures is with something plugged into the OBDII port, but since you already know it's overheating then there's probably not much need to do that.
A few things to check: Does the truck have electric fans as well as the large viscous fan, and do they work correctly? Is the thermostat a grey colour or a light white colour (it should be grey for the TDi). Is the water pump operating correctly?

 

So they apparently removed the thermostat completely. I guess that's standard here. Is that a bad idea? Yes, it has one viscous fan and one electric in front of the radiator, off set to the driver side a bit. Fans seem to be working ok, but I've got someone checking them all now. He's also checking the water pump.

Update: I had them buy a new grey thermostat and they're putting that back in.

 

The Japan spec 300TDI is fitted with EDC which is basically an electronically controlled engine with ECU, a TD5 although more complex would have been a better conversion as it would be a bolt in conversion.
TDI heads warp easily and are also know to crack which i have experienced on my own vehicle after it split a hose on a 44c degree day.

 

Yeah, I'd have been better off buying a TD5 altogether as I bought this in June with the intent of converting it, but I think the conversion to TD5 would have been over these guys heads. That doesn't say much about my present situation though as I can't go back in time. Would I be better off switching to the Japan spec for handling the overheating with the AC? He seemed to think that might be better equipped.

 

No it wont fix the overheating, the TDI is a strong motor but dont handle over heating. You need to find the source of the overheating, head should be skimmed and new head bolts used when changing the gasket.
Radiator must be good, new fan viscous clutch fitted and all new hoses, thermostat and good quality coolant at a 50/50 mix.