Engine temp issues/ poor heater

[Bigpeetee]

We have a Kontiki 2001 on a Ducato base, 2.8 ITDT engine.

Last year in the cold spell, the cab heating was poor and the engine never got to a good working temperature.

I replaced the thermostat, the replacement being the same as the old one had a "Joggle" pin in the bypass hole in the thermostat.

It has always taken a long time to warm up, maybe 4-6 miles to get any reading at all on the temp gauge.

In the summer, the temp gauge rises to the mid position and is stable.

Now that we're using the cab heater cause it's getting cold, the engine temp never rises much, only if going about 70 does it rise up a bit more, but drop speed and the temp drops.

We were caught in blizzards last December (after I changed the stat) and as we were just crawling along, the heater was barely luke warm.

I presume therefore that the heater matrix is fed directly from the engine and that the fan in the heater is dissipating the heat faster than the engine can create it??

I've driven down the road and turned off the heating and the engine temp rises slightly. The radiator is warm but not hot (the bypass hole in the stat is letting some water flow)

NOW; are my assumptions correct? is there anything I can do to increase the engine temp?

Most longer distances I'm pulling a trailer so am limited in speed to 50/60 depending on road. I'm concerned that as the engine isn't getting up to temp, it's not doing it the world of good. It does drive 52 weeks of the yr.

Any thoughts??

 

[solarman]

Not being mechanically minded myself but would a water pump have some effect on heater output if it,s not efficiently circulating the water thoroughly just a suggestion that may be worth looking into,hope you get it sorted anyhow,
Solarman.

 

[Deleted member 3011]

Part of the problem is that modern diesels are so efficient that the amount of waste heat generated leaves nothing available for running the cabin heating.

One "solution" is to fix a cover over the front to reduce air flow through the radiator but of course it will need monitoring and a bit of experience to match the blanked off proportion to the weather conditions. Could also cause problems where transmission oil coolers are fitted.

 

[Viktor]

I had a similar challenge with a recent 4x4 I owned...I asked for a 'Winter Termostat' to be fitted that let the engine
temperature get quite hot before it opened...was told EEC regs made it illegal some time ago...the idea being you
didn't get too comfortable at the wheel and fall asleep....so the heat available is never built up....I asked what about
Winter...was told that didn't seem to have been consider by the EEC!

The solution advised again was blank off part of the radiator...not great because the blanker material can dislodge and
tangle with moving parts and of course it's difficult not to overheat initially and start losing coolant that has turned to steam.

Unless you are lucky to have an import I guess you are stuffed to a degree.

 

[Canalsman]

It used to be a standard practice with cars up to the 70s to blank off the radiator grille in winter to increase the engine temperature. That was before the advent of electric fans and was the only way to reduce far too much air being drawn through the radiator by the fixed engine driven fan.

You may still be able to get radiator grille covers like those used then - I remember they sometimes had flaps on them that you could open to vary the amount of air flow!

I still find it odd that you have a problem though - if the engine is being overcooled, which it seems to be, that will harm the fuel consumption. The engine needs to be at its designed operating temperature to ensure the optimum burning of the fuel.

I presume you've asked a Fiat dealer for advice ...

 

[rickboy]

Curtains

You are trying to heat an area about 4 times larger than the normal cab.
I use curtains to close off the cab area.
Partly block the grill,the rad is massive.
Diesels are thermally efficient,that is the main reason they use less fuel.

 

[Randonneur]

Sounds to me like you have an airlock in your heater matrix.

If it's anything like my Talbot Express the heater matrix is higher than the engine with it being under the dashboard. You need to get the air out of your heater matrix.

I did mine by taking the radiator cap off the expansion tank and running the engine until it got hot to allow the thermostat to open.

Make sure your heater controls are are all the way over on hot so the matrix valve is open or it will stay cold.

Also keep topping up your expansion tank as the level will drop as the air is purged.

When the heater blows hot, switch off your engine and allow it to cool before replacing the tank cap, job done!