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MG TD TF 1500 - Cold weather engine temp

On other then really hot summer days, my temp stays between 70 and 80 degrees C.
When the cool weather came it seemed to still get up to 70. Have noticed the last week (after I took the temp/oil pressure gauge face off to clean) that it seems to run at 50 on the highway...and might get to 70 in traffic.
My first thought was that I screwed up the gauge, however, the outside temp has been in the low 40's and am wondering if my thermostat is staying open (its the original I think) or if this is just normal. Anyone still driving in the cold weather?
gordon lawson

Gordon - 50° is way too cold to operate the engine at. I would start by checking the temperature of the coolant with a candy thermometer through the fill neck and see if the gauge is spoofing you. If the coolant temperature really is only 50°, start checking the thermostat for being fully open all the time. Finally, if all else fails, some cardboard in front of the radiator is in order. I have a 85° thermostat in our TD and even in freezing weather, I can get the coolant temperature up to 75° to 80° when driving. If you really are running at 50°, then your are getting excessive wear on the engine doing so. Good luck - Dave
David DuBois

Duh.... just checked the coolant level and it was about 2 litres low... I assume the level was below the temp sensor... topped up and it went right up to 70 degrees C. When we drained the system to install the heater we changed the coolant and must have either filled low or the heater gulped a fair amount....
gordon lawson


I always throw away the thermostats in my MGs, in my opinion they are more damned trouble than they are worth. I recently nearly seized the engine up on one my cars because the thermostat had stuck, and have had trouble with them sticking before. To date I have never had " excessive wear " in any engine through running without a thermostat.
Harry
H.E.W. Walker

This thread was discussed between 26/11/2004 and 27/11/2004

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