New Owner, Questions About Cooling

jHands · Post by **jHands** » Sat Jul 22, 2017 12:43 pm

Greetings folks. Just picked up an 88 L300. 175,000 km on the dash.

On the drive home, at highway speeds on flat ground, the temp gauge barely made it past 1/3. Was at the bottom margin of the temp logo most of the time. During some hill climbs, she would climb to 1/2-3/4. Was wondering if this is normal? I join the forums and see all of this talk about head gaskets and cracked heads and immediately get paranoid. I have butt loads of maintenance records, and it seems the radiator has not been replaced.

Post by **Growlerbearnz** » Sat Jul 22, 2017 3:09 pm

Welcome!

Your temperature gauge sounds normal. There's a post int he Technical Reference Library here that covers what a normal gauge should do: http://www.delica.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?f=94&t=17645

Basically anything between the two lines is acceptable, just ease off if it get near the upper line.

jHands · Post by **jHands** » Sat Jul 22, 2017 6:17 pm

So you're saying I'm going to have to get used to driving a vehicle that the temp gauge fluctuates, and pay attention to it up mountains, cutting the AC off and downshifting if need be?

204explorer · Post by **204explorer** » Sat Jul 22, 2017 8:45 pm

I have a l400 with a 4M40. My temp stays exactly the same no matter what ambient temp or load. I am sure Growlers advice for the L300 is correct.
I had my complete cooling system changed before taking possesion of my van.

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk

jHands · Post by **jHands** » Sat Jul 22, 2017 8:58 pm

Is there any upgrades to the l300 cooling system? Doesn't seem to be much room for a bigger radiator. The fact that she runs a little warm uphill kinda bothers me a bit. If that's just how these girls are, then so be it. But if there's a way to improve the cooling system, I'm all ears. If not, a boost and egt gauge is in her future.

Post by **Growlerbearnz** » Sat Jul 22, 2017 10:55 pm

jHands wrote:So you're saying I'm going to have to get used to driving a vehicle that the temp gauge fluctuates, and pay attention to it up mountains, cutting the AC off and downshifting if need be?

That's the one. The temperature gauge *will* fluctuate. The radiator is enormous already, but it's in a really bad place for airflow- tucked in below the cab, with all that legroom in the way, and not much airflow out of the engine compartment.

Remember that the hotter the coolant, the more efficient the radiator is, so while your temperatures will fluctuate quite a lot in the lower range, once the needle is above halfway it will slow down.

The A/C already has a couple of temperature switches which turn on the AC fan in front of the radiator if the engine gets too hot, and disables the AC if the engine gets even hotter. But you can help it by turning off the AC if the temperature gets too high.

It's a good idea to turn off the O/D (or downshift in a manual) when climbing a hill even if the engine's not too hot, the higher revs will lower your EGTs and help cooling.

Keep in mind that it's a tiny, gutless engine which was adequate for doing 100kph on Japanese motorways. You're not going to keep up with the trucks climbing those hills at 75mph.

jHands · Post by **jHands** » Sun Jul 23, 2017 12:35 am

AC doesn't work in this thing. Compressor is shot. There isn't even a belt on the compressor. Does that belt control anything other than the AC?

TieMyShoe · Post by **TieMyShoe** » Sun Jul 23, 2017 9:09 am

ac belt only controls the compressor.

Trinker · Post by **Trinker** » Tue Jul 25, 2017 12:08 am

The entire cooling system consists of the rad and rad hoses, fan and fan clutch, thermostat and waterpump, more or less.. Your waterpump should get done with the timing belt every 100 thousand or so. Rad hoses should be firm, fan should have resistance when spun and the coolant should have good flow through the rad and engine itself. Heads crack on Delicas, I've begun to believe it's unavoidable, just a defect in the engine design.
But a really good upgrade is an EGT, you can get them for less than 200 bucks and throw them in yourself. That will help you keep tabs on really how not to overload the poor little engine.
If your really worried about how hot your getting pop open the hood once it's nice and hot. Check the rad hoses to see if they are holding pressure, just give em a squeeze and they should feel nicely pressurized. My temp guage only started fluctuating after my head cracked. Which happened in the spring on the island with no apparent cause other than fatique. Id just be diligent about upkeep on the cooling system, drive it gently and believe in the best

helibrian · Post by **helibrian** » Tue Jul 25, 2017 3:07 am

3/4 is very hot if you don't have air conditioning on. I would definitely replace the rad if it's original. That helped my delica. Also check for a jacuzzi in the expansion tank while it's running (head gasket).

jHands · Post by **jHands** » Thu Jul 27, 2017 9:58 am

Will any generic full aluminum aftermarket radiator work?

jHands · Post by **jHands** » Thu Jul 27, 2017 10:00 am

Trinker wrote:The entire cooling system consists of the rad and rad hoses, fan and fan clutch, thermostat and waterpump, more or less.. Your waterpump should get done with the timing belt every 100 thousand or so. Rad hoses should be firm, fan should have resistance when spun and the coolant should have good flow through the rad and engine itself. Heads crack on Delicas, I've begun to believe it's unavoidable, just a defect in the engine design.
But a really good upgrade is an EGT, you can get them for less than 200 bucks and throw them in yourself. That will help you keep tabs on really how not to overload the poor little engine.
If your really worried about how hot your getting pop open the hood once it's nice and hot. Check the rad hoses to see if they are holding pressure, just give em a squeeze and they should feel nicely pressurized. My temp guage only started fluctuating after my head cracked. Which happened in the spring on the island with no apparent cause other than fatique. Id just be diligent about upkeep on the cooling system, drive it gently and believe in the best

Trinker,
What were your driving conditions though? My temp gauge doesn't fluctuate much unless I'm highway speeds and dealing with hills. I live in Oregon, plenty of hill climbs on highways out here. Driving in the city, no fluctuation.

Rusty_Tank · Post by **Rusty_Tank** » Tue Aug 01, 2017 5:46 pm

jHands wrote:So you're saying I'm going to have to get used to driving a vehicle that the temp gauge fluctuates, and pay attention to it up mountains, cutting the AC off and downshifting if need be?

JHands, I'm a new member, prospective Delica owner. I'm in Portland as well. How's this issue going? How's the engine been with our hot weather right now? Have you found any work arounds? Or is it a, you get what you get sort of situation?

Trinker · Post by **Trinker** » Fri Aug 04, 2017 8:35 am

jhands, my driving conditions are that of interior BC, plenty of mountain passes and highways. My temp guage until the head cracked would go from maybe 1/4 of the way up to 1/3 of the way up climbing hills only. The rest of the way it was steady as a rock. And I hit it with a infrared thermometer and those were perfect running temps. I'm sure there is some variability with temperature gauges from rig to rig, but if I ever bought another deli I'd bring the infrared with me and check the temps beside the temperature sender after going up a big hill. Additionally I'd go through everything regarding the cooling system and do a thorough inspection for exhaust gas in the coolant. I have the suspicion that more people are driving around with minor cracked heads then we know. I never would have known mine was cracked unless I was so diligent watching the temp guage for changes. Even with it cracked now the temp guage never shows it overheating. Actually looks like normal running temps if you didn't know the needle should be sitting near the very bottom on mine.

philmeup1 · Post by **philmeup1** » Fri Aug 04, 2017 9:06 am

This is a great thread. I just returned home to Ontario from a week long trip to the mountains of the North Carolina's. I went for a VW Bus campout and I was quite worried about the trip. I have a 93 Super Exceed with 125 KMS on the clock. I've always been worried about cracking the head on my van after reading so many posts on here. I'm mechanically declined, but have considered installing that EGT sensor guage. That's something I've yet to do.

Anyway, I was diligent about keeping my eye on the dash temp guage, especially on the hills. It would fluctuate between 1/4, (almost near the bottom of the guage) to up a little over half on the long stretches of inclines. It would kick down and and rev at 3500 rpm's on these hills. I was worried about this, but as Growlerbearnz suggested, this helps keep the exhaust temps down.

I'm learning stuff as I go along here, and I'm happy to say that my rig made the trip without issue. Everything seemed to go smoothly and without any incidents. It didn't even use a drop of oil!!! The VW Camper I drove with was another story entirely..... lol

Just my two cents worth, and again, great thread!!