1998 KZN185 3L I/C TD Surf - cooling stuff

[Santa'sBoostinSleigh]

Well my surf is going to be doing a bit of towing in the very near future, and after a last minute mission to Hamilton the other night to pick a MR2 motor, box, other bits and pieces plus 50L of 98 with EssDub, for installing in his mrs's car I got a bit concerned.
Im guessing we had about 600kg+ in the back of the Surf and on the way back, we noticed that the engine temp climbed up a couple of times when I was giving it stink up some big hills, but as soon as we got to the top it dropped back down to normal half way.

For Megameet 2010, I towed PureAdrennalines MR2 down to Palmy and back and didnt notice any problems, but the 'Naki-Palmy isnt overly hilly
It may have been that I just didnt notice the temp climb up and drop again, but im sure I would have seen something out of the corner of my eye.

Im going to be towing my mates fancypants Valiant drag car (Valitank, that cant go around corners), plus 3 other big guys and all our gear to Masterton in a couple of weekends time, so I thought i better get my A into G and get it sorted so I dont have any problems


Notes:
1998 Toyota Surf Hilux
KZN185
3L turbo diesel w/ factory Intercooler
214kms
automatic (boo!)
Standard boost (~10psi from memory)
My dyno figures from MM were 77kW and 847Nm Torque (which has to be wrong, cause the factory specs say 106kW and 343Nm)


Questions:
I should probably install a trans cooler for towing
how big should this be? I have a v6 turbo mitsi one lying around with a fan on it and a temp sensor mounted as factory - if i could use this, then it would definitely be a bonus, otherwise what should i go for?
if i do use the mitsi one, how would i take advantage of the temp sensor/fan?

2nd Q: do I go inline with the factory radiator cooled trans cooler, or bypass it? if I go inline, do I go before the radiator or after it?
(I would assume going before the radiator as to take out max heat before heating up the rest of the system, then if it cools it too much, the radiator will heat it back up to a more 'normal' temp (think winter))

Temperature Gauge:
I hear the factory gauges (in most cars) are just rubbish
Im looking at installing an aftermarket gauge to help give me a better eye on what is going on.
Would the best position be on the radiator outlet or radiator inlet? (or another place?)
Is it worth attempting to monitor trans temperature?

[Boosted_162]

I have used ST185 trans coolers for mine/sisters terrano (TD27T powered, both auto) and they seem to do the trick. I always completely bypass the cooler in the bottom of the radiator.

Even with them installed, my sisters got a little hot going up a long as hill with a horsefloat (the brynderwyns - its a couple of km and puts a lot of stress on anything towing up there), whereas mine starts to get hot going up any longish hill

Havent tried hers with the new waterpump (just been replaced), but i suspect the waterpumps a bit old and the headgasket could be leaking on mine

[Santa'sBoostinSleigh]

cheers, any other advice?

[strx7]

should deinitly have an external transcooler on it, especially towing a valitank and other hefty objects

when was the coolant changed last?

bigger 'zorst will give some more power and drop the temps down a bit.


847nm at the wheels would be right, as the torque gets multiplied thru the diffs

[matt dunn]

Definatly fit an aftermarket gauge, the surf ones are especially bad.

At 80 deg they read normal temp,
and at 105 they still haven't moved,

so if the gauge has gone above normal they are usually way above temp.

IMO fit the trans cooler and remove the factory one as when it gets hot,
you will want all the radiator capacity you can get without the water having to cool the oil also.

[Santa'sBoostinSleigh]

wheres the best place for the temp gauge? in radiator inlet or outlet?

I was under the impression that the later model surfs were a bit better designed, but maybe not

trans was flushed when camblet done at 201kms according to the service history/recips I got from previous owner

unsure on last coolant flush, however it is clean looking red fluid

worth putting an oil cooler in too then maybe?

[85AW20v]

Take the radiator out and get it cleaned properly at a radiator specialist - tanks off, rodded through and reassembled. It doesn't take much for them to lose efficiency due to blocked cores. You're looking at replacing the coolant anyway so might as well get the rad done properly before doing that. Had the same sort of thing in the VS Commodore. Was fine towing along the flat but up and over the Kaimai's it tended to get quite warm. Replaced the rad with a brand new one and the problem disappeared.

[matt dunn]

wheres the best place for the temp gauge? in radiator inlet or outlet?

If you want accurate engine temp then there is only place,
between the engine and the thermostat, which is probably where the factory gauge sender is.

[strx7]

as far as keeping the std cooler in the bottom of the radiator....

if you use a huge externasl cooler you could bypass the std one. if you use a smallish one. plumb to std cooler then to external cooler then back to trans

[Boost_4_Life]

this is an interesting thread.... my supercustom has cooling issues im working through, and hopefully not a cracked head. Head is only 3 years old tho. How hard is it to get the radiator out of a supercustom for a flush? looks like a mish...

If you do fit the coolers Santa let us know how you get on. I think i need to do the same (doing a fair bit of towing) but have no idea what to do...

[Santa'sBoostinSleigh]

as far as keeping the std cooler in the bottom of the radiator....

if you use a huge externasl cooler you could bypass the std one. if you use a smallish one. plumb to std cooler then to external cooler then back to trans

what size would be considered huge and small for a trans cooler?
im new to slushboxes (and still hate them)
any idea what would be considered an 'ideal size'? (probably prefer to not put any load on engine cooling system if poss)

can you 'overcool' transmission fluid/gearboxes?

[gepsk8]

pull radiator and get clean & flow tested. Normal end up being block & cheaper to replace if you have trade, connections

[strx7]

as far as keeping the std cooler in the bottom of the radiator....

if you use a huge externasl cooler you could bypass the std one. if you use a smallish one. plumb to std cooler then to external cooler then back to trans

what size would be considered huge and small for a trans cooler?
im new to slushboxes (and still hate them)
any idea what would be considered an 'ideal size'? (probably prefer to not put any load on engine cooling system if poss)

can you 'overcool' transmission fluid/gearboxes?

personally if the cooler is say A4 paper size or smaller i'd still go thru the radiator first. I have seen some considerably larger than A4 size fitted to cruisers which tow speedway cars hundreds of k's

[Santa'sBoostinSleigh]

bigger 'zorst will give some more power and drop the temps down a bit.

oh yeah and on this, would love to as an earlier model one I looked at/test drove that was manual had a bigger exhaust and sounded nice, but not looking forward to automatic bigboreness sounding like utter poos

[strx7]

i have a 3 inch zorst all the way thru with 1 small muffler on my 4.2 cruiser. it is barely louder than standard. i reckon if i ditched the muffler it'd be lucky to be any louder. because deisels dont breath huge amounts, and the turbine acts as a exhaust pulse supressor, it should make much noise at all

[Santa'sBoostinSleigh]

so would 3" be the way to go with mine, or something a bit smaller such as 2.5"?
i suck my head under it over the weekend and the middle muff is huge!, the rear is more of a reso type thing by the look of it

[strx7]

2 1/2 inch all the way with 1 small muffler would be the go i would think

[Boosted_162]

[hijack]

Kinda offtopic here, but my terrano temp seems to start climbing when going up long hills, i was thinking either waterpump going/dreaded bhg, but could perhaps a cat/muffler blockage be the cause? Its done 250+km, new radiator and thermostat. Never gets hot in traffic or any other time.

Cheers

[/hijack]

[strx7]

what model terrano and with what motor?

[Boosted_162]

Its a 1991 d21 with a td27t.