Delica L400 Overheating

D_Ghost01 · Post by **D_Ghost01** » Wed Feb 05, 2014 8:00 pm

Hello everyone,

Proud owner of a Delica L400 1996 here. The problem i have with it is tho, is when traveling at long distances the engine seriously overheats. I can see the temp gauge climb to "H" after around 1.5-2 hours of driving. The thing i've noticed, is that if i dont go faster than 60-70mph the car runs fine. Did a 4.5 hour road trip doing just that and arrived with no problem. But traveling for long periods of time at/or above 80mph causes the overheating issue. The car pukes heat and water out of the water bucket with the temp gauge at HIGH.
When using it daily, 20-30min of driving, i can go as fast as i like without problem.

Things i've ruled out:
-Intercooler fan works, even when bypassed to run constantly the problem still occurs
-I always check for sufficient water/oil levels before travels
-All engine belts are new and tight
-We had the radiator checked and surfaced, which at the time fixed the problem for only one 5-hour speedy road trip and also allowed to car to not overheat at daily use.
Before we had the radiator checked the car would overheat if i was a little throttle hungry on short drives. But like i said earlier that happens far less frequently after that radiator checkup. In fact it rarely happens at all. Only at long distances going faster than 80mph.

Trying to keep things as accurate as possible to give you guys the best view i can.
The first ever time i saw this happen was when some1 else was driving it, but instead of driving in "D" it was put in to "2" and many rpm's were given as the car (ofcourse) wont go very fast in that gear. And this continued quite some time.
(The driver did not know any better) I could have said something but didnt. Lets just leave it at that
It caused the problems i have to this day, also a broken water bucket, which was changed afterwards.

So thats my story guys. Can anyone tell me what im dealing with here?
The car runs fine though, i cant notice any out of place noises.
When it overheated the last time someone came to help us out and he was surprised it runs so well but has this problem.

Post by **Big-Bird** » Wed Feb 05, 2014 8:39 pm

a few things to check into

This issue has popped up recently with a few other L400 owners. A replaced thermostat has been the culprit in a few occasions because the replacement part that was purchased was actually meant for the 2.8L Pajero which operates at a slightly higher temp than the 2.8L Delica. The reason is the Pajero has a bigger radiator and can handle the added heat load. The thermostats for both units are nearly identical....its the temp-rating thats different.

1) When was the last time the Deli had a thermostat swap? Was it rated for the proper temp range?

2) What is the strength of your coolant? Weak coolant does not carry heat efficiently.

3) Is your radiator cap working properly? A weak radiator cap (overflow tank cap) can't maintain pressure in the coolant system. The cap allows pressure to build in the coolant system which raises the boiling point of coolant several degrees over 100 degrees C which also prevents overheating. When you are driving at 80mph the heat soak goes up but the coolant can't take the heat because the pressure can't be maintained. Most oil change places can do a pop-test on your overflow tank cap and tell if its working properly.

Firesong · Post by **Firesong** » Wed Feb 05, 2014 9:05 pm

I have to ask... Your pushing a small Diesel engine for hours at 80 mph ? Winds, hills? You may be over doing it.

Causes
Maybe you have something impeding airflow. Thermostat might cause something like that but strange it has to be long trips. Maybe the break down caused some crap to lodge in the water passageway or thermostat limiting cooling.
Without any smoking or weird noises I'm doubting a timing issue.
When they did your rad did they do a full flush? Maybe they didn't get all the crap out.

D_Ghost01 · Post by **D_Ghost01** » Wed Feb 05, 2014 9:14 pm

Dear Firesong,

I know lol, but back in the day my uncle used to push that baby over 120mph on a 5 hour road trip :P Not constantly but surely over 2.5 hours. No probz there.
But that was then. No hills tho, just open and well paved roads. Winds perhaps.

Im not sure they did a full flush, but what they do over there is pure radiator works. Im positive they pulled out the radiator entirely. They also replaced the entire top of the radiator. Perhaps they did not flush out what was in the engine? could explain why it solved the problem for only 1 good road trip, and less frequent overheating

D_Ghost01 · Post by **D_Ghost01** » Wed Feb 05, 2014 9:19 pm

Dear Big-Bird,

1. As far as i know the thermostat hasn't been changed any time recent. Although the previous owner did leave it at a repair shop and they had claimed allot of work needed to be done. The owner allowed all the repairs recommended. They even pulled the engine out entirely. I cant say what they did or did not replace as it was never said to me and i seriously doubt the owner remembers. All i know is, all that did not help(long before radiator checkup).

2. I am not sure how well it works but its cheap and honestly i dont have that much faith in it. I will post a picture of it once i find where i put that empty can. Currently there's water in it, which is bad i know, i plan to flush it and put in some better coolant.

3. I suppose it works properly, its came new with the replacement overflow tank. My radiator model does not have a radiator cap. The cap is on the overflow tank, which is therefore the only way into the coolant system. I could do the pop-test you recommend

Post by **Big-Bird** » Thu Feb 06, 2014 5:18 am

There's only water in the system...well no bloody wonder its overheating.

The water accelerates corrosion of the iron block, the system is probably plugged up with rusty crud.

Sounds to me like you have your path forward. Happy hunting!

D_Ghost01 · Post by **D_Ghost01** » Thu Feb 06, 2014 5:31 am

No i said currently, because on our last road trip(maybe 2 weeks ago) it overheated and puked out all the coolant i had in it. Theres no place to buy coolant in the middle of nowhere so we put in the water we had in it. I'm going out soon to buy some coolant, then im going to flush the system and fill it up with coolant again

volnoir · Post by **volnoir** » Thu Feb 06, 2014 2:07 pm

D_Ghost01 wrote:Dear Firesong,

I know lol, but back in the day my uncle used to push that baby over 120mph on a 5 hour road trip :P Not constantly but surely over 2.5 hours.

I honestly don't think my L400 can go 120mph. That is closing in on 200km/h.

D_Ghost01 · Post by **D_Ghost01** » Thu Feb 06, 2014 4:51 pm

Volnoir you are right, i mixed mph with kmph. How embarrassing

Sorry everyone, it overheats going at- and faster than 80kmph for long periods of time but does ok for long distances going 70kmph or lower.
During everyday driving it does ok going as fast as i like.

Today i flushed out the radiator quite for some time, filled it with water, did some errands and flushed it again when i came back after i let it cool ofcourse.
I then drained it all out and let is drip for 15min or so, then i loaded up some fresh coolant in. This one im sure should do the trick, as we dont need antifreeze in the tropics here i guess

MardyDelica · Post by **MardyDelica** » Thu Feb 06, 2014 9:02 pm

hi, I predict this is a cylinder head issue.
this is common on L400 if you see bobble coming from the water bottle.
no matter what antifreeze you do or flush I am almost certain 80% its cylinder head is crack.
I hope its not that will be expensive for you cost nearly 3,000 parts labor and tax
to replace complete cylinder head assembly for L400

D_Ghost01 · Post by **D_Ghost01** » Fri Feb 07, 2014 8:49 am

Hi MardyDelica,
I hope that's not the case, neither that nor head gasket. Its pretty weird what it does, it even somehow fills the water by itself and spouts over after you've started it again. Not per se bubbles. Also it gives a huge big thick cloud of smoke if you rev it highly when in park. The ground below the exhaust pipe will black like a small rocket took off at that spot

Mr. Flibble · Post by **Mr. Flibble** » Fri Feb 07, 2014 9:39 am

How well does your heater work?

If you put your heating on full across the board, does it work? Does that impact the engine temp reading?

For the record, I have had my L400 at 140 km/h for 3-4 hours at a time with no heating issues.

I would suspect:

Thermostat first
Radiator Cap Second
Clogging of internals third

To add to what Mardy said, look for coolant in the oil, and oil in the coolant as well as a possible diagnostic.

D_Ghost01 · Post by **D_Ghost01** » Fri Feb 07, 2014 12:07 pm

Mr Fibble,

I have never tested the heater, but the next time i go for a drive (wich may be in a few hours), I will test it out and also see if it affects the temp in any way
True, they go pretty fast. My uncle proved that some time back. I hope i can get it back to going at least a 100km/h with no problem.

I will let my mechanic look at what you recommended as soon as i can

patriceboivin · Post by **patriceboivin** » Fri Feb 07, 2014 12:39 pm

now I'm curious... how fast can the L400s go?

My wife claims she drove our 2007 Honda Odyssey at >130kph "by mistake"

one time while we were driving from Halifax to Ottawa. The Odyssey was so quiet, you have to keep an eye on the spedometer because 120kph sounds like 140kph... etc.

D_Ghost01 · Post by **D_Ghost01** » Fri Feb 07, 2014 4:52 pm

Patriceboivin,
Im pretty sure they go well over the 130km/h as my uncle did that all the time. I can relate to your experience. I used to drive my other uncle's toyota ipsum and went over 120km/h quite easily. They run so quietly i was surprised to see i was going that fast. But the down side of these new japan vehicles is that they are built very lightly and aren't that reliable at high speeds

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