Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

My Delica seems to overheat when is climbing uphill, like up Seymour, usually when is under load (3 DH bikes + 3 people), The thermostat marks high, but does not reach the red yet. Then when I stop, the cooling fluid bubbles and spills. I had the rad and thermostat replaced less than a year ago.
Any ideas why this is happening?

Thanks

When you stop the van, you have to leave the engine running, otherwise the fan won't continue to spin and cool the engine. These fans ARE NOT electric and they only spin while the engine is running.

When van starts to get too hot, pull over, put it in park, idle until the temp comes down, drive away.

I don't know how steep Seymour Hill is, but if you're worried, it's probably not a big hill. Have your thermostat checked again (it could have failed again), and/or your water pump. If you had a new radiator put in, it's likely not that, but then you could have a blockage somewhere in your cooling jacket in the block.

Thanks. I've noticed that if I engage the parking break before shutting of the engine, it idles for a few minutes.
Seymour is not too steep, I'll say 7-8 % for 10K. I'm not forcing the speed as I usually go around 50K/hr and RPM around 2500 when I carry that much.
The water pump was replaced as well, but I'll get it check again.

blast the heat in the car too. it sucks but it some what helps dissipate the heat from the engine.

I chug up Mount Seymour all the time with radios and telescope gear. The temperature gauge rarely even moves unless I have the air conditioning on, which is good for a couple of needle-widths on Mount Seymour or Gaglardi Way. Same speed as you, 50 to 60 klicks, 2500 RPM or so.

The only time I've ever been concerned about engine temperature was driving the Connector last summer. It was 40 in Merritt. With a small load and the air conditioning off the temperature gauge was about 2/3 of the way up the scale going up hill, but went right back down coming down hill.

The usual suspects: radiator, thermostat, water pump. Do not lug the engine. Let it rev. Disable the overdrive if you need to.

...laura

where did you have the work done? Might want to get Butch and Edwin out in Richmond to take a look. Might be in need of a fuel mixture adjustment (deli tune) she may be running too lean, or even way too rich and that would be causing some extra heat too.

Like Laura said, try letting run up some more revs (try 28-2900 there's a smooth spot around there)...your egt will get very high if you are lugging it.

When the rad was replaced was the rad cap replaced as well? The old caps are usually dried up and the rubber seal is cracked so you can't get enough pressure in the cooling system.

Could it be caused by the skid plate not allowing enough airflow to the rad?

As said before, check your radiator cap. It's cheap ($12 or so) insurance. Also, bring your revs higher so you don't lugg your truck.

While going up, if your speed drops down to 80-85km/h, press your O/D
When it's down to 60-65, put her in 2nd
In both instance, your rpm should be just above the 3000rpm and that will lower your temp.

Turning your heat full blast will also help but I personnally keep this as a last resort option, especially when it's hot outside...

As for the skidplate discussion, If you're not into heavy 4x4 then go ahead and enlarge the holes, it can't hurt. But I've just crossed the country with mine on, loaded with close to 2000 lbs of gears and wvo and the only time the temp came up was on the Manning pass. It went past the 3/4 of the way up but not red. That's when I ended up using the "heat, full blast option" but gearing down was the way to go.

And I don't like to stop for idling if the engine start overheating. I prefer to gear down and rev the shit out of it as it will spin the fan faster (clutch type) and eventually lower the temp. Exexption to this is if there's an obvious issue ie. reaching the red. (rad hose gone...)

Happy Delicaing!

Good luck!

one other thing to check is the quality of your coolant, go get a garage to use the hydro tester on it, takes about ten seconds and will tell you what temp your coolant it good until,
Personally I use a royal purple rad coolant additive, I forget the name, but is known as a water slicker or some version of that, makes the coolant flow better and just makes everything easier. costs about 10bucks at Lordco.

I have a question. what do you mean by 'spills' and from where?

I have experienced some spilling and heating challenges and later my head gasket went and you probably want to avoid that.

Fix the small things before they grow.

Good luck.

Dewy: by spilling I mean that the coolant fluid spills when I stop the van after having a drive when the temperature had gone up.

I have run a few more trips replicating the same conditions and this is what I found out so far:

Under the same kind of weight, (load) and going uphill, the temperature gauge goes up to half way between the middle and the red zone.

1.If I turn of the OD
2. If I keep the revs up, just shy of 3000 RPM
3. If I switch to gear 2
4. If I turn on the heat, full blast

Any/All these things seem to help to keep the temperature steady between the half and the red zone.

Keeping the engine running for some time after parking, it helps cool down and prevents the spilling of the coolant.

I have not tried with the skid plate off, I'll try that shortly.

If anyone has any comments, I really appreciate your imput.

Thanks,

how much are you spilling, do you have the overflow container, it should expand and contract into the overflow as you drive it hard and easy, sounds like you have some cloged path ways , a HOT back flushing of your system would be a good place to start

R2D2 wrote:...Under the same kind of weight, (load) and going uphill, the temperature gauge goes up to half way between the middle and the red zone...

4. If I turn on the heat, full blast...

Taken with Noel's comments about a blockage, if your engine doesn't cool off when you run the interior heat on high, sounds like the heater core blocked. This is the most common spot for a blockage because it is generally the highest point of the cooling system (even higher than the top of the engine). Do you actually get hot air out when you crank the heat?

Finally, somebody did mention radiator cap, and this is what I found when I inspected mine:

OK, here's what I suggest:
1. Ask the guys that did the work what Thermostat they put in? What Temp does it open? You might have the wrong one in.
2. Pressure test the system to check for leakage,
3. Check Coolant mix (Important) Make sure you have the recommended Diesel Heavy Duty Coolant,
4. Check your Rad hoses to see if they are getting soft. You don't want them to expand under heat. Messes up the pressurization, Pressurization keeps fluid from boiling.
5. Make sure you haven't "Overfilled" the expansion tank. There are marks on it for Hot and Cold levels..
6. With the correct Thermostat, your dash temp gauge should read 1/4 scale. If its reading higher, have it changed.

Hope this helps..

Benn@ http://www.comoxvalleydelica.com (Coming Soon!)