Bighorn Cooling Issues....

[gdbman]

Hi,
I have a 97 non-efi Turbo Diesel Bighorn, seems to be getting warm while towing along with going up hills and sitting in traffic with the A/C on.

Long story - it has a 'new' engine as the previous motor overheated and seized due to a cracked radiator. I purchased a long block and installed it using the old
turbo, exhaust manifold & turbo along with a brand new radiator and fitted a trans cooler while I was at it. It runs well and I've been quite pleased with the new motor.

Since having a couple of cooling issues I've noticed the new radiator is thiner than the original. Its only 26mm thick, old 1 is 36 and my radiator guy reckons its possible to get a 32mm but didn't think it would be necessary. Also I've noticed the cap supplied was only .9 bar (converts to 13 psi), minimum spec apparently 12.8psi. I've checked the water pump - plenty going thru, I've removed the thermostat - still runs warm and old one behaved itself when tested. I've checked the viscous fan per other posts on this site and seems okay (cant be fully sure though) Did have cooling issues at 100kmh towing the boat(2.2t) on the flat with the AC on, went away with the heater on.

Does anybody have an opinion on the thickness of the radiator? Would it be worth going to the full the 32mm if possible? It doesn't appear to have any cold spots so would presume its not blocked.

Also could there be anything from the old setup still haunting me? ie could something in the turbo/exhaust manifold/injector pump that was taken from the old motor be causing the trouble? 1 thing I have noticed is going up steep hills it wont blow black smoke with my foot flat on the accelerator - seems rare for a diesel not to do this under load?(old motor didn't do it either) Also mine seems to use a little more fuel than my brothers used to - would 11 lit/100k seem reasonable on the open road?

Many thanks for any suggestions - For a cheap truck its been a great vehicle so far, great off road and tows well to.

Cheers

[geeves]

I would of got the bigger radiator even if only for piece of mind.
First non efi 97 Are you sure? If it is efi then the governor can wear causing this and rough idle
First thought has this done this from when the new engine was fitted?
Possibilities are injector timing, viscous fan although the fan does very little work at 100kph,undersized radiator although once again 100kph should overcome this, problem in auto.

[gdbman]

Yeah non efi, I found that strange as well - nearly bought an 2nd hand efi engine by mistake not realising...Lucky the non-efi's are cheaper!
Are there any other tell tale signs of incorrect injector timing? It does rev well and does idle well and as mentioned above i've never seen anything coloured come out the exhaust while driving.
Is over heating common in the auto's?
Cheers