TD42 running hot when towing

Gday patrolers Muk here,
Can anyone help with any information regarding my 4.2 td overheating issue only when towing my 3t caravan on a 30° day. Ive put biggest natrad radiator i could fit in, removed spotlights from front of grill, installed large topmount intercooler wich helped alot with exhaust gas temps(dropped about 100°c) installed 3" mandrel bent exhaust pipe, replaced air filter housing with custom built aluminium unit. Im running on 33" tyres, 5speed manual ,roof rack etc etc about 3080kg with full longrange tanks and full fridge. Ive heard that a high flow thermostat and maybe a high flow water pump might solve my problems. Can anyone please help with any advice as i love my patrol and cant find anything i like to replace it. There must be some way of sorting this issue.
Cheers Mark

does your engine clutch fan work properly , ie; it should have some resistance and will only spin about half a revolution when cold . is the plastic air dam underneath the car in tact , this is a crucial part that helps create a low pressure area in the engine bay . the rubber strips that go from the body to the chassis in the front wheel wells also help this purpose . do you have a suspension lift as this can also affect the way the air dam works .

It's a subject that's been done to death across the different forums. What actual temps are you seeing?

Temp exceeding 100°c
Air conditioning cutting out aswell.
It does have 50mm lift but all under guard rubbers are in place etc.

New nissan fan clutch fitted, blades all in good condition.
All under guard rubbers good.
Plastic air dam underneath good condition.
Some of foam strips between aircon condenser and new large radiator missing.

Has it always done this? If not, there might be something you have done to make this change?

What Injector pump do you have? Stock, 11mm or 12mm. Do you know what the timing is set at on the IP? What turbo? What injectors? How old are they? What crack pressures? Has you taken the Patrol to a decent dyno tuner at all? There is so many variables with this issues I haven't even scratched the surface on it. I've been through it all and mine still runs hot. Got to 110c and 115c whilst towing and up hills, along the flat it could be around 80-95c. I just drive it now and accept thats how its going to be and drive to the conditions.

As long as I have made sure every component is working, there nothing more I can do.

I’ve had mine at 115C towing up hill. I only back off if EGTs start to creep past 450C.
I’ve towed our caravan into a head wind running at 100-105 most of the day. Only consequence was that the engine was much smoother afterwards.
Not towing I rarely get as high as 85C.

The temp on mine, towing, with an all up weight of around 5 tonne has never exceeded 105deg.C & that was working really hard on a hot day going up to Barrington Tops. For the past three years we've been in the Top End & in normal use rarely see the temp rise above 91 or 92, often closer to 80. My theory is that it relates to use of the right foot & that whilst TD42's can be be driven fast, their forte is burbling across the rough stuff at low revs with plenty of torque, & that if one accepts they are an old design & doesn't try to drive them like a modern car or a muscle car they wont overheat if well maintained, & kept reasonably close to stock. If it doesn't overheat when not towing I'd guess that pulling the van slower may be the answer, & if not the answer that you want, that perhaps you have chosen the wrong vehicle to pull a 3 tonne van.

No doubt one day mine will overheat & I'll have to eat my words, but so far so good - 2006 model stock except for 3" exhaust & a mild dyno (13psi) for towing. Not unusual to see us hurtling along the road at 80-85 kph. :driving2:

Others may have different thoughts, just saying what works for me.

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Originally Posted by Muk

Temp exceeding 100°c
Air conditioning cutting out aswell.
It does have 50mm lift but all under guard rubbers are in place etc.

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Two reasons for the a/c cutting out. 1. She's low on gas. 2. The condensor is overheating. Make sure the condensor fins are totally clean.

I think the factory TD42s have a cutout temp sensor in the rad specifically designed to cut off the compressor above a certain temp.

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Originally Posted by Cuppa

The temp on mine, towing, with an all up weight of around 5 tonne has never exceeded 105deg.C & that was working really hard on a hot day going up to Barrington Tops. For the past three years we've been in the Top End & in normal use rarely see the temp rise above 91 or 92, often closer to 80. My theory is that it relates to use of the right foot & that whilst TD42's can be be driven fast, their forte is burbling across the rough stuff at low revs with plenty of torque, & that if one accepts they are an old design & doesn't try to drive them like a modern car or a muscle car they wont overheat if well maintained, & kept reasonably close to stock. If it doesn't overheat when not towing I'd guess that pulling the van slower may be the answer, & if not the answer that you want, that perhaps you have chosen the wrong vehicle to pull a 3 tonne van.

No doubt one day mine will overheat & I'll have to eat my words, but so far so good - 2006 model stock except for 3" exhaust & a mild dyno (13psi) for towing. Not unusual to see us hurtling along the road at 80-85 kph. :driving2:

Others may have different thoughts, just saying what works for me.

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While I agree with you mate to some extent with the right foot theory. I invite you to take my Patrol for a drive on a 30c or higher day, you don't need a heavy foot to get the water temps standing to attention in my Patrol, and I've done everything known to man to keep it under control.

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Originally Posted by mudski

While I agree with you mate to some extent with the right foot theory. I invite you to take my Patrol for a drive on a 30c or higher day, you don't need a heavy foot to get the water temps standing to attention in my Patrol, and I've done everything known to man to keep it under control.

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Yep! But I did say "& kept reasonably close to stock". Yours is the antithesis of that! :smile: Kinda supports my 'theory'.

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Originally Posted by Cuppa

Yep! But I did say "& kept reasonably close to stock". Yours is the antithesis of that! :smile: Kinda supports my 'theory'.

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For what little my opinion may be worth, I 100% agree with the stock theory. Mine is 100% stock mechanically and has never overheated, even pulling a 3t boat/trailer combo. Yes it is a complete slug but the torque pulls it away and off you go slowly on your merry way. Let the others behind you overtake. Every time I hear about overheating issues I've replaced radiator, fuel pump, water pump, turbo, boost, exhaust etc. What for? It's a 4.2 torque monster out of the factory, not a rice burner.

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Originally Posted by Cuppa

Yep! But I did say "& kept reasonably close to stock". Yours is the antithesis of that! :smile: Kinda supports my 'theory'.

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Yes very true mate.

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Originally Posted by Plasnart

For what little my opinion may be worth, I 100% agree with the stock theory. Mine is 100% stock mechanically and has never overheated, even pulling a 3t boat/trailer combo. Yes it is a complete slug but the torque pulls it away and off you go slowly on your merry way. Let the others behind you overtake. Every time I hear about overheating issues I've replaced radiator, fuel pump, water pump, turbo, boost, exhaust etc. What for? It's a 4.2 torque monster out of the factory, not a rice burner.

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Its just nice to be able to hit a hill whilst towing and not have to fan the clutch in second gear to keep her moving. Just point and shoot now. Its still no rice burner though. More of a coal burner, great for gassing the cyclists when they ride two abreast on a narrow road. :D

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Originally Posted by Muk

New nissan fan clutch fitted, blades all in good condition.
All under guard rubbers good.
Plastic air dam underneath good condition.
Some of foam strips between aircon condenser and new large radiator missing.

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Get some foam and fill those gaps mate. You want to force the air through the radiator, air flow will take the easiest path and with the foam gone, a lot of air will be just going around the radiator, not through it.

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Originally Posted by mudski

Yes very true mate.


Its just nice to be able to hit a hill whilst towing and not have to fan the clutch in second gear to keep her moving. Just point and shoot now. Its still no rice burner though. More of a coal burner, great for gassing the cyclists when they ride two abreast on a narrow road. :D

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I have never had to fan the clutch on a hill whilst towing. Second is usually quite adequate even on even most of Tassie’s long & steep inclines, although I have resorted to first on a few occasions & had cyclists overtaking me! :D. On one short but steep pinch on Tassie’s ‘Western Explorer’ I believe I may even have used low ratio in 2wd too. Up here in the north climbing the Kuranda range from Cairns up to the Tablelands towing is a second & occasionally 3rd gear job, keeping EGT’s below about 450. Mostly 3rd is only for brief spells, & knocking it back to second gives a sense of ‘Ah that feels better’. Going with the flow instead of trying to make the curves into a race track. It would be nice to have a vehicle which in those sort of circumstances could keep up with lighter & more modern vehicles, but our TD42 does the job without breaking a sweat & importantly (to me) provides the reliability I need for remote travel. I’d take ours anywhere in the country without 2nd thought. Generally pick the gear & let the car do it’s thing whilst relaxing & watching the scenery go by. Ha ha. Tuning & tweaking these cars to give more power, whilst a perfectly valid (& fun) choice often seems to come at a cost in addition to the money spent. Fun yes! But as a long distance tourer, especially when pulling some weight, not desirable. Horses for courses ..... or perhaps for jockeys who’s styles may be age related. Ha ha.

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Originally Posted by Cuppa

I have never had to fan the clutch on a hill whilst towing. Second is usually quite adequate even on even most of Tassie’s long & steep inclines, although I have resorted to first on a few occasions & had cyclists overtaking me! :D. On one short but steep pinch on Tassie’s ‘Western Explorer’ I believe I may even have used low ratio in 2wd too. Up here in the north climbing the Kuranda range from Cairns up to the Tablelands towing is a second & occasionally 3rd gear job, keeping EGT’s below about 450. Mostly 3rd is only for brief spells, & knocking it back to second gives a sense of ‘Ah that feels better’. Going with the flow instead of trying to make the curves into a race track. It would be nice to have a vehicle which in those sort of circumstances could keep up with lighter & more modern vehicles, but our TD42 does the job without breaking a sweat & importantly (to me) provides the reliability I need for remote travel. I’d take ours anywhere in the country without 2nd thought. Generally pick the gear & let the car do it’s thing whilst relaxing & watching the scenery go by. Ha ha. Tuning & tweaking these cars to give more power, whilst a perfectly valid (& fun) choice often seems to come at a cost in addition to the money spent. Fun yes! But as a long distance tourer, especially when pulling some weight, not desirable. Horses for courses ..... or perhaps for jockeys who’s styles may be age related. Ha ha.

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I believe the reason most TD42 owners have issues overheating is because they have modified them to have the extra power, once the extra power is there it's natural to want to use it all the time. Up long steep hills I could easily hold 5th gear 100km/hr where a stock one couldn't. But mine would get hot and the stock one wouldn't.
If I were to maintain the same speed as a stock one I wouldn't get hot at all.
I hold speed until I see the temp begin to rise, then slow down and drop a gear. This weekend just gone I towed my 2t caravan to Omeo from Bruthen. Anybody who knows the last hill knows it is an absolute bastard of a radiator tester. Held 3rs gear 3/4 of the way and had to drop to 2nd at the end.
I could have held 4th if I put my foot down but would have ended up needing another new engine I reckon.

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Originally Posted by Winnie

I believe the reason most TD42 owners have issues overheating is because they have modified them to have the extra power, once the extra power is there it's natural to want to use it all the time.

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Yep, that's pretty much it. Ya pays your money & makes ya choices.

Agree with you guys above too but for what its worth I tried everything and only one combo solution worked perfect for me.

Towing 2 tonne van in over 30 degrees was extremely stressful especially with our hills down here.

As soon as I put the OEM radiator and UFI fan hub assembly in, all of my troubles went away and still to this day its cool as a cucumber.

I religiously keep the OEM radiator as clean as possible and with that UFI fan I barely hit 100 on 35 degree + days towing the 2 tonne van even up hills like the slide at Kinglake even with the cold AC pumping as well.

Prior to the upgrade above even if I dropped down to 3rd and gently drove the hills it still crept up, nothing I could do would help. Heater on near the top of the hills to try and keep it from boiling, kids loved that in the middle of summer lol

And my sprinkler idea bahaha, arr the good ol days!

My Patrol started getting hot after I fitted an aftermarket water temp gauge.

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Originally Posted by Hodge

My Patrol started getting hot after I fitted an aftermarket water temp gauge.

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Haha! One thing I remember that was told to me when I picked my Patrol up from JPC after the conversion was to get rid of the aftermarket temp gauge. I should have taken his advise on that one.

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Originally Posted by Winnie

I believe the reason most TD42 owners have issues overheating is because they have modified them to have the extra power, once the extra power is there it's natural to want to use it all the time. Up long steep hills I could easily hold 5th gear 100km/hr where a stock one couldn't. But mine would get hot and the stock one wouldn't.
If I were to maintain the same speed as a stock one I wouldn't get hot at all.
I hold speed until I see the temp begin to rise, then slow down and drop a gear. This weekend just gone I towed my 2t caravan to Omeo from Bruthen. Anybody who knows the last hill knows it is an absolute bastard of a radiator tester. Held 3rs gear 3/4 of the way and had to drop to 2nd at the end.
I could have held 4th if I put my foot down but would have ended up needing another new engine I reckon.

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Oh that last hill is a killer. 115c I was on that hill held third all the way up. Same as the hill just out of Omeo on the first hill climb heading up to Hotham. Wow!

FWIW: Have owned quite a few GU early TD42T’s wagooons/utes and currently a GQ TD42 with dealer fitted little Safari turbo.
Besides minor fuel consumption/power upgrades to all like 3” exhausts and a half decent tune to suit the new extra flows I personally define them as an extremely faithful old excellent workhorse donk [emoji106][emoji106]
The only overheating issues I’ve personally ever experienced were from extremely poor radiator maintenance, some from my younger nuffier working days hauling highly illegal weight loads into headwinds west full of bugs and after later GU’s holiday mud adventures etc..... The GQ did commence creeping up to boil a year or so ago out the back of Bourke, even with a brand new OEM (as always preferred) radiator and it turned out that the 30 year old Viscous Coupling wasn’t fully locking up, easy cheap replacement fix again [emoji106][emoji106]
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forum...021/05/140.jpg


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FWIW #2: Forgot to mention [emoji23]
In stockish (sub 100rwkw) format you need to drop a highway cog (5th <>4th) to alleviate our weak 5th gear OEM potential hauling damage unless on the downhill and or tailwind, otherwise enjoy 4th gear 2,500rpm scenery at say 90kmph gear ratio/tyre size depending [emoji23][emoji106][emoji106]


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