Club 80-90 Forums

Today i picked up my 2nd t25 camper, a leasure-drive crusader 1986 with a 1.6d n/a, I think its a CS engine. I drove it 100 miles-ish home, its not as quick as my aaz in my other t25 high-top but i was pleasantly surprised it would pull 60mph on the flat and up minor hills not too bad for a 4 speed n/a engine i thought anyway, but when doing 60-ish mph the engine does get pretty warm, almost to the end of the temp gauge, back it off to about 50 ish and the temp drops back to just past the led in the gauge, led in the gauge did not light up though ? had a good look around the engine when i got home and all looks okay, coolant in main bottle at correct level coolant in overflow bottle to just below screw top, all looks fairly well.

Im wondering if I should fit an oil cooler or just try and service the cooling system as it is and see if i can get it to be any more efficient ?

Anyone thats driven one of these 1.6 n/a engines, how much of a joke is first gear, it pulls from 0 mph to 0.5 mph then grab 2nd, I really like this van tho, the leasure-drive fittings are lovely and i dont mind the steady pace of the 1.6d lump, just dont want to kill it by overheating it and cracking the head, will get some photos up soon and show you my new purchase. We have neamed her Girtle

first thing that is quite cheap is to change the thermostat..perhaps its not opening fully when under load...did you notice if the fan came in when it got hot?

first gear is a bit of a joke but i always use it when on hill starts or up hill junctions..save over thrashing the clutch

Drove a cs camper every day for seven years and would say the following:

1) the temperature guage is exactly that ...a guage, not a scientific instrument. Some read high, some read low ..comparing needle locations between vans rarely gives a meaningful result.

2) nonetheless the cs needs to be driven by temp guage rather than speedo, especially on the motorway. There is a sweet spot somewhere just above truck speed but still below 60 mph where it will happily trundle along with the temp needle just showing warm, not hot. Any prolonged speed increase will send the needle upwards. This is your signal to take it easy, get off the gas, sit back and relax and just accept the fact that your journey might take an extra few minutes

3) if you need to speed up / push it up a hill and get the temp soaring, make sure that you slow down afterwards/utilise the downhill bit to get the temp down again

The cs simply is no motorway cruiser. It was slow already when it came out and almost 30 years later it certainly isn't able to keep up with modern (motorway) traffic flow anymore.

Accept that, stick with the (slow) trucks and be happy.

Thanks for your comments,

I have done a localish journey today 30 miles on the motorway and kept to about 50 and it didnt even get half way on the guage and it was failry pleasant cruising at 50.

So thats what im gonna do 50 ish i bet it sips fuel at that speed as well, i quite like this little engine.

Thanks again

Steve.

the thermostat is there to keep it at a constant temperature and to get it up to temp quick...it might over do it over 60 though but id still say get a new one fitted
mine used to take ages to get out of the cold zone but would get too hot after 60mph constantly.took the thermostat out and it had crud all round it stopping it working properly.changed it for a new one and it sits just above middle all the time..well apart from the other day when it kept going up and down ..but i found the wire had come adrift on the sensor..that was a brown trouser time

Cheers for the tip weldore, i will have stick a new stat in when i next have a bit of free time.