Range Rover’s Hot V8

by David Morgan

The new Freelander is not the only new Land Rover to arrive this month. The Range Rover Sport TDV8 is also here, with a 3.6 litre turbodiesel delivering 272bhp and massive torque of 472lb/ft at 2000rpm.

I drove this £53,120 newcomer at the Freelander launch. Performance is effortless - rest to 62mph takes just 8.5 seconds - with a subtle V8 burble from its 3630cc heart. But for all that the lightweight Brazilian-made block supports a high-efficiency unit which will average 25mpg.

As with all turbocharged engines, losing your cool with this one could cost you a hefty bill. Failing to allow a turbocharged car to idle for at least 30 seconds before switching off guarantees your expensive power plant will cook itself in your drive.

Temperatures deep inside modern engines are rigidly controlled during driving by circulating coolant, airflow and oil. But turn them off and walk away and internal temperatures can shoot up, causing damage to turbo blades, stressing metals and subjecting bolt-on accessories and nearby wiring and control boxes to unwelcome heat radiation.

One of Land Rover’s senior diesel power plant engineers, Grant Horne, told me at the launch of the TDV8 that temperatures in the vicinity of the turbo while the engine is running can reach 190 degrees Celsius.

“But that’s just part of the story,” he said. “Under the bonnet of the TDV8 the average temperature can be 120 degrees.

“That’s hot, but not a problem in itself. It’s when the engine is turned off and there’s no airflow to carry heat away that you get localised peak temperature gradients. Over a period of time high temperatures obviously have an impact on components, structures and ancillaries. So it’s sensible to give the engine all the help you can to easy the temperature burden.”

How? Simple. Just allow the engine to idle for at least 30 seconds when it comes off load. That brings down the overall temperature and gives the inevitable post-shutdown temperature rise less opportunity to cook the engine and its surrounding component.

“That in turn will lengthen the life of the engine and its components,” said Horne.

(this article was taken from carkeys.co.uk)

This entry was posted on Friday, November 24th, 2006 at 10:48 am and is filed under Land Rover, New Models. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.