Originally Posted by wpoll

I ran my 3.0d like that for a while, while waiting on a new viscous coupling after the original died (bearing failure). Engine temps were fine, in fact warm up seemed slightly quicker and engine was certainly quieter.

I was a little worried about how hot the acoustic cover got though, especially near the EGR pipe etc. at the front - almost too hot to touch after town trip at slow speeds... I've seen pictures of these covers melted away at that point....

My EGR pipe is not water-cooled - just a bare pipe, so maybe that adds to the heat radiating from it, compared to the water-cooled EGR pipe I see on euro cars.

Fitted the new (OEM Hella) viscous coupling once it arrived from the UK and the acoustic cover is much cooler...