THE PORTAL HUB - Pinzgauers, Haflingers, Volvo 303s and more!

How well does the 710M do in a hot humid climate, especially when crawling slowly through bush?

Thanks.

How hot? How humid? Im in Northern Virginia and its much more humid here than people expect. Its a swamp after all. Vehicles rust here simply by standing still

They will do well as long as you stay up on the maintenance. In fact, i believe they have a specific design modification for that type of environment.

But why would you subject a pinz to an environment where it will rot out? There are many many other off road vehicles that are better suited for off roading and general wear n tear. (Toyota Hylux? Jeeps?)

audiocontr wrote:How hot? How humid? Im in Northern Virginia and its much more humid here than people expect. Its a swamp after all. Vehicles rust here simply by standing still

They will do well as long as you stay up on the maintenance. In fact, i believe they have a specific design modification for that type of environment.

But why would you subject a pinz to an environment where it will rot out? There are many many other off road vehicles that are better suited for off roading and general wear n tear. (Toyota Hylux? Jeeps?)

Hi, I own a LR Defender and a Jeep YJ, both have to be constantly maintained to help fight the rust.

My main concern was the temperature. I spend most of the time creeping in the bush where it is usually very hot and humid. Do these vehicles overheat easily?
I am in The Bahamas so its very tropical weather here.

Thanks.

Not so humid in Victoria, Australia, but I've driven my 712 a number of times over the years and for prolonged periods in 40+C (100+F) and it's never faltered, but as regards corrosion I'd have to say the newer the vehicle the better the corrosion protection.....obviously SDP improved their corrosion protection methods and materials over the years.
My 710-1.6 which spent several years up north around Cairns, which is on the coast and has high humidity did suffer rust, particularly around the seams and joins, however my 718 which spent its life in the tropical conditions of Malaysia showed minimal signs of corrosion.
I'm generalising somewhat, but in talking to owners around the world and if you don't add in factors like road salting, etc, then the above appears generally correct.

I have driven in the desert in SoCal at 113 F and no issues. There was a bit of rust when I lived in Seattle as it was a bit damp.
Not much bothers the pinz except neglect. Keep after the issues and it will be fine...mine is 43 years old and I have a bit of surface rust, no major issues.

My 710 lived previously in the desert of Arizona, Quartzsite to be exact, and was used off-road for hours/days at a time. No issue.

I don't think a properly maintained pinz is going to be any better or worse than another air cooled vehicle of that age.

I've driven mine at 110+ a few times, the Pinz runs the same as it does at 72 degrees. High temps don't seem to affect it at all.

High Temps would effect me! I need cooling!!! I rarely drive my truck in the summer months. It's a spring and fall truck for me.

Thanks,

Besides owning a couple Beetles, motorbikes and the lawnmower, I have very little experience with air cooled engines.

No issues with the Pinz, here in So. Ca. just me. I am lining mine with insulation to keep me cooler.

I've never heard of a Pinzgauer overheating, come to think of it.

I think air-cooled motors handle heat very well.....I only hope my 718 will cope near as well.

In the late 70's, I was camping for a week with friends in a valley in the Vic Alps......I was in the Haflinger.
It was Summer and the whole time had been hot, but this day was a real a stinker (45C+) and we decided to head home early given the bushfire danger and that the only real track out was steep and rocky.
I remember the trip out well because it was the only real time either the Haflinger (or Pinzgauer) played up because of heat and even then it wasn't a motor problem, rather we had fuel vapourisation problems.
We lagged the fuel lines with wet cloth, but on the steep tracks it would always play up on the trickiest rocky sections, so we ended up making a water drip system with some spare hose and a 20L Jerry of water.....I guess you could say the Haffy was water-cooled at that stage

I've never had to do that trick on the Pinny.

The only heat related problem that I've had is in regards to the EFI conversion - initially my system used an external fuel pump, and in desert temperatures the fuel would vaporize just due to the ~10" of draw above the level of fuel in the tank. Topping off the tank increased the fuel height, reducing the draw, temporarily fixing the problem. The long term solution was to engineer an in-tank pump, so it never had to draw any suction.

Carburated engines don't seem to have the same issue; probably due to the much slower fuel flow and the fact that the EFI fuel system continuously pumps the fuel around in a loop, through the hot engine compartment, which gradually heats the fuel in the tank. My gas tank was hot to the touch during my EFI vaporization problems.