Anyone else having cooling issues in this heat?

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scoobypete

New Member
Posts
54
Location
gloucestershire
having been chuffed to bits with my 2.5dse rangey since ive had it,today it let me down slightly when doing its first job which has kind of put a dampener on my enthusiasm for it...

I know its bloody hot at the moment,couple of times recently coming up the hill to home ive noticed the temp gauge creeping up slightly but always settles back to normal....have been to exeter and back 5 times in the last 3 weeks in it (220 mile round trip) with no issues and that wasnt taking it slowly either...

But today coming up the hill to home with the trailer on loaded with a 72 vw beetle which id just picked up from caerphilly (85 miles) it got hot so quickly and came to a halt by the side of the road....temp gauge in red.light on..no power,no acceleration,wouldnt kick down gear..just died.....sat by side of road for 15 mins with engine running/heater on to cool it down which it did and managed to crawl the last 3 miles home.....touch wood,its been ok since ive unloaded and dropped the trailer...

Havent had this issue with any of my other towing vehicles on same road in similar heat over the years so a bit stumped really as its not gonna be any good to me over the coming weeks if it cant cope with it....
Bearing in mind its had a new head about 6 months ago,the rad also looks new and i fitted a new A/T oil cooler myself the week after i bought it...so any of that could be possible issues

My dads got an older 2.5 dse which is knackered to say the least but that still manages to tow his horsebox up the same hill with two horses in it and doesnt budge from halfway on the gauge.....

Any ideas?
 
Check the rad is hot all over, they can silt up quite readily...

Check your viscous fan is working correctly too....

The Water pumps I have heard had Plastic vanes, that break off....there is a version out there with metal vanes....if some of the vanes have broken this will cause inefficent circulation....

Also the stat maybe stuck partially open/closed restricting flow....

Mine sits in the black area between blue and white....now the warmer weather is here and with A/C running she sits about 11-12o'clock position with the V/C Fan cuting in and out every now and then (esp. after a hill climb or harsh accelration) but fingers crossed never pased the 12o'clock mark.....
 
One other thing i forgot to mention,since ive had it ive kept an eye on the water level as every time i fill it up to max on the header tank,it always spits a bit out the overflow and drops to about halfway between the max mark and the bottom of the tank but never goes lower than this.....

have just been out and had it running,rads hot all over,viscous fans working fine,cant tell thermostat without removing,and water pump looks new so was possibly donw when the head was but seeing as its fine everywhere else except coming up the hill in the heat id imagine theyd be ok surely?
 
Hi had the same problem first I change thermo
No Change then water pump no change but glad I did impelor broken and finally got a radiator it was not until
I removed it and had new one to hand,that I knew it was the rad by how heavy it was compared to the new one really heavy and blocked all symptoms went away for the total including fan about £250 then you have a nice flowing water system and an saved head well worth it easy to do hope this of help
 
scoobypete said:
One other thing i forgot to mention,since ive had it ive kept an eye on the water level as every time i fill it up to max on the header tank,it always spits a bit out the overflow and drops to about halfway between the max mark and the bottom of the tank but never goes lower than this.....

have just been out and had it running,rads hot all over,viscous fans working fine,cant tell thermostat without removing,and water pump looks new so was possibly donw when the head was but seeing as its fine everywhere else except coming up the hill in the heat id imagine theyd be ok surely?
Click to expand...


How did you check the viscous fan? I can give you a mod to use the aircon fans for cooling:)
 
Mine normally sits at 12'O'Clock but in this hot weather and on a long trip (500 miles) it has been heading on over to the right and once into the red!! it stays out of the red if I stay under 50 but if I go faster it raises, I was thinking of flushing the complete cooling system out, by loosening off the top hose and stuffing a hosepipe into the rad, (as long as the Water Police don't catch me. Maybe it would be better to change the rad. Your suggestions would be welcome...
 
marquis said:
Mine normally sits at 12'O'Clock but in this hot weather and on a long trip (500 miles) it has been heading on over to the right and once into the red!! it stays out of the red if I stay under 50 but if I go faster it raises, I was thinking of flushing the complete cooling system out, by loosening off the top hose and stuffing a hosepipe into the rad, (as long as the Water Police don't catch me. Maybe it would be better to change the rad. Your suggestions would be welcome...
Click to expand...

Hi I don't like taking chances in this situation . Flushing in the late stages of blockages in the radiator have never really benefited me in these situations myself ,its cheaper to drain/ remove rad / water pump / thermo replacing gaskets checking items for wear damage I know it sounds a lot but it is quiet simple realy requiring one tool for vicious fan relatively cheap your be surprised how much crud can build up in radiators over a few years.
 
Data i can spin it freely when engines hot after just turning it off,is always the way ive been told to check them,if i cant spin it its failed.....i didnt have a newspaper on me to try and stop it when it was idling,but could probably check that tomorrow,whats the mod to get the aircon fans on just out of interest? pm me if you want paying for it or anything :)
I did turn the aircon on when i was waiting for it to cool down thinking it might power up those fans and help,all i got was warm air and the handbook/exclamation mark on the display so im assuming it needs regassing,this has since gone out since ive turned the a/c off tho but not really worried about that at this moment in time.

Think im gonna have to take rad out and check water pump etc this week then,got another car to pick up sunday from shropshire :/
 
scoobypete said:
Data i can spin it freely when engines hot after just turning it off,is always the way ive been told to check them,if i cant spin it its failed.....i didnt have a newspaper on me to try and stop it when it was idling,but could probably check that tomorrow,whats the mod to get the aircon fans on just out of interest? pm me if you want paying for it or anything :)
I did turn the aircon on when i was waiting for it to cool down thinking it might power up those fans and help,all i got was warm air and the handbook/exclamation mark on the display so im assuming it needs regassing,this has since gone out since ive turned the a/c off tho but not really worried about that at this moment in time.

Think im gonna have to take rad out and check water pump etc this week then,got another car to pick up sunday from shropshire :/
Click to expand...

That sounds like it might be a knackered viscous fan. Should be pretty stiff when hot. You should hear it cutting in when it gets hot... Quite a loud 'roar' when throttling up.
 
scoobypete said:
Data i can spin it freely when engines hot after just turning it off,is always the way ive been told to check them,if i cant spin it its failed.....i didnt have a newspaper on me to try and stop it when it was idling,but could probably check that tomorrow,whats the mod to get the aircon fans on just out of interest? pm me if you want paying for it or anything :)
I did turn the aircon on when i was waiting for it to cool down thinking it might power up those fans and help,all i got was warm air and the handbook/exclamation mark on the display so im assuming it needs regassing,this has since gone out since ive turned the a/c off tho but not really worried about that at this moment in time.

Think im gonna have to take rad out and check water pump etc this week then,got another car to pick up sunday from shropshire :/
Click to expand...

If you can spin the viscous when it's hot, it's knackered:eek:
PM me with an email address and I'll send you the fans mod, it's free. You can run without the viscous as the fans are enough for the job even here in sunny France although it's even better if the rad shroud is removed:)
 
I prefer it on myself but to answer your question 1 easy access 2 in winter months engine runs warmer. There so saving fuel . 3 saves buying a new one so saves cash and the apparently saves the engine working harder saving more fuel.
 
right,just got home from work,seems i was wrong....engines hot,got a little bit hotter coming up said hill so pulled over at the top,jumped out and tried to stop the fan blades with a rolled up newspaper to no effect soi guess that seems to be working ok...gonna try and getit over tim fry landrovers in the morning,see if they can diagnose whats up with it....in the meantime i think i will be using the aircon fans trick too :)
 
If it was the thermo stuck closed it would get hot and stay hot and keep rising stuck open would take a long time to warm up if water pump
Would also get hot quick and keep rising possible damage to head if not sorted . And finally your symptoms are of a blocked radiator! Save your money bite the bullet and put a new one in simples and whilst of check water pump air con fan will only mask problem and can only be used when overridden or with a temp sensor that will switch on when your temp gets to hot not going to solve the problem is it.
 
very true,im not convinced its the rad tho..it wasnt replaced by me but looks new and has a 2011 date sticker on it,would it really knacker up that quickly?

possible water pump more than the rad?
 
Ah well of coarse if that's the case and you have a new radiator not possible unless faulty and then you would have checked that heat was even all over failing that check thermo as per usual, boiling water failing that water pump failing that sensor at worst blocked waterways.
 
Where is your coolant level when cold?

I have had a burst rad hose that I repaired with greenline tape (still running on it), but when the engine get really warm, the pressure will force very small amounts of coolant out through it (really must replace it... ho hum...!) and you dont have to lose very much coolant before it will start overheating, even with an otherwise healthy system. I overheated a couple of weeks ago, without explanation... pulled over and let the fans do their job (I have no viscous fan and Datatek's mod, which works just fine). When I checked it after cooling for a few hours later, there was evidence that coolant had been forced past my repair, and about half a pint was required to top it up.

If you're sure there are no leaks in your system, I would do a good flush as the next step... just cold water (with engine cold, of course) back-flush through radiator, and see if that makes a difference... it's free for a start!

If your water pump were knackered, I'm fairly sure it would overheat all the time, not just when it's under heavy load. Stuck T-stat would also, I believe, produce consistent symptoms. You could also try taking the T-stat out altogether, to see if that makes a difference (also free)...
 
coolant level when cold is between max mark and the bottom of the header tank,this is where it always seems to return to no matter how much i top it up...just blows it out the overflow gradually.......
 
jamesblake said:
Silly question time......

What benefit is it to remove the vicious fan and let the aircon fans do the cooling??

Abuse at will....then explain simply :)
Click to expand...

On the diesel, it speeds warm up particularly in winter, the car is quieter and you can get a slight improvement in fuel economy depending on how you drive.
Most modern cars are fitted only with electric fans, at speed no fan is necessary, at low speed towing up hill for example with low revs the engine driven fan is not operating at full efficiency whereas the electric fans work at rull speed.:)
 
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