S3C Otter Switch & Overheating
Discussion
I have a couple of questions if I may for your collective genius' to answer please.
My beloved S3C decided that 10 minutes of traffic in the centre of Henley recently was too much and decided to overheat rapidly; suffice to say lots of steam and hot water all over the excellently placed pub car park (right next to a lovely lady in her brand new Range Rover - lots of smiles from her)
.
After nursing the car to the Thames Valley Sports Car Show (a few TVRs in attendance, excellent show at the end of May) and home again I checked the obvious things such as fan working etc. and it appears that the previous owner has bypassed the thermostat and hard-wired the fan to be switched on permanently. Unfortunately, the connectors to the fan had come apart (oh b*g**r)
. One swift reconnection later, some additional support for the connector and all seems well again.
So to the questions:
1. Do I leave things as they are or re-wire into the thermostat, maybe adding a Kenlowe???
2. Has anyone got a picture of the radiator pipes and otter switch on an S3C as mine has a flexible hose and no otter and not a solid pipe as in the S2 pictures from the bible? Is this correct for an S3C?
Any help/thoughts or views are greatly appreciated.
My beloved S3C decided that 10 minutes of traffic in the centre of Henley recently was too much and decided to overheat rapidly; suffice to say lots of steam and hot water all over the excellently placed pub car park (right next to a lovely lady in her brand new Range Rover - lots of smiles from her)
. After nursing the car to the Thames Valley Sports Car Show (a few TVRs in attendance, excellent show at the end of May) and home again I checked the obvious things such as fan working etc. and it appears that the previous owner has bypassed the thermostat and hard-wired the fan to be switched on permanently. Unfortunately, the connectors to the fan had come apart (oh b*g**r)
. One swift reconnection later, some additional support for the connector and all seems well again. So to the questions:
1. Do I leave things as they are or re-wire into the thermostat, maybe adding a Kenlowe???
2. Has anyone got a picture of the radiator pipes and otter switch on an S3C as mine has a flexible hose and no otter and not a solid pipe as in the S2 pictures from the bible? Is this correct for an S3C?
Any help/thoughts or views are greatly appreciated.
This is my S3C (with cats removed) - has the metal pipe and otter switch as standard.
If you go to the web site at www.tvrgit.com and go to "previous diary pages" for 1 May 2004, there are a couple of other pics of the same car, that might help.
I would suggest that although "fan always on" is better than "fan always off", you would be better with a thermostatic control - otherwise you'll wear the fan motor out prematurely. If you can't get the steel pipe made to pattern and install the otter switch (the standard TVR installation is pretty crude!) then kenlowe might be the best bet - they make (or certainly used to!) an adjustable thermocouple that slips between the radiator hose and the stub, to measure water temperature and switch the fan on at whatever temperature you set.
If you go to the web site at www.tvrgit.com and go to "previous diary pages" for 1 May 2004, there are a couple of other pics of the same car, that might help.
I would suggest that although "fan always on" is better than "fan always off", you would be better with a thermostatic control - otherwise you'll wear the fan motor out prematurely. If you can't get the steel pipe made to pattern and install the otter switch (the standard TVR installation is pretty crude!) then kenlowe might be the best bet - they make (or certainly used to!) an adjustable thermocouple that slips between the radiator hose and the stub, to measure water temperature and switch the fan on at whatever temperature you set.
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