Routing cable from fuse box...
Routing cable from fuse box...
Author
Discussion

brogenville

Original Poster:

941 posts

231 months

Wednesday 18th July 2007
quotequote all
Hello all, Ive been a reader on PH's for ages, and have bought and sold usaing it too, but here is my first posing!

In short, I said goodbye to an elise 160 at the weekend, and at the same time became a very proud cerbera owner biggrin. Naturally Ive already made up a list of things to do on the car, top of which is to address the rather high under-bonnet temperatures that the cerberas are common for. I fancy just installing a switch in the cabin somewhere that grounds the terminal on the two fan relays that activates the fans (who would go to the bother of running new leads under the bonnet/installing new relays etc?). I've already found the two wires that I need to ground out, but I was hoping someone might have some advice as to the best way to route a couple of small wires from the cabin to the boot.

Anyone got any suggestions?

Gazzab

21,650 posts

312 months

Wednesday 18th July 2007
quotequote all
Hi.
My suggestion is to sort the reason for high temps first of all eg replace or flush out rad, bleed system, use wetter water, get a TCS chip etc.... Bodging the fans like that would be MY last resort (ok torching would be my last resort).

brogenville

Original Poster:

941 posts

231 months

Wednesday 18th July 2007
quotequote all
i've already done a bleed and added some wetter water, and certainly the temps stay a bit smoother now, I just get a bit uneasy at how late the fans seem to kick in. Sitting in traffic in your TVR mak look smart, but when your rad cap goes pop, you're not going to look so cool any more!

Thing is, the cooling chip really only does the same thing which is to cut the fans in sooner (I know, it also helps to cycle them more often, and to help them cut in at the same temp as the stat). The chip also costs £70 more than my solution, and to be honest, theres a certain comfort in knowing that your fans have definetly come on.

JensenA

5,671 posts

260 months

Wednesday 18th July 2007
quotequote all
get used to the car first - it's a race engine in the Cerb, not a nice smooth 4 cyl Toyota/Rover (??) engine like the Elise.
The radiators do get clogged up with age - I had the one on my '99 re-cored and it gave me a 10 degree drop in temp, now runs at a constant 80 have 100% confidence in my fans coming on.
If your worried about spending £70 - be scared, be very scared smile

Good luck and welcome to the fold.

brogenville

Original Poster:

941 posts

231 months

Wednesday 18th July 2007
quotequote all
Its my intention to look after the car, and as such, if it needs money spent on it, then so be it. I got into this with my eyes open, and with a big tub of KY jelly for when the big bills start hitting home! I know £70 is nothing really, I just dont feel that it makes that much sense, when I can do (basically) the same job for nothing. Nobody agree?

brogenville

Original Poster:

941 posts

231 months

Wednesday 18th July 2007
quotequote all
Re-coring does sound like a good odea though- I know a local place that does great work re-coring radiators, which to me, sounds like a more sensible option.

Marian

1,860 posts

243 months

Wednesday 18th July 2007
quotequote all
Wahay, another new Cerb owner in Scotland clap

brogenville

Original Poster:

941 posts

231 months

Wednesday 18th July 2007
quotequote all
I know- we're an elite bunch up here! cool

Marian

1,860 posts

243 months

Wednesday 18th July 2007
quotequote all
brogenville said:
I know- we're an elite bunch up here! cool
yes

JensenA

5,671 posts

260 months

Wednesday 18th July 2007
quotequote all
brogenville said:
I know- we're an elite bunch up here! cool
I know - your already running our country biggrin

TT Tim

4,168 posts

277 months

Wednesday 18th July 2007
quotequote all
brogenville said:
I know- we're an elite bunch up here! cool
What? This kind of Elite?



Just thought I'd carry on the Lotus link. biggrin

Can understand the twitchyness of overheating, my old Elise popped it's head gasget and overheated BIG time - never did get it sorted, which was a real shame as it was a really sweet car. I still remember sitting in traffic watching the STACK instruments click up one degree at a time, we don't know how lucky we are with an inaccurate needle gauge. yes

Welcome to the fold BTW smile

Tim

brogenville

Original Poster:

941 posts

231 months

Wednesday 18th July 2007
quotequote all
Ah yes, another scotsman has taken hold of the country!

I actually quite liked the digital stack gauges, though I wouldn't exactly call the fuel gauge accurate- I could often drive for a good half hour before the fuel level dropped by even one litre! Magic cars those loti...dont even need fuel!

Byker28i

91,856 posts

247 months

Wednesday 18th July 2007
quotequote all
I've just gone the same recore route that Alan has (from the same place). £150 for a complete rebuild/recore of the rad. I'll pick the car up tomorrow so I'll let you know how it works, but I wasn't happy with the car hunting on/off fans at 95-105 either.

brogenville

Original Poster:

941 posts

231 months

Wednesday 18th July 2007
quotequote all
Cheers, I'll keep an eye out for your reply.

Keithyboy

1,940 posts

300 months

Thursday 19th July 2007
quotequote all
Welcome. As has been eluded to above - your temp gauge is also likely to be reading 10 degrees above what the coolant temp actually is because of the route the capillary tubing to the gauge is run. biggrin

brogenville

Original Poster:

941 posts

231 months

Thursday 19th July 2007
quotequote all
So I've heard- I'm gong to have a look at routing the capilarry tube as far away from the manifolds as possible in order to minimise this effect. Even so, like its been said above, 95 degrees seems pretty hot for the fans to come on, especially when you want your coolant to be sitting around 80-83 degrees.

Byker28i

91,856 posts

247 months

Thursday 19th July 2007
quotequote all
Keithyboy said:
Welcome. As has been eluded to above - your temp gauge is also likely to be reading 10 degrees above what the coolant temp actually is because of the route the capillary tubing to the gauge is run. biggrin
Yup - but in my case the software diagnostics agreed with what the temp guage was telling me.