westfield zetec temp. misbehaving
Discussion
ok, have just been out in it tonight for about 30 mins and the temp seemed to behave a little better, but did run slightly hotter than usual and soon crept up to 100 when giving it some for short periods. Got home and slowly undid the lid on the water reservoir which appeared to be under quite high pressure and water gushed in from the exit(?) pipe in the bottom of the tank, enough that I had to replace the cap to prevent it from overflowing.....does anyone know if this is a bad sign or normal for it to be under pressure?
too many things it could be.Airlocks, clean rad and good airflow etc. What kind of Zetec have you got? Black top, silver top etc. Have you flushed the system? has it the correct orientation for the pump.The list goes on.It is not impossible to blow headgaskets on any engine, but usually there is an underlying issue which causes this.Sitting at 100 deg is quite high if it is running with air movement, mine would site at 85 deg and not move while moving.
it's a silver top, I haven't flushed the system yet so the coolant has been in there for a couple of years now. The radiator has a good collection of bugs across it but I would think it was still free enough to do its job, not sure about the orientation of the pump as I didn't build the car. I've had the car for 3 years and its always run at 90 but soon creeps up to 100 if giving it some, so on track days it sits up there all the time which is a little disturbing! Since I tracked it last week it appears to be running slightly hotter....but I'm not sure if it's something that I've done or a combination of the hot weather and paranoia!
They're meant to be run with pressure - this raises the boiling point of water.
100°C is fine in terms of damage (start worrying at about 110°C!), but not ideal in terms of power, where 85° to 90° is probably better (though this does depend on the engine - I discovered at the weekend that F3 engines run at about 58 - 60 to reduce detonation!).
Check the system for airlocks if you can, and check the radiator for mud, rubber, stones and flies blocking it, as well as bent fins blocking the airflow.
Finally, I've heard (but not tried) that Water Wetter can reduce temps by several degrees by lowering the surface tension of the water and promoting heat transfer. It's not too expensive, so possibly worth a try. Normal anti-freeze (which is also a corrosion inhibitor, so never go without it) also improves the heat transfer and thermal capacity of the fluid, so perhaps run a slightly higher percentage of that first.
100°C is fine in terms of damage (start worrying at about 110°C!), but not ideal in terms of power, where 85° to 90° is probably better (though this does depend on the engine - I discovered at the weekend that F3 engines run at about 58 - 60 to reduce detonation!).
Check the system for airlocks if you can, and check the radiator for mud, rubber, stones and flies blocking it, as well as bent fins blocking the airflow.
Finally, I've heard (but not tried) that Water Wetter can reduce temps by several degrees by lowering the surface tension of the water and promoting heat transfer. It's not too expensive, so possibly worth a try. Normal anti-freeze (which is also a corrosion inhibitor, so never go without it) also improves the heat transfer and thermal capacity of the fluid, so perhaps run a slightly higher percentage of that first.
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