Best £20 I ever spent...

[M@H]

Well.. as promised for an article in Sprint I went over the cooling system on the car on Saturday, replaced the Otter switch and Thermostat, and gave the system a bit of a flush before re-filling it.

BRILLIANT

Now I get a constant 70 Degrees when on the move, and oo maybe 80-85 when queueing in traffic. If I just leave it on to roast itself, the fans are on promptly but also off a lot quicker than it was before, so the car's regulating its temperature much better than it was (and won't roast).

Having re-filled, despite leaving it to idle for about 20 minutes whilst finishing the fill and checking the fan was working ok, then going for a spin for five miles, then leaving it for a further 10-15 minutes on idle I couldn't get the car to misbehave in the slightest.

I'm most Happy.. Two hours work, and I know its all set and sorted for the forseeable future.

Cheers,
Matt.

[pbrettle]

Where did you get the Otter switch and thermostat from? Interested in getting them for mine. I have a fan override, but would be keen to not have to keep doing it manually and having a lower setting otter at least....

Please dont say I have to wait until next months sprint!

[M@H]

Jim at Harrogate Horsless Carriages sent them to me (nice chap, V. helpful)..
[phone].

I it was: £4.68 for the Thermostat, £1.24 for the Gasket, £8.15 for the otter, and £3 next day delivery, plus the dreaded vat.. £20.06 all in.

It will be Decembers Sprint too I'm afraid
Cheers,
Matt.

Edited to add; the current "standard" Otter is now a lower temperature too, the original one for the car was a 92 degree switch and the new one is an eighty something.

>> Edited by M@H on Monday 20th October 13:46

>> Edited by M@H on Monday 20th October 13:49

[Nick P]

will this cure the fact that my temp takes ages to warm up from cold and when on a run it sits at 60'c on the motorway at mph (ish)? Shouldnt it be sitting at 75-80'c?
the fans always seem to cut in around 75-80'c

[M@H]

Nick P said:

will this cure the fact that my temp takes ages to warm up from cold and when on a run it sits at 60'c on the motorway at mph (ish)? Shouldnt it be sitting at 75-80'c? the fans always seem to cut in around 75-80'c

Hmmm... Ages to warm up clearly suggests that your stat is stuck open (or missing ), as for the fans.. well no,thats way too early unless your car has been set up to run on the track.. (v.unlikely on your car but I believe shpub has a 74 degree otter switch on his 520). So to answer your question.. Yes.

Of course the other option is that the temperature gauge is reading too low.. best to check that first I reckon.
Cheers,
Matt



>> Edited by M@H on Monday 20th October 17:14

[tonyrec]

Nick P said:

will this cure the fact that my temp takes ages to warm up from cold and when on a run it sits at 60'c on the motorway at mph (ish)? Shouldnt it be sitting at 75-80'c? the fans always seem to cut in around 75-80'c

This is exactly the same problem as i had....until last week.
I took it to Tower View and they found that the Stat was stuck open (apart from the fact it was the wrong one!).
They replaced the otter switch, Stat for an 82Deg opening one, flushed the system and now the car is as M&H. It warms up in 2 mins and sits at 70 etc.

[pbrettle]

Ok, call me simple, but where is the thermostat located? Otter switch is fine cos I know which / where that one is (incidentally I have tried to remove it and failed - a la Steve Heath on the regular cleaning bit). But dont actually know where the thermostat is.... help?

[HarryW]

In the middle of the valley at the front of the engine, three bolts iRC where the big coooling pipes go. If you have power steering its a little more tricky to get at IMHO.

H

[MikeyT]

pbrettle said:

Ok, call me simple, but where is the thermostat located? Otter switch is fine cos I know which / where that one is (incidentally I have tried to remove it and failed - a la Steve Heath on the regular cleaning bit). But dont actually know where the thermostat is.... help?

an american car website said:

Any liquid-cooled car engine has a small device called the thermostat that sits between the engine and the radiator. The thermostat in most cars is about 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter. Its job is to block the flow of coolant to the radiator until the engine has warmed up. When the engine is cold, no coolant flows through the engine. Once the engine reaches its operating temperature (generally about 200 degrees F, 95 degrees C), the thermostat opens. By letting the engine warm up as quickly as possible, the thermostat reduces engine wear, deposits and emissions. If you ever have the chance to test one, a thermostat is an amazing thing to watch because what they do seems impossible. You can put one in a pot of boiling water on the stove. As it heats up, its valve opens about an inch, apparently by magic! If you'd like to try this yourself, go to a car parts store and buy one for a couple of bucks. The secret of the thermostat lies in the small cylinder located on the engine-side of the device. This cylinder is filled with a wax that begins to melt at perhaps 180 degrees F (different thermostats open at different temperatures, but 180 F/82 C is a common temperature). A rod connected to the valve presses into this wax. When the wax melts, it expands significantly and pushes the rod out of the cylinder, opening the valve. The wax happens to expand a good bit more because it is changing from a solid to a liquid in addition to expanding from the heat. This same technique is used in automatic openers for greenhouse vents and skylights. In these devices, the wax melts at a lower temperature.

I thought it was in the top hose?

[HarryW]

MikeyT said:

..... I thought it was in the top hose?

Didn't you just change it , yep top hose in the middle of the valley, to the side/behind of the dizzy .

Harry

[zippy500]

Hello Matt, out of interest do you know if the dealers stil supply the higher temp otter switch or have they been totally withdran. Did you ask for a lower temp one. i.e how did you know one was availiable.

[M@H]

zippy500 said:

Hello Matt, out of interest do you know if the dealers stil supply the higher temp otter switch or have they been totally withdran. Did you ask for a lower temp one. i.e how did you know one was availiable.

Hi, I knew because having finished off the job and got the car running, I noticed it switching at a lowere temperature so Phoned up HHC to ask.. they confirmed that as standard they now supply a lower temp otter.. didn't ask if you could still get the 92 degree one.

pbrettle said:

Ok, call me simple, but where is the thermostat located? Otter switch is fine cos I know which / where that one is (incidentally I have tried to remove it and failed - a la Steve Heath on the regular cleaning bit). But dont actually know where the thermostat is.... help?

Its between the engine block and the stat housing above the water pump, to the right of the distributer (if you're looking to the front of the car).. here:




If you can all wait till Decembers sprint you will get a full writeup and explanation with lots of pictures

>> Edited by M@H on Tuesday 21st October 11:14

[M@H]

HarryW said:

MikeyT said: ..... I thought it was in the top hose? Didn't you just change it , yep top hose in the middle of the valley, to the side/behind of the dizzy . Harry

Err.. the "Top hose" is the one to the Radiator, from the bottom of the Swirl tank.. The Thermostat is behind the stat housing.

[Nick P]

I've just ordered the same same package as mentioned at the top of the page from horseless carriages also.....very polite and helpful service and even advised me on bleeding the system without being asked...I will post up how the job goes in the next few days

[the dodger]

MikeyT said:

an american car website said: (snip-snip)..... Its job is to block the flow of coolant to the radiator until the engine has warmed up. When the engine is cold, no coolant flows through the engine......

Knob-head! It stops the flow of coolant to the radiator not the engine! There's a by-pass to keep the coolant circulating through the engine (and heater).

[HarryW]

M@H said:

HarryW said: MikeyT said: ..... I thought it was in the top hose? Didn't you just change it , yep top hose in the middle of the valley, to the side/behind of the dizzy . Harry Err.. the "Top hose" is the one to the Radiator, from the bottom of the Swirl tank.. The Thermostat is behind the stat housing.

AH I see the confusion, on the V8S fitting of the RV8 cooling system, the top hose from the swirl tank goes to the stat housing behind the dizzy (middle of the valley) bottom hose from the swirl goes to the top of the rad................tempted to use an Errr here but I'll refrain

Harry

[Nick P]

But isn't this a Chimaera forum?...why would we be discussing the position of swirl pots on RV8s or whatever they are?

[M@H]

Nick P said:

But isn't this a Chimaera forum?...why would we be discussing the position of swirl pots on RV8s or whatever they are?

Nick.. either thats really really ironic dry humour.. (which I'm hoping it is)

..or you have missed the point that RV8 is a short way to say Rover V8, which you'll find should be acceptable in a Chimaera Forum.

Cheers
Matt.


>> Edited by M@H on Thursday 23 October 11:24

[Nick P]

cheers....I thought an RV8 was something to do with MG's !!!!!

[HarryW]

Nick can I assume you've never had the bonnet up then

Harry