Anyone using a radiator blind in this cold weather?
Discussion
For those who haven't mothballed thier cars that is,
I've been toying with the idea of a grill cover to get the engine / heater temps up without changing the stat.
So has anyone tried this and if so is there an optimal sized hole for airflow?
I'm using an 82degree stat and on a run the temps are in the low 70s read from the ECU gauge not the dash
Also would refitting a splitter help bring temps up a bit?
I've been toying with the idea of a grill cover to get the engine / heater temps up without changing the stat.
So has anyone tried this and if so is there an optimal sized hole for airflow?
I'm using an 82degree stat and on a run the temps are in the low 70s read from the ECU gauge not the dash
Also would refitting a splitter help bring temps up a bit?
I ran a rad blind in the winter when I first bought my Chimaera.
This was for two reasons.
1. My temp gauge showed the car to be running very cool on cold days (50 degrees or less on a run)
2. My heater wasn't particularly effective on those colder winter days
Both the overcooling symptoms were much worse when travelling a speed for sustained periods.
Both issues clearly pointed to over cooling, right?
Well the rad blind helped a lot but it was always going to be a compromise between a hot heater on the move & getting close to overheating in town.
I tuned it to give the best heater performance at speed yet safe running temperatures in town, but it definately a crude compromise.
I do'nt use the rad blind anymore because the truth is the overcooling turned out to be a combination of two things:
1. My heater got much much more effective after Rob Robertson fitted a new cam
Clearly this was nothing to do with cam as such, but a consequence of Rob bleeding the cooling system properly when he put everything back together.
There must have always been a pocket of air in the system, bleeding it properly improved the heater performance from hardly adequate on a cold day to very effective.
2. At this point I was nice & toasty warm yet surprised to see the TVR temp gauge was still only displaying 55 degrees at best on a cold day over 60mph.
So I did the Range Rover temp sender mod and the guage now follows the correct coolant temperatures shown on my Canems ECU software.
At speed on a cold day the temp gauge shows 80-85 degrees and the heater is great with no need for that rad blind.
So it wasn't really over cooling as such, its just the TVR guage & sender combo was misleading me and the air trapped in the cooling system meant the heater was ineffectual.
The two symptoms conspired together to convince me it was overcooling, but in truth I was being misled.
I don't use my rad blind anymore.
Before you resort to the rad blind my advice is do the Range Rover sender mod and bleed every last bit of air out of the cooling system to get your heater working at its best.
After that you should see the whole setup that TVR designed works very well indeed.
This was for two reasons.
1. My temp gauge showed the car to be running very cool on cold days (50 degrees or less on a run)
2. My heater wasn't particularly effective on those colder winter days
Both the overcooling symptoms were much worse when travelling a speed for sustained periods.
Both issues clearly pointed to over cooling, right?
Well the rad blind helped a lot but it was always going to be a compromise between a hot heater on the move & getting close to overheating in town.
I tuned it to give the best heater performance at speed yet safe running temperatures in town, but it definately a crude compromise.
I do'nt use the rad blind anymore because the truth is the overcooling turned out to be a combination of two things:
1. My heater got much much more effective after Rob Robertson fitted a new cam
Clearly this was nothing to do with cam as such, but a consequence of Rob bleeding the cooling system properly when he put everything back together.
There must have always been a pocket of air in the system, bleeding it properly improved the heater performance from hardly adequate on a cold day to very effective.
2. At this point I was nice & toasty warm yet surprised to see the TVR temp gauge was still only displaying 55 degrees at best on a cold day over 60mph.
So I did the Range Rover temp sender mod and the guage now follows the correct coolant temperatures shown on my Canems ECU software.
At speed on a cold day the temp gauge shows 80-85 degrees and the heater is great with no need for that rad blind.
So it wasn't really over cooling as such, its just the TVR guage & sender combo was misleading me and the air trapped in the cooling system meant the heater was ineffectual.
The two symptoms conspired together to convince me it was overcooling, but in truth I was being misled.
I don't use my rad blind anymore.
Before you resort to the rad blind my advice is do the Range Rover sender mod and bleed every last bit of air out of the cooling system to get your heater working at its best.
After that you should see the whole setup that TVR designed works very well indeed.
I'm running out of ideas to be honest I have fitted a new thermostat and matrix the car doesn't over heat when stationary so the fans are working well the rad is new and has an intercooler in front of it with the oil cooler infront of that, I'm taking my temp readings from the ECU so I know they are correct,
Also after a blast I popped the bonnet and the plenum was really cold so I'm guessing this points to too much air flow through the rad which had a cowling on it too
I have bled the system and when stationary the temps rise again relatively quickly and the heater warms up.
I'm guessing I will have to put in an 88deg stat and run at around 90 degs in town, at the mo it gets no hotter than 87degs with the 82 deg stat and the fans pull it down to 83.
In the hot weather it was perfect in all conditions but having a s
te heater is grim.
I should add it is the whaler stat with a jiggle pin so that should bleed nicely, and I have two vent coming from the rear of the inlet manifolds to aid bleeding, I doubt that there is any air in the system
Also after a blast I popped the bonnet and the plenum was really cold so I'm guessing this points to too much air flow through the rad which had a cowling on it too
I have bled the system and when stationary the temps rise again relatively quickly and the heater warms up.
I'm guessing I will have to put in an 88deg stat and run at around 90 degs in town, at the mo it gets no hotter than 87degs with the 82 deg stat and the fans pull it down to 83.
In the hot weather it was perfect in all conditions but having a s
te heater is grim.I should add it is the whaler stat with a jiggle pin so that should bleed nicely, and I have two vent coming from the rear of the inlet manifolds to aid bleeding, I doubt that there is any air in the system
Edited by slideways on Sunday 28th October 20:27
Bleeding is the key, mine(Cerb 4.5) has a larger alloy rad fitted & a 82deg stat, it ran 70+ on a run but was a pain in traffic. I bought a Sykes coolant pressure tester
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/sykes-pickavant-no-318-c...
The result is perfect no more silly high temps in traffic at all, fans kick in at 92 - 94 can drift to 97 at long roadworks T/lights in summer but no more than that.
This is perfect for bleeding as well what its intended for,very easy to use.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/sykes-pickavant-no-318-c...
The result is perfect no more silly high temps in traffic at all, fans kick in at 92 - 94 can drift to 97 at long roadworks T/lights in summer but no more than that.
This is perfect for bleeding as well what its intended for,very easy to use.
After inspecting my hose layout I think I might have too much in the way of bleeding past the thermostat, I have the rear of inlet manifold hoses that feed the turbos bleeding to the swirl pot and the turbo water returns going to the swirl pot, if I take out the bleed pipe and have the return going to the heater that will at least help warm things up a bit, there is plenty of bleeding going past the thermostat jiggle pin to remove any air locks
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