Newbie problem(?)
Discussion
I've just been out for a blast in my S1 (97) standard Elise, and had a bit of a strange thing happen when stuck in traffic.
My biggest fear is overheating, so I watch the temp gauge like a hawk, so when stuck in traffic and it started rising I thought 'this is normal'. But then, when it hit 100C it flashed straight to 108 and the temp started flashing- nothing in between! The fans cut in and it hovered around the 107/108 mark for a couple of seconds, then the traffic moved and it dropped back down to 100, then more slowly back to the 90'ish level that it normally runs at.
Has this ever happened to anybody before? The car's under an RAC warranty but I'm hoping that it could have been something that was stuck which is now free- the car had been standing on a forecourt and hasn't got been enough for the fans to cut in since I've had it.
If the traffic hadn't have moved- what's the best thing to do? I read somewhere that the water pump is driven from the end of the crank, so if you just stop the engine all that hot water will stay in the engine heating it further and will take forever to cool, which can't be good for the engine either- surely you need to keep it circulating to cool? Bit of a catch 22 situation as far as I can see.
Any help/reassurance would be most greatfully received!
My biggest fear is overheating, so I watch the temp gauge like a hawk, so when stuck in traffic and it started rising I thought 'this is normal'. But then, when it hit 100C it flashed straight to 108 and the temp started flashing- nothing in between! The fans cut in and it hovered around the 107/108 mark for a couple of seconds, then the traffic moved and it dropped back down to 100, then more slowly back to the 90'ish level that it normally runs at.
Has this ever happened to anybody before? The car's under an RAC warranty but I'm hoping that it could have been something that was stuck which is now free- the car had been standing on a forecourt and hasn't got been enough for the fans to cut in since I've had it.
If the traffic hadn't have moved- what's the best thing to do? I read somewhere that the water pump is driven from the end of the crank, so if you just stop the engine all that hot water will stay in the engine heating it further and will take forever to cool, which can't be good for the engine either- surely you need to keep it circulating to cool? Bit of a catch 22 situation as far as I can see.
Any help/reassurance would be most greatfully received!
It probably wouldn't do any harm to bleed the system to make sure you haven't got any air locks, then keep a close eye on coolant levels (you should be doing this, anyway!), but I wouldn't worry too much.
The digital temperature readout is a bit oversensitive at times and does tend to fluctuate worryingly...if you had an old-fashioned, inaccurate Smith's gauge with a well-damped needle instead of an LCD readout that pretends to be deadly accurate to the last degree C, you'd never even notice the fluctuations.
Try switching your lights on and off and watch the temperature jump by 5 degrees, sometime, and it'll convince you to take the temperature readout with a pinch of salt!
Get the car up to temperature then leave it idling for a bit...so long as the fan cuts in and slowly pulls the temperature back down to the low 90's before cutting out again, you should be fine.
The digital temperature readout is a bit oversensitive at times and does tend to fluctuate worryingly...if you had an old-fashioned, inaccurate Smith's gauge with a well-damped needle instead of an LCD readout that pretends to be deadly accurate to the last degree C, you'd never even notice the fluctuations.
Try switching your lights on and off and watch the temperature jump by 5 degrees, sometime, and it'll convince you to take the temperature readout with a pinch of salt!
Get the car up to temperature then leave it idling for a bit...so long as the fan cuts in and slowly pulls the temperature back down to the low 90's before cutting out again, you should be fine.
ed, so lettin air in and out all time, When stuck in traffic there is no airflow through the radiator to cool the water and thus engine, if stationary for some time the temp will climb but the fan should cut in at 102 (as already stated) and fairly quickly bring the temp back down. One piece of advice posted on ths topc in the past is to leave plenty of room between you and the car in front to avoid the warm exhaust from further compounding the problem.
If the fan cuts in and brings the temp back down and your coolant level is OK then it is a case of TADTS.
If the fan cuts in and brings the temp back down and your coolant level is OK then it is a case of TADTS.
When the fan kicks in it draws a fair bit of current. If there's a dodgy earth connection somewhere, just the fan switching on will cause the stack temperature reading to jump a few degrees. To be honest, it sounds like completely normal behaviour to me. Car gets hot in traffic, rad fan kicks in, car gradually cools down 
>> Edited by speedy_jim on Friday 5th May 16:52
>> Edited by speedy_jim on Friday 5th May 16:52
Nope, don't listen to them...this is what's wrong with it mate.
Yesterday was a nice day so I assume you had the roof out. As such, the intake would have been able to suck in air from the cabin. According to my calculations, when we found you at PistonFest face down in the grass, 5 metres from the exit of the beer tent, you had consumed approximatly 5,798 units of alcohol (before admitting defeat and attempting to return to your tent).
As such, by Thursday, your body still contained 2,954 units of vodka, so every time you exhaled your trusty K series was running on a diet of superheated English summer air, a bit of go go juice, and pure vodka vapour. Whilst the engine was technically now capable of producing over 800bhp thanks to your Vladivar injection system, it was always going to be at the expense of a little heat.
Try it again in August and in theory the vodka will have dissipated from your body and she'll run sweet as a nut.
Hope this helps!!
>> Edited by Hard-Drive on Saturday 6th May 11:28
Yesterday was a nice day so I assume you had the roof out. As such, the intake would have been able to suck in air from the cabin. According to my calculations, when we found you at PistonFest face down in the grass, 5 metres from the exit of the beer tent, you had consumed approximatly 5,798 units of alcohol (before admitting defeat and attempting to return to your tent).
As such, by Thursday, your body still contained 2,954 units of vodka, so every time you exhaled your trusty K series was running on a diet of superheated English summer air, a bit of go go juice, and pure vodka vapour. Whilst the engine was technically now capable of producing over 800bhp thanks to your Vladivar injection system, it was always going to be at the expense of a little heat.
Try it again in August and in theory the vodka will have dissipated from your body and she'll run sweet as a nut.
Hope this helps!!
>> Edited by Hard-Drive on Saturday 6th May 11:28
Alot of people are of course fixated on the stack temp but there is lots of info on this website previous as to reasons and why fors for fluctuation etc just take the time to go back through the archives whats not been written about it is not worth writing about!
Threads like this dont help as they just serve to compound peoples paranoia as it continually fans the topic. Basically youve got a problem if its 20ish below normal opp temp or other end of the scale at nearly 120 and there is no sign of the fan you should then assume a praying position.
Threads like this dont help as they just serve to compound peoples paranoia as it continually fans the topic. Basically youve got a problem if its 20ish below normal opp temp or other end of the scale at nearly 120 and there is no sign of the fan you should then assume a praying position.
speedy_jim said:
When the fan kicks in it draws a fair bit of current. If there's a dodgy earth connection somewhere, just the fan switching on will cause the stack temperature reading to jump a few degrees. To be honest, it sounds like completely normal behaviour to me. Car gets hot in traffic, rad fan kicks in, car gradually cools down
Exactly... all elises do this to some degree.... the earthing can affect the stack reading, so you'll notice that the temp jumps from about 99 or 100 degres or so up to about 108 when the fans kick in... there's no way the temp can jump like this so quickly, it's just an issue with the earthing.... you can clean up all the earthing points, which will help, else just get used to its characteristics and you'll know what's "normal" and what's not.
Gassing Station | Elise/Exige/Europa/340R | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff