Overheating woes night before driving holiday
Discussion
So I was pottering around town today doing some last minute errands before going off on holiday tomorrow when I got stuck in traffic .... and noticed the temperature gauge get so high it was reading 80 psi on the oil presure gauge! 
I've checked the coolent and changed the fuses on both fans, but shes still overheating when stationary - as soon as shes moving everythings back to normal. I can hear a fan kicking in when the gauge reads 100, so I'm guessing that one of the fans isn't working.
The problem is that I'm booked on a P&O ferry tomorrow morning! I think that I can delay my sailing until Saturday night or Sunday morning, so was hoping that someone might have an idea of what might be up and how I can fix/bodge a repair, or recommend a garage that might be open on Saturday and have the parts and good nature to squeeze me in at short notice and try to fix it? A weeks fun on the German autobahns and possible trip the ring lie in the balance...
I've checked the coolent and changed the fuses on both fans, but shes still overheating when stationary - as soon as shes moving everythings back to normal. I can hear a fan kicking in when the gauge reads 100, so I'm guessing that one of the fans isn't working.
The problem is that I'm booked on a P&O ferry tomorrow morning! I think that I can delay my sailing until Saturday night or Sunday morning, so was hoping that someone might have an idea of what might be up and how I can fix/bodge a repair, or recommend a garage that might be open on Saturday and have the parts and good nature to squeeze me in at short notice and try to fix it? A weeks fun on the German autobahns and possible trip the ring lie in the balance...
You could also try putting a laptop on the ecu, and find out *exactly* what temp the engine is running at. The gauge on the dash is (relatively) independent of the temp reading to control the fans coming on and off (which is controlled from the ecu), and the dash gauge might be affected by the capillary being heated by something (as referred to here www.pistonheads.com/members/showServiceHistory.asp?carId=17340 )
If you can hear the fans going on, are they going off again? If so, at what temp (on the gauge)? When you say things are fine when you get going again, how soon after you "get going" do things return to normal? Straight away? A few minutes? (i.e. is the fresh air moving through the bay (potentually cooling the capillary) or is it air moving through the rad (because the fans aren't working/are slow)) What state are the fins in on the rad (though I realise it's the air con rad at the front that you'll see)? Is it chock full of leaves or something at the front?
Do you get both fans coming on? If not, then either the temp isn't reaching as high as the gauge is reading or (assuming fan motor & fuses are ok) the fan connector has become corroded (relatively common). This is easily found behind the fans, and frequently sits in the tray at the bottom of the rad in a handily collected trough of water
Take it apart and clean it (or just try disconnecting & reconnecting it a few times if you have no cleaner).
An air lock is a possibility, but I'd rather expect it to be unaffected by whether you're stationary or not (though I'm no expert in the ways of a cerb air lock or bleeding).
hth.
If you can hear the fans going on, are they going off again? If so, at what temp (on the gauge)? When you say things are fine when you get going again, how soon after you "get going" do things return to normal? Straight away? A few minutes? (i.e. is the fresh air moving through the bay (potentually cooling the capillary) or is it air moving through the rad (because the fans aren't working/are slow)) What state are the fins in on the rad (though I realise it's the air con rad at the front that you'll see)? Is it chock full of leaves or something at the front?
Do you get both fans coming on? If not, then either the temp isn't reaching as high as the gauge is reading or (assuming fan motor & fuses are ok) the fan connector has become corroded (relatively common). This is easily found behind the fans, and frequently sits in the tray at the bottom of the rad in a handily collected trough of water
Take it apart and clean it (or just try disconnecting & reconnecting it a few times if you have no cleaner). An air lock is a possibility, but I'd rather expect it to be unaffected by whether you're stationary or not (though I'm no expert in the ways of a cerb air lock or bleeding).
hth.
Just had exactly the same problem, found one of the fans not coming on, all fuses seem ok, took it all apart cleaned the connectors and all was well, then put the airbox and everything back and got the bloody MIL light on constant, thinking bad earth or something anyway will strip it all down tomorrow and do it properly. Does anyone know what would bring the Mil light on from this problem.
Thanks again - Ian
Thanks again - Ian
Sounds to me like your Otter Switch is gunked up or there is a poor coonection. It can be found by moving the lower cover over the steering rack. It's in the top of the iron pipe that leads back to the rad. This turns the fand on and off, the dial is a seperate system working off a long thermocouple and has nothing to do with the switch.
The MIL comes on as an overide to save the engine. If the Otter swotch is malfunctioning the ECU overides it and kicks the fans in to stop the motor cooking. This also sometimes causes the fans to come on when they are cold.
It's an easy job but you'll loose your coolant but should take 30 minutes to sort.
If it is that?!!!
Sounds like it though, had it myself, obviously!
The Otter switch is the one with the wires not the one with the thermocouple, don't mess with that!
The MIL comes on as an overide to save the engine. If the Otter swotch is malfunctioning the ECU overides it and kicks the fans in to stop the motor cooking. This also sometimes causes the fans to come on when they are cold.
It's an easy job but you'll loose your coolant but should take 30 minutes to sort.
If it is that?!!!
Sounds like it though, had it myself, obviously!
The Otter switch is the one with the wires not the one with the thermocouple, don't mess with that!
Edited by jonnyw on Friday 6th April 22:12
Thanks for the replies everyone. Some of the suggestions were a little beyond me, and I don't have the software to hook up a laptop to the ECU.
Anyway, after staring at the engine bay for some time yesterday morning and deciding that I hadn't even got a clue as to how to get at the fans, I gave TopCats a call on the off chance that someone would be there (I'd figured there was no real point phoning garages till Saturday, but was getting despirate and thought what the hec). Anyway, not only was Warren there, but he said I could bring the car straight over. Him and Brian looked at it straight away, and spent a couple of hours checking everything over. So mucho, mucho thanks to both of them for dropping everything and helping me out (and on a bank holiday too!).
At the moment it looks like there's a very, very slight leak on the cooling system, which I hadn't noticed for a while. Then, even though I'd finally topped up the coolent on Thursday, there'd been an airlock in the system (how silly of me not to strip the fan cover, air box, and two body panels off to get at a nut I didn't know existed!). So wish me luck touring around Germany, I'll be packing lots of coolent mix and keeping an eye on the level for sure.
Anyway, after staring at the engine bay for some time yesterday morning and deciding that I hadn't even got a clue as to how to get at the fans, I gave TopCats a call on the off chance that someone would be there (I'd figured there was no real point phoning garages till Saturday, but was getting despirate and thought what the hec). Anyway, not only was Warren there, but he said I could bring the car straight over. Him and Brian looked at it straight away, and spent a couple of hours checking everything over. So mucho, mucho thanks to both of them for dropping everything and helping me out (and on a bank holiday too!).
At the moment it looks like there's a very, very slight leak on the cooling system, which I hadn't noticed for a while. Then, even though I'd finally topped up the coolent on Thursday, there'd been an airlock in the system (how silly of me not to strip the fan cover, air box, and two body panels off to get at a nut I didn't know existed!). So wish me luck touring around Germany, I'll be packing lots of coolent mix and keeping an eye on the level for sure.
fadeaway said:
Thanks for the replies everyone. Some of the suggestions were a little beyond me, and I don't have the software to hook up a laptop to the ECU.
Anyway, after staring at the engine bay for some time yesterday morning and deciding that I hadn't even got a clue as to how to get at the fans, I gave TopCats a call on the off chance that someone would be there (I'd figured there was no real point phoning garages till Saturday, but was getting despirate and thought what the hec). Anyway, not only was Warren there, but he said I could bring the car straight over. Him and Brian looked at it straight away, and spent a couple of hours checking everything over. So mucho, mucho thanks to both of them for dropping everything and helping me out (and on a bank holiday too!).
At the moment it looks like there's a very, very slight leak on the cooling system, which I hadn't noticed for a while. Then, even though I'd finally topped up the coolent on Thursday, there'd been an airlock in the system (how silly of me not to strip the fan cover, air box, and two body panels off to get at a nut I didn't know existed!). So wish me luck touring around Germany, I'll be packing lots of coolent mix and keeping an eye on the level for sure.
Anyway, after staring at the engine bay for some time yesterday morning and deciding that I hadn't even got a clue as to how to get at the fans, I gave TopCats a call on the off chance that someone would be there (I'd figured there was no real point phoning garages till Saturday, but was getting despirate and thought what the hec). Anyway, not only was Warren there, but he said I could bring the car straight over. Him and Brian looked at it straight away, and spent a couple of hours checking everything over. So mucho, mucho thanks to both of them for dropping everything and helping me out (and on a bank holiday too!).
At the moment it looks like there's a very, very slight leak on the cooling system, which I hadn't noticed for a while. Then, even though I'd finally topped up the coolent on Thursday, there'd been an airlock in the system (how silly of me not to strip the fan cover, air box, and two body panels off to get at a nut I didn't know existed!). So wish me luck touring around Germany, I'll be packing lots of coolent mix and keeping an eye on the level for sure.
Given that coolant leaks are common, we should all know where the bleed screws are. These are the butterfly operated bleed screws of which there are two one on each bank of the engine that sit on top of the plumbing and underneath the airbox. You can access them with the airbox on. Don't unscrew more than half a dozen turns otherwise they fall into the plumbing (they screw down not up). If you have a problem with them, they are a standard Brass BSP bleed screw made by ford for tractors, oh and TVR!
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