Help - Running VERY hot

[Dicky]

Anyone,

 

My 7 I have noticed runs VERY hot when starting out on a hot day. When I say hot I meant the needle is up in the red. It is fine once I am up to speed and cruising (falls to just above 80) but I am bit worrided that she is going to blow !!!

 

I think the fan might not be working fully, but can not be sure. There is plenty of coolant in the rad, and there are no leaks (as far as I can see).

 

Is it normal for a 7 to run this hot at times ?

 

Any ideas as to why it might be if not, other than the obvious like broken pump or fan or blockage.....

 

If it helps it is a 1600 K supersport with 40K on the clock.

 

As you may have noticed I am not super knowledgable on engine internals (beer spelling !)

 

Dicky

[Glenn Wheeler]

Make sure that the rad has no air lock, if it has it prevents the water making contact with the back of the radiator fan thermostat, hot air will not turn on the fan. Also is your coolant clean, if not consider a flush out of the system.

I had the same symptoms on my VX, carried out a flush and removed all air, now the temp is rock solid on 82 degrees while moving, and fan cuts in as soon as the temp goes anywhere near the red.

[Red SLR]

Be very careful.

 

Start the car up, let it idle until it gets to about 85c. If the fan has not come in then you have a problem.

 

Prob fan switch (£5) in the top of the rad.

 

Have a try tomorrow but I would not drive it with the warm temps we are having right now until you have traced the fault. A £5 part might end up with a £500 head gasket...

 

 

[Wrightpayne]

Dicky,

 

mine did this after the winter lay up. Thermostat faulty - drilled a couple of small holes in the new one to aid the bleeding problem with K's. Halfords do an 82' stat. The 78' one from Rover was too big for the housing.

 

 

Ian

[Myles]

Halfrauds *do* do an 82 Deg C stat.... but the seal is cr@p (slightly too large for my '01 EU3 engine thermostat housing).

 

I *did* simply just reuse the seal from the standard 88DegC rover jobby - and that seems to work just fine though....

 

 

 

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[MarkInstance]

I also have a 1.6 K and it seems to run very hot. On a hot day in traffic or while waiting for my go at Heyford on saturday it got up to 98 degrees (according to my stack) the fan only seemed to cut in at 92 degrees. What temp is a problem? When should I start to worry?

 

The car has just been serviced by Caterham and they did not say there was anything wrong with the cooling system! Do they check this?

 

 

Mark

[Nick Woods]

Try to borrow or buy a pyrometer or thermocouple so that you can monitor the engine temps independently of the gauge - Maplin do one for about £15 (www.maplin.co.uk product code UZ85G)

 

If the temps are ok it may be the sender, do a search as they are easy to replace and often fail

 

Also, if the temps are ok, check the earth connection (under the dash, left hand side, onto the wiper motor if you have one). A friend of mine cured his overreading gauge by cleaning the earth point

 

If its running hot according to the external temp gauge, try all the above and also get the coolant analysed for hydrcarbons. This will tell you if the head gasket is failing

 

Nick

Red and Black 1.6K supersport

visit Carrotland.co.uk

 

 

Edited by - Nick Woods on 28 Apr 2004 17:03:11