A couple of questions

Hi I am a newbie here and hope I can find someone out there that can help me out.

I have a couple of problems with my wife's 2002 K Series.

The first is that it is over heating. It is not losing any coolant and only seems to happen after about 15 minutes of driving and when going up hill. If I put the heaters on full blast then the guage goes down again. When I switch it off the fans go mad for a minute or so. I have bled the system to see if there is any air, but that seems OK. Does anyone have any ideas, could it be the water pump on it's last legs, and if so is this an easy DIY job?

The second one is less of a problem. The front wipers feel loose and can stop a couple of inches away from the bottom and when very wet go off of the edge of the screen. I have had a look at the linkage and there is a lot of play which is causing this. Is there a easy fix for this or would it be a new linkage?

Thanks in advance for any advise.


Simon

coolant may need changing
thermostat may be knackered

Thanks for the quick response. I will flush it out and change coolant. As for the thermostat there isn't one. This was taken out last year when I had a whole load of problems which led to HGF and one dead engine. Never put it back in thinking without it would keep it cooler.

also check the cap on the expansion tank,
when you change the coolant you could flush the system to try to remove a possible blockage from the radiator.

i may sound daft here but when it is overheating is it actually getting hot?
how does the ecm know what temp the coolant is without the thermostat?

Believe me if anyone is going to sound daft in the posting it will be me

I am assuming it is getting hot due to the fans going into overdrive when i stop and the fact that with blowers then put on full blast the temp guage goes down, and if i drive with heaters on all appears good with no fans. I thought the thermostat's only job was to open at a certain temperature and then circulate the water through the rad. but maybe that is a very simplistic view of things.

P.S. New exp tank and cap last year when engine changed. Thanks

yes i am being daft it is the temp sensor which tells the ecm what temp the coolant is.
But have you felt the temp of the engine when it overheats, has it really over heated.
If you think the pump is failing check for coolant leaking from the gland behind the pump bearing and/or rough and noisey operation with excessive play in the spindle.

To be honest the engine always feels warm, so not sure I would be able to tell if it is warmer than it should be. I will check for a coolant leak and for excessive play on pump. The only reason i thought of the pump is because of the fact that when I was bleeding the system i didn't get a constant flow out of the bleed valve, and it would drop off if engine revs dropped at all. Thanks again.

Sounds like the pump to me, with the stat removed the engine overcools.

With the stat removed, the engine takes forever to warm up, plus driving at 50mph in 5th causes the temp to plummet because of the air flow.

If your FL isn't doing this then coolant flow is poor.

Thanks for that.

Nope heats up real quick I would say withing 2-3 minutes of driving it is at normal temperature.

Is this an easy diy job and are there any handy tips anyone has if I chose to go for it myself?

I can't think what could be wrong with the water pump, it must be turning as it's driven by the cam belt. Unless the impeller has fallen off!
Are you absolutely certain there is no thermostat fitted because it's unusual to reach normal temperature so soon without one.
Has there been any additives in the cooling system previously? (thinking of your HG problems)
Some how you need to establish how much flow you have through the radiator. It could be at least partially blocked. It seems increased air flow through the heater matrix influences engine cooling more than air flow through the main rad.
Does the bottom rad hose get hot?

Pump being driven by cam belt would explain why when engine revs dip slightly I notice a drop in water flow out of bleed valve.

Guaranteed no thermostat I even took it off when I flushed the system to check and it has been drilled out of the plastic casing.

Prior to the engine failure local mechanic did try putting in some sort of weld stuff to fill any potential problem areas, but nothing else since new engine has been put in.

I have just checked the bottom rad hose, and although it does eventually get hot it takes a lot longer than the hoses into the thermostat housing which is strange seeing as there is not thermostat to stop if flowing freely all the way through.

scarey said:

I have just checked the bottom rad hose, and although it does eventually get hot it takes a lot longer than the hoses into the thermostat housing which is strange seeing as there is not thermostat to stop if flowing freely all the way through.

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If the engine is running in a stationary vehicle and no thermostat is fitted I would expect the top and bottom radiator hoses to be equally hot given you should have full circulation through the rad. If that's not the case then I suspect whatever has been in the cooling system has blocked the rad to some extent.

OK Thanks, what's the best way to flush out the rad?

In all honesty I've always exchanged. I don't know what products are available that could shift that crap.
Maybe others have had some experience of that kind of thing and will comment.

Thansk Chaser.

Anyone else out have experience of flushing out a rad and what is best?

remove the top and bottom hose, stick a hosepipe in the top connection, if it gushes out the bottom then the rad aint blocked.

The water pumps are well known to spin freely, thats where my money is.

Cam belt off jobby

Northern Irelander said:

The water pumps are well known to spin freely, thats where my money is.

Cam belt off jobby

Click to expand...

He seems to have water flow at the bleed screw though?

Chaser said:

He seems to have water flow at the bleed screw though?

Click to expand...

Gravity, plus pressure when hot

There will be a flow with the engine off, hot or cold