Overheating

Went up the M6 on Saturday got on the Toll road by mistake and back again
the next day.

Most of the time the temperature guage was just the right side of red, when
normally it never even gets past half way.

Plenty of water so that is not the reason.

I wonder if the best solution is to replace the fan with an electric one as
presumably the engine don't like being driven close to full throttle for
long periods .

I was going to fit a Kenlowe some time ago, until I was advised that the
plastic tags that push through the matrix frequently cause an aging radiator
to leak, and then if you replace the radiator you will have to get new
fixings.

--
Larry
Series 3 rust and holes

Larry wrote:

> Went up the M6 on Saturday got on the Toll road by mistake and back
> again the next day.
>
> Most of the time the temperature guage was just the right side of red,
> when normally it never even gets past half way.
>
> Plenty of water so that is not the reason.
>
> I wonder if the best solution is to replace the fan with an electric one
> as presumably the engine don't like being driven close to full throttle
> for long periods .
>
> I was going to fit a Kenlowe some time ago, until I was advised that the
> plastic tags that push through the matrix frequently cause an aging
> radiator to leak, and then if you replace the radiator you will have to
> get new fixings.
>

Series 3 should not overheat in conditions you get in the UK without a
fault, so you want to fix this rather than try and improve the cooling.
Likely problems are partly blocked radiator (air passages or water
passages), loose fan belt, badly corroded water pump impeller, soft lower
radiator hose collapsing under suction (but this is unlikely if the core is
not partly blocked), excessive buildup of garbage in the waterways of the
block. Also possibly retarded spark or faulty voltage stabiliser (or faulty
earth on it) on the gauge (in this case the fuel gauge would rise with
voltage as well as the temp gauge).
JD

Most likely a radiator past its sell by date full of gunge I would reckon,.
However most of the time it over cools not over heats so I am still of the
opinion it is hard driving or the fan over working when cool and under
working when hot particularly as if I take my foot of the accelerator for a
bit and let the traffic build up behing me the guage goes down. No reason to
suspect loose fan belt and the fuel guage does what it wants regardless and
certainly not in sympathy with the temp guage.

What a series 3 did from new and what it does at 30 + years old are
different things entirly.


--
Larry
Series 3 rust and holes


"JD" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> Series 3 should not overheat in conditions you get in the UK without a
> fault, so you want to fix this rather than try and improve the cooling.
> Likely problems are partly blocked radiator (air passages or water
> passages), loose fan belt, badly corroded water pump impeller, soft lower
> radiator hose collapsing under suction (but this is unlikely if the core
is
> not partly blocked), excessive buildup of garbage in the waterways of the
> block. Also possibly retarded spark or faulty voltage stabiliser (or
faulty
> earth on it) on the gauge (in this case the fuel gauge would rise with
> voltage as well as the temp gauge).
> JD

On Monday 25 April 2005 22:41, Larry([email protected]) wrote in message
<[email protected]>

> Most likely a radiator past its sell by date full of gunge I would
> reckon,. However most of the time it over cools not over heats so I am
> still of the opinion it is hard driving or the fan over working when cool
> and under working when hot particularly as if I take my foot of the
> accelerator for a bit and let the traffic build up behing me the guage
> goes down. No reason to suspect loose fan belt and the fuel guage does
> what it wants regardless and certainly not in sympathy with the temp
> guage.

Sounds like a combination of partially blocked radiator and a thermostat
jammed open. Does it also take a long time to get hot?

nobody checked thermostat yet?

What about a leaky head gasket? SOmetimes if the leak is tiny, it will only
occur under hard riving conditions and not really show at low speed?

Regards
Stephen

aha overlooking the obvios, I will need to check that.


--
Larry
Series 3 rust and holes



"StrangeRover" <[email protected]> wrote in
message news:[email protected]...
>
> nobody checked thermostat yet?
>
>
> --
> StrangeRover
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> StrangeRover's Profile:
http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/member.php?userid=566
> View this thread: http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/showthread.php?t=22509
>

"Larry" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Went up the M6 on Saturday got on the Toll road by mistake and back
> again
> the next day.
>
> Most of the time the temperature guage was just the right side of red,
> when
> normally it never even gets past half way.
>
> Plenty of water so that is not the reason.
>
> I wonder if the best solution is to replace the fan with an electric one
> as
> presumably the engine don't like being driven close to full throttle for
> long periods .
>
> I was going to fit a Kenlowe some time ago, until I was advised that the
> plastic tags that push through the matrix frequently cause an aging
> radiator
> to leak, and then if you replace the radiator you will have to get new
> fixings.
>
> --
> Larry
> Series 3 rust and holes

Stick to the old M6,,, you won't be able to get any speed up to generate
heat.

It's a cost v reward thing ;0)

Lee D