Radiator blind

[quixote]

I've been checking it pretty regularly as I just wasn't convinced it was opening. The stat housing and lower hose is pretty much stone cold unless I physically restrain the fan and drive the truck hard. I don't know for sure, of course, but that pretty much has me convinced the airflow and fan alone are doing a seriously good job of cooling the head :nenau

 

[Madmark]

I don't see a problem.

:nenau

I just get in turn on and switch on the heated seats until the heater's warm.

:augie

Me too in my cumfy bucket seats my ass is toasty within couple of mins and sweating in 5 lol

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

I've been checking it pretty regularly as I just wasn't convinced it was opening. The stat housing and lower hose is pretty much stone cold unless I physically restrain the fan and drive the truck hard. I don't know for sure, of course, but that pretty much has me convinced the airflow and fan alone are doing a seriously good job of cooling the head :nenau

The bottom hose is supposed to be cool...

The hot water goes into the top of the radiator, and the cooled water sinks, and goes out the bottom. On mine, often the top hose can be too hot to hold, but the bottom hose is cool, even after driving for 6 miles or so.

The radiator on the T2 is very big, and even when over half of mine was blocked with mud, it could keep the car cool, in fact, I only realised it was blocked when I stuck the caravan on the back, and she got hot going up Reigate hill.

The point of the thermostat is to stop the water from around the engine entering the radiator via the top hose before the engine is up to 82/88 degrees. Once the engine is up to that temp, the thermostat opens, letting some hot water out of the engine water jacket, into the radiator via the top hose, and pulls some cool water back in from the bottom of the radiator. This will reduce the engine temp, and the thermostat will close again. The water inside the engine is pumped around the engine and the heater matrix, regardless of whether the thermostat is open or closed, taking the whole circuit up to the same temperature.

There should never be a need on modern cars to cover the radiator, as if the engine is not getting up to temperature, it has to be either:=
the thermostat is not sealed properly, or is jammed open, or
the heater in the car is pumping out more heat than the engine can generate, or
the engine is running too weak on mixture and therefore running cool.

 

[solarman216]

Lazy ferret beat me to it with a very good explanation, Rick

 

[solarman216]

one thing I will add is does your fan roar at high revs just for a couple of mins after startup or does it roar all the time, Rick

 

[quixote]

I must be overthinking things. You know how it is when you get something stuck in your head and it just keeps you second-guessing yourself? :nenau

I'll order an 88 degree thermostat and swap them over.

And then I'm going to stop thinking about the bloody thing :lol:lol:lol

Edit: Just noticed your question, Rick. Fan's only noisy for a few minutes, but it does spin all the time. You can feel some resistance when you turn it by hand, but it doesn't feel as though the viscous coupling's goosed. Might be an idea to buy a replacement and compare them. At least that way, if it's not yet goosed I have a spare. And if it is buggered I'll just replace it

 

[Madmark]

Even mine gets warm fairly quick.and I have viscouse fan fixed as it failed. So fan is always turning same speed as engines at all times. Helps with off roading and towing but my temp guage sit half way perfectly and warm within 3 miles on the frosty morning the other day.

 

[quixote]

I'm probably being paranoid. I had the devils own job bleeding the system a while ago and it had me tearing (what's left of) my hair out. Heater was fine up until a week or so ago when the temperature dropped pretty quickly and I started to notice performance had dropped off a bit. It's probably just a combination of the large cabin being at ambient (minus!) temperatures, and ambient air at (minus!) temperatures being blown through the heater matrix. And me being a muppet :lol

 

[terranosaurusdoug]

one thing I will add is does your fan roar at high revs just for a couple of mins after startup or does it roar all the time, Rick

Mine roars loudly all the time Rick, at least that what I reckon it is, is it buggered?

 

[solarman216]

Mine roars loudly all the time Rick, at least that what I reckon it is, is it buggered?

yep and it is sapping 5 bhp all the time, it should only roar after start up cos the viscous fluid has sunk to the bottom and so drives the fan till centri force pushes it to the outside after that the fan goes into idle mode, Rick

 

[terranosaurusdoug]

yep and it is sapping 5 bhp all the time, it should only roar after start up cos the viscous fluid has sunk to the bottom and so drives the fan till centri force pushes it to the outside after that the fan goes into idle mode, Rick

Five bhp bugger, it sounds so good too :lol

I think i was a bit misleading actually, I've never heard it roar when I start it up, fan moves on tick over all the time, and when I rev engine or accelerate it is very loud, I mean head turning loud sometimes!

 

[solarman216]

Five bhp bugger, it sounds so good too :lol

I think i was a bit misleading actually, I've never heard it roar when I start it up, fan moves on tick over all the time, and when I rev engine or accelerate it is very loud, I mean head turning loud sometimes!

noooo, if it is head turning roar while driving above 2k revs it is stuffed, Rick

 

[Thomas-the-Terrano2]

fan might appear to turn all time, but is being dragged by viscous rather
slipping than locked ,

theory is on a warm not hot engine use a carrot in blades and will stop it.
dont use fingers in case is being driven....!

in our old sierras used to have lalf the rad covered by a piece of cardboard
covering front of rad, fastened by light weight wire.

in 10 years of t2,y61 and t2 never felt need to repeat. on way to work will be
close to regular temp within 5 minutes, at most 2 miles even in 30mph zones.

 

[terranosaurusdoug]

I will investigate, from what Rick says its buggered, I reckon he's right but I'll buy some carrots to be sure :lol
If it is buggered I've seen complete pump and clutch for about 50/60 squids, replace belts too and I can have sliced carrots for tea I get the premise like, engine never gets hot, gets upto halfway really fast compared to any other car I've had then sits there, never once seen it go higher and still fan roars, had next doors cat stuck to grille with suction last month :lol

 

[Madmark]

An easier test is get it up to temp then lift bonnet up then switch off engine. fan should stop with engine or very quickly after Or keep it'll keep spinning freely when engine has stopped that would indicate its no good


My temp would go up after a run and when I slowed right down to turn into my drive. As fan would spin but not fast enough to cope with lower air flow usually if I was towing and it had worked a bit harder than usual

 

[micktheshed]

Can't you just unbolt the fan blades as I've done on my 3L auto?
Even though I've replaced it with an electric fan this has only come on a handful of times in 4 years, & even then it was in the hot (LOL) weather towing 1.6T up a long gradient. Normally the temp. gauge never moves from 2/5ths.

BTW I also block off half the rad with foil during the winter. I've been doing this on every car I've owned for the past 45 years with no detrimental effects. My theory is that it can only give a quicker warm-up & thereby extend engine life.

I also had a Kenlow coolant heater on a 1.6 Montego, in the 80's, which worked very well......nothing quite like a warm car on a cold morning!

 

[solarman216]

BTW I also block off half the rad with foil during the winter. I've been doing this on every car I've owned for the past 45 years with no detrimental effects. My theory is that it can only give a quicker warm-up & thereby extend engine life.

what a waste of foil, it will have no effect at all to warm up as the cooling water is not circulated round the rad till the engine gets up to thermostat temperature and even then it only lets an amount of cool water that it needs and no more, but if you suddenly need to work the engine real hard your foil will severely restrict the cooling capacity of your rad, Rick