Help, My X-Flow is starting to run hot,on idle it will climb up to 110 degC, the fan on override brings it down to just under 100, when cruising temp drops to 90 degC, is this normal?
Thermostat is rated 82degC, rad is Honda 180i dual core running a VW expansion bottle, am not losing any water, what do I look for????

Cheers

Temperatures don't sound too bad - my x-flow rarely reaches 110C, generally runs around 90 and occasionally reaches 100 in stop-start traffic. The fact that you're not losing water suggests that things aren't too bad.

Is your fan thermostatically controlled? That's what stops my temp going much over 100C. The original mechanical fan isn't very efficient.

If it worries you, there's always "Water Wetter", a coolant additive that can push the temp downwards (never tried it, myself).

David


[Edited on 11/10/06 by David Jenkins]

My fan is manualy switched on and does not drop the temp as quickly as I would like it does however stop the temp rising and gradually pull the needle back down.To get the temp down quickly I need a bit of open road.

Daft question - but as this has happened recently I'll ask anyway!

Is your rad blocked?

Otherwise, is your water pump OK? Fan belt tight enough to spin the pump?

David

Fair question,
Rad seems fine, pump is new and spins fine, I recently drained and re filled the system, could be an airlock??? The header tank sits at the same height as the Stat housing and the rad top

Just realised that I wasn't too accurate with my question - is the rad blocked on the outside where the air goes through?

Have you made any body mods in the recent past? For example, apart from blocking the hole in the nose, has anything changed behind that may block the hot air getting out?

(I still don't think that you have a real problem, though)

[Edited on 11/10/06 by David Jenkins]

David,

May be an obvious question, but are you sure your gauge is reading accurately?

I had similar woes when i rebuilt by xflow a few years ago but tied the problem down to a no so good earth.

Stephen

Not "David"... it's "Ham" who has the problem.

I'm happy with my engine's temperature! (He said, touching a bit of wood...)

[Edited on 11/10/06 by David Jenkins]

thermostat should keep things down to about 90. When stationary, fans should kick in, about 95 and then turn off at 90 due to hystereisis.

110 is too high. At idle you are not burning much fuel but also no forced air cooling - fasn should keep temp down.

What temp is the fan switch? Is it adjustable?

HAve you check your thermostat is opening?

Try repeating the test without a thermostat - that will rule that out of the causes.

And yes, as has been said, measure the temrperature with a thermometer - the guage my be lying?

If it was running cool enough before you changed coolant, I'd say you definitely have an airlock. You need to "burp" the air out of the system. I've watched my mechaninc do this (it works well when he does it) on my Pontiac Fiero GT (a notorious car for overheating problems, almost always related to airlocks). While the engine is running and the radiator cap off, he manually squeezes the bottom radiator hose and releases it. You can see the coolant level rising and falling in the radiator, and then suddenly a large bubble of air will come out, and he'll top up the fluid. He does this repeatedly until he can't get any more air out. Give it a try...

When I first filled my cooling system I took off the thermostat housingand slowly filled the header tank . When coolant run out of the head I put back the thermostat and housing with a new gasket, finished filling header tank . What normally happens is you get air trapped behind the thermostat so stat never gets heated by water and doesn't open . Some engines it's possible to remove the temperature sender to bleed the system . Water Wetter works well but not sure if its available in S.A. X flow cooling problems have been covered well in the past , worth doing a search?

Try drilling a small hole, like 2mm or so, in the thermostat to help water distribution during coolant fill up.

XFlow airlocks have been the bane of my life recently, I keep getting airlocks in the head, one way i solved this was to disconnect the hose which goes from the carb to the heater/pump and fill from there, i actually flushed it through there a few times, and it seemed to consistantly solve the problem.

There have been mixed reports about the effects of drilling a small hole in the stat, i did, but lots of people will tell you not to, personally i'd avoid it if possible.

First off try removing the hose at the carb, and fill fom there with everything else open, so air can escape, if that fails, try putting a hose pipe on it and let hte water run through for a while.

HTH


David

quote:

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There have been mixed reports about the effects of drilling a small hole in the stat, i did, but lots of people will tell you not to, personally i'd avoid it if possible.

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Is it likely to be any form of severe airlock if the car's been running for quite a time? In my case, the water was being chucked out shortly after the car warmed up - once it stopped doing that the problem was gone.

If it's warmed up then the hole in the 'stat is irrelevant, as the stat will be wide open.

David

[Edited on 13/10/06 by David Jenkins]

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Originally posted by Marcus

quote:

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There have been mixed reports about the effects of drilling a small hole in the stat, i did, but lots of people will tell you not to, personally i'd avoid it if possible.

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I don't really know why, OEM Ford ones have the hole already there.

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I think the problem lies with you having a manual switch. Does this mean you wait until it gets to a certain temp, and then you switch it on? If that's the case, you're probably leaving it a bit late.
Get yourelf a theromostat housing that will take a temp switch. The Fiesta or MK 3 Escort one will do the trick.
Cheers John

Thanks all, it seems the prob is solved!
I ran the car , the temp got to around 110 degC, I then opened the header tank carefully untill the coolant started venting through the overflow, and then suddenly a massive "burp" followed by lots of gurgling = massive airlock.
After that my temp has not got to 100 degC

Sorted!!!

Excellent!