Blanking off the radiator

[syncroandy]

Today I was out and about in my Kombi to which I've recently fitted a new Hella rad, and I noticed it wasn't managing to get up to operating temperature. I think I may benefit from blanking off part of the rad, in winter conditions.

Can anyone suggest a tidy way to do this, or point me to pics etc ? I imagine in colder countries, there may be a recognised good way to do this on the T3.

[ZsZ]

I never saw any tidy solution for the rad. But I think it sould not be needed. The official accessory catalogs of the nordic countries did not have anything like that.
However insulating the long heater hoses under the body could help a bit.

I assume your AFN runs cold - e-TDI-s with low SOI are tend to heat up slower. That is why VW put coolant heater glow plugs for the heater circuit in some of them.
IMO the thermostat should do its work with the factory diesel hose setup. Is yours have a truly JX, CS/KY or mismatched with AFN hose setup? Do you have aftermarket upper hose without the restrictor in the reservoir circuit? 
My theory for the slowly/newer getting up to temp fault is the AFN oil cooler/bypass hoses mixed with the 1.6 hose system - especially with the aftermarket 4way hoses without the restrictor -  allows the cold coolant bypassing the thermostat through the oil cooler and the reservoir.

I have m-tdi with the factory 1.6 hoses and pipe insulation around the heater hoses. Starting with the heater valve closed it gets up to operating temperature in about a few kms driving (~5mins). Even in below -10C temperatures. The SOI is 4 degree on idle and drops to around 2-2,5 degree @2000 RPM, sot not too advanced, but neither the 0 degree e-tdi.

[TONYT25T25]

I used to have an old Astra that would not warm up properly (i think the thermostat had been removed). I experimented with covering up the front of the radiator, what I did find is that you have to experiment with how much is covered as too much and it will overheat and too little ineffective.  And of course it needs to be weather proofed, held in place so it does not come adrift.

[davidoft1]

If the thermostat is in place is should warm up, before circulating around the radiator, is the engine getting hot before the radiator starts to warm up ?

[syncroandy]

Ta for the replies. This is actually on my EJ25 kombi, which hasn't showed this issue before fitting the new rad, and not until we've had this colder weather.

It had all been apart until ~August this year. When I put it back together again I reused the thermostat which wasn't that old, I can't recollect if I actually checked its function in a pan of hot water. It's concieveable the stat is stuck partly open I suppose.

During the initial start-up, I naturally was paying attention to oil pressure and the coolant system. Aside from the usual messing-about to fully purge air out, I don't recollect noticing anything pointing toward the stat being partially open. During the first warm-up I was monitoring the engine coolant temps with a laptop and they behaved as I expected, eg. steadily up to ~92 then dropping back slightly after the stat opened. I've done several long runs since then, in milder conditions, and the temp has always been rock solid where it should be.

I think I'll plug a laptop in next time I'm out and have a closer look at what's going on..

[garyd]

Andy, going back to your original question about how to blank off the radiator, I remember back when I was really young, that my Dad had a roller blind unit fitted in at least one of his cars.

This was a sprung roller unit (ie self re-winding) mounted at the base of the radiator and with a cord or similar operating system that was fed through to the cab. At that end it had a chain or similar form which could be pulled to raise the blind and adjusted to different heights by locking it off in a 'keyhole' opening in a bracket.

I believe it was a manufactured item rather than self built. Probably more common in the days of fixed, mechanical radiator fans. As has been suggested, your problem is more likely to be thermostat related or similar.


Gary