Club 80-90 Forums

Thanks for the help everyone. We had a new thermo switch earlier this year and he changed it today for good measure. The same chap also replaced thermostat earlier this year also. Everything was also bled and refilled. Hmmmm

It's also worth mentioning that on the journey back from the garage last night the temp gauge was creeping up past half way after about 20 mins of driving.

Mine runs at a needle width past half way most of the time... 20 mins is about right to get upto full temperature. If like most petrol engines normal temp is 90 degrees then yours seems to be correct, I have read loads of posts over the years about fitting so called "chicken" or over ride switches... my thoughts are that if the thermostat is opening and closing correctly , and the radiator is the same temp at the top and the bottom, the thermo switch checks out and the fan does work , then everthing is as it should be... I personally wouldnt worry unless I saw the needle way over to the right.

My fan hardly ever comes on either. As I said before, there is A LOT of water to sink the heat.


Martin.

Ah, the tricky bit is is my needle will just keep on going up unless I dissipate some of the heat.

pionte wrote:20 mins is about right to get upto full temperature.

If the 'stat is playing properly, then it should get up to temp much much much quicker than that - ours is up to half way in a couple of miles from cold.

When you come back from a drive, just leave the van idling. The fan should come on eventually.

So just to recap.... if left to idle , then your needle will just keep going up and up... untill it reaches as far to the right as it can go / and still the fan doesnt kick in !

It is of course possible that the gauge is reading incorrectly, worth checking . A new sender unit wouldnt be much .

Basically you need to know what temp the van is actually running at, if it is running hot then address the cause, thermostats can stick and not open fully... even new ones .This will restrict the flow and raise temp.



Adrian, thinking about it it is probably more like 5 -10 mins, dependant on traffic/speed/ambient temp.

pionte wrote:So just to recap.... if left to idle , then your needle will just keep going up and up... untill it reaches as far to the right as it can go / and still the fan doesnt kick in !

It is of course possible that the gauge is reading incorrectly, worth checking . A new sender unit wouldnt be much .

Basically you need to know what temp the van is actually running at, if it is running hot then address the cause, thermostats can stick and not open fully... even new ones .This will restrict the flow and raise temp.



Adrian, thinking about it it is probably more like 5 -10 mins, dependant on traffic/speed/ambient temp.

Yes, that's spot on. It will just continue to rise until eventually the demon red light shows it's face. The fan will not kick in at any point.