Supersport cooling

[RobW]

Caterham 1.8 Supersport spec (with a brand new engine that has only covered around 50 miles)

 

Today we drained my cooling system and fitted the following parts:

 

Radtec radiator

Silicone hoses

82 degree thermostat (drilled at the top with a 3mm hole)

Bleed tee (fitted to the highest heater hose)

 

We used the following method to refill the system.

Jack up front of car as high as the jack would go.

Remove top rad bleed screw

Remove heater bleed tee cap

Fill slowly via expansion bottle, massaging all hoses to help expel and air.

When the coolant flowed from the bleed screws, they were done up.

The car was then lowered to the ground, started and left to idle.

As the temperature started to rise, the level of the coolant in the expansion tank rose, to the point where it overflowed and we had to fit the cap.

The temperature reached 98 on the gauge, where the radiator fan kicked in and the temp dropped by a few degrees (96/7)

It stayed at this temperature until we switched off the engine.

 

Can anyone sanity check this as I’m really unfamiliar with the K series and know it can suffer from airlocks and cooling issues.

Unfortunately were not able to drive the car at the moment as were waiting for some parts for the rear diff.

[Stationary M25 Traveller]

Hi Rob

 

The rear diff ... have you got more than one ?

 

Was the heater valve turned on during filling and warm-up ? If not, easy to trap air there.

 

No problems with mine ... I don't lift the nose when filling the cooling system. I raise the hose with the bleed tee in as far as I can, and top up the last bit through the tee.

 

Did you do the cooling system mod as per LF article September 2012 ? Well worthwhile and minimal cost. Makes it all much easier. Easy to retrofit now.

[RobW]

Cheers,

 

It's on a friends car that we fitted a new Radtec radiator to.

 

Will check the heater, not sure what the setting was so that could be it !

[Nick Woods]

I appreciate you've already done it now, but I've always understood that you shouldn't

run a K-series with the expansion cap off as the reduction in pressure may allow localised boiling and overheating in the head.

 

Apart from that I'd do as SM25T says and keep the car level and do the last bit of the top-up via the bleed tee. When its warming up, feel around all the hoses to make sure they are all warming up and there are no cold spots, and make sure the cooling fan comes on when it gets hot enough.

 

Just keep checking the level regularly once you start to use the car again in case there are any airlocks or leaks etc