K Series Running 'Cold'

[Felix E]

Good afternoon. My 1800 SV has got some quite odd symptons at the moment. It just will not get up to temperature, even after 15 minutes idling on the drive. The temp guage is reading 60 degrees, the thermostat remains shut and so the fan will not cut in. The water pipes however all feel very warm indeed.

All I can think of is;

 

1)I'm worrying unnecessarily and due to the cooler weather, the engine really is running at 60c.

 

2)I have two coincidental failures. Both the thermostat and the temperature recording equipment have broken at the same time.

 

What do you think? Are all K Series engines running cooler at the moment?

 

Best Regards,

 

Felix

 

 

 

[James Tricker]

My fan is still cutting in as regularly as it did in the summer when I built it. (Which did surprise me a little.) Water temperature gets up to 60 in the same time from cold - (and stays there as before)

 

edited to add: I've only had mine on the road since June so hopefully someone with more experience of the K between winter and summer can suggest something.

 

James (1.8 SV - now complete with omelette after encounter with muppets dressed in hooded sweatshirts and burberry)

 

Edited by - James Tricker on 1 Nov 2004 16:42:13

[timbo]

 

have you changed the coolant lately? Have you done anything lately that could contribute to the symptoms?

 

You say the "thermostat remains shut" and continue to say "yet all the hose are hot".

 

You need to think about this. how does the large J pipe feel from the thermostat housing. Is it as hot as the top rad hose or simply quite warm? Are you sure the stat is open? If so, you would expect the fans to cut in shortly.

 

You could have possible airlock behind the stat. Rather than let the car idle blip the eng constantly... the water pump will accelerate and cause coolant surge which will assist in opening the stat via heat convection.

 

It will take the K a bit longer to fully open the coolant sys and run the fans in the colder weather.

 

A silly point, but your heater is running at the sametime?

 

 

 

 

Emerald Isle's 1st SV 148lbft @ 6091rpm and 182bhp @ 6900rpm of cheese power

[neil.cavanagh]

felix,

Mine is doing the same!

also a 1.8 (140) K SV.

The change I made was to install an apollo tank.

Since doing so the temp gauge struggles to get up to 80C.

I've put it down to:

1) greater cooling effet of apollo tank

2) colder weather

3) temp sender might be on its way out again.

 

I'm not getting too excited... I'm more worried about the low oil pressure after apollo installation (2bar max when warm)...

I'm gong to drop the sump soon and check the pick up isn't blocked, and then install a mechanical oil pressure/temp gauge as winter project.

[timbo]

 

Also, your stat won't open to 92 degrees if its the later engine. The std coolant guages are not accurate to say the least. I definately would not expect your stat to open at 60 on the temp guage, that is unless the guage is up the left bank. On mine when the needle shows a very steady 80 when up to opearting temp yet I have my fan switched via the M3Dk set at 101.

 

Emerald Isle's 1st SV 148lbft @ 6091rpm and 182bhp @ 6900rpm of cheese power

[F355GTS]

Felix

 

does sound like the thermostat is stuck

 

Mark

[neil.cavanagh]

mark,

I assume you mean stuck open?

 

[Johnty Lyons]

Check the heater valve is closed Ks take a long time to warm up in this cold weather and you may be getting a big enough by pass through the heater to aid convection losses . If the guage is only showing 60 I wouldn't worry, blip it ocassionally and keep yout hand on the hose from submarine to bottom of rad it will get hot suddenly when stat opens but mightnt happen till guage gets up to 90. If your heater is open the exit water from heater may not be hot enough to open the stat. In winter I normally drive with the bottom half of rad blocked off with Cardboard There is nothing worse that driving around with an engine not properly up to operating temp.

 

jj

N.I. L7C AO.

Membership No.3927.

Se7en Services.N.I.

Caterham Service Agents.

[Felix E]

Many thanks for your useful replies. It is indeed the pipework to/from the rad plus the rad itself which are cold, hence my concern that the stat is jammed shut.

Last night I drained the system, removed the stat and put it in a kettle as I brought it to the boil. It opened nicely just below boiling, but not by much I have to say - 4mm perhaps. Is that enough?

I did the same thing with the temperature sensor and watched the temp guage while the ignition was on - not a flicker. So I think that either the sensor or the guage is dead. How can I tell which?

Johnty - the temperature is the same whether the heater is on or off.

 

Many thanks to all for your replies.

 

Best Regards, Felix.

 

 

[Shaun_E]

It's most likely the sensor and they are pretty cheap so I'd replace that first.

 

Yellow SL #32

[paul jacobs]

Frankly, I would be concerned about the thermostat too. Buy one of the low temp. ones from CC, they aren't much and also replace the sender, they are prone to failure. You really do not want to risk running your engine for any length of time with the water running around the block only. As a safety measure, when you fit the new stat, you could drill a small [2mm] hole in it, so that some hot water will get around the rad, and also will help to get the stat open quicker, although theoretically, the engine will take a little longer to heat up, but not much.

 

It's odd how K engines have these cooling problems, maybe due to air locks as mentioned earlier.

 

Paul J. Hard work never killed anyone ........ but why take the chance!