themostat problem

[europa88]

Hi All
Picked up my new surf 3.0td ssrg! Luv It! But now I have a problem!
The dealer said they would flush the rad but wheni got home and tested the dirty brown coolant It had no protection at all! So I thought i'd change it and the thermostat,do a flush with hospipe etc! put the new themos in and decided to fill up with tap water and heat up untill thermos opened and the drain when cool and refill. but after 15min of idle up running the thermos wouldn't open and the guage wasn't showing any more than a shade to the left of the middle. Thinking duff thermos i put the old one backin (It looked as If It was a new one any way, maybe they did the flush but reused the old coolant) Still the same after about 15/20mins still not hot enough to open thermos! now I'm prob paranoid about over heating so im loathe to drive It with the tap water in. I'm letting it cool for a couple of hours and going to put in toyotas forlife and see if It makes a difference. I understand that plain water has v.good cooling properties so im hoping this will solve! The heaters all blow hot air and there dosn't appear to be any airlocks.Hope some one can give me some advice as I cant drive the my new surf!!
Neil

[Koi]

I wouldn't be to paranoid about the temp gauge, I don't think the sender for the gauge is in the best placed place.
3.0 don't seem to have the head problem as the 2.4 as it would appear it was a design fault on the 2.4 not the 3.0. When my head went on my 2.4 water was pumping into the expansion bottle and out all over the place, needle never moved from just below the halfway mark.
Drove it twenty miles home and it still didn't move despite needing the best part of 3l of fluid to top it back up again.
Test the stat with boiling water from the kettle to see if it works, if all your heaters are workingand the needle moves to the halfway mark it sounds like all is working fine to me.

[europa88]

Thanks for advice! It's just that the rad bottom is cold after 15/20mins of idle up so I guess the thermos isn't opening ! I think it may be the plain water cooling more efficiently??? (I hope ) I will try the boiling water test though!! My guess is the thermostats are ok!! Fingers crossed
Neil

[andy]

It sounds like they just drained the rad and re-filled it with water , which would explain the dirt and crap in the rad , the other thing you could do it use the rad flush stuff that Halfrauds sell , the one I used was a two part cleaner , put the first part in and leave it for a while , then flush it and use the second bottle to neutralise the cleaner , then flush it again fit the good stat and fill with antifreeze .

[NiftyNev]

Hi All
Picked up my new surf 3.0td ssrg! Luv It! But now I have a problem!
The dealer said they would flush the rad but wheni got home and tested the dirty brown coolant It had no protection at all! So I thought i'd change it and the thermostat,do a flush with hospipe etc! put the new themos in and decided to fill up with tap water and heat up untill thermos opened and the drain when cool and refill. but after 15min of idle up running the thermos wouldn't open and the guage wasn't showing any more than a shade to the left of the middle. Thinking duff thermos i put the old one backin (It looked as If It was a new one any way, maybe they did the flush but reused the old coolant) Still the same after about 15/20mins still not hot enough to open thermos! now I'm prob paranoid about over heating so im loathe to drive It with the tap water in. I'm letting it cool for a couple of hours and going to put in toyotas forlife and see if It makes a difference. I understand that plain water has v.good cooling properties so im hoping this will solve! The heaters all blow hot air and there dosn't appear to be any airlocks.Hope some one can give me some advice as I cant drive the my new surf!!
Neil

Best way to get engine to operating temperature is to take it for a spin for 10 - 15 minutes.They warm up much quicker under load.Tried to warm up my 2.4 by setting on fast idle after flush and would have taken forever.If you can idle the engine for a long period (not recommended for diesels) and it still remains fairly cool I think this is a sign that the cooling system is working well.

Neville

[tich]

Thermostat

Have had any amount of trouble with this and associated overheating problems. Have flushed and reflushed numerous times, changed the thermostat, and got very frustrated with the whole bloody situation. The top of rad and top hose got to hot to touch while the bottom of the rad stays relatively cold. After a long drive I was contiually topping up the system to replace the lost coolant, which seemed to be lost as steam through the vent in the header tank. The rad has been taken out at least three times and flushed with all the recomended additives. The gauge always settled just below half way. In the end I took the thermostat out and left it out. Now the whole cooling system is the same temperature all over and the rad is an even temperature top and bottom and, even after a bit of a thrashing, I can comfortably touch the top of the rad and top hose. OK, it takes quite a bit longer for the engine to warm up to an acceptable operating temperature, but I can live with that if it means not damaging the head due to overheating.

Regards
Tich

[europa88]

Tested the new thermostat with boiling water and it opened ok! I refilled with forlife coolant and took it for a half hour run It opened up ok i felt the bottom of the rad and It was hot! Only prob now is I need new rubber o ring as i temp used old one and yes It has a dribble!!! So drain the b***** lot again and hope all will be ok!!!
Many thanx for all advice!
Neil

[icsys]

Well, decided today was the day to change the oil and change the coolant as despite the dealer saying antifreeze has been put in I dont believe it. The 'water' is dirty brown.
So far I cant get the bottom hose off or get to the drain plug (air con rad in way) and the thermostat wont open in boiling water. So all together a good day so far!

[Robster]

When I did my coolant bits on getting my surf, I managed to get my arm up to the right (when looking at it from the front of the surf) of the aircon rad into a little gap and after some fumbling around eventually got hold of the drain plug and to my enormous surprise actually managed to get it to open!

Lost a fair amount of skin and arm hair in the process, but it was worth it.

Had a real nightmare (as I explained in an old post somwhere) with my oil change and ended up having to leave the old filter on and refill with the new oil. Said to myself I'd leave it in there for 3 or 4 thousand km's to take me up to 90000 thinking it'd be ages and I wouldn't have to scald myself with hot oil again. But after a trip down to Cornwall and last weeks trip up to Edinburgh I've just turned 90000 and so feel I should be true to myself and have another go!!! If it wasn't so much fun to drive I could've put it off for months!

6.5 hours Edinburgh to SW London including a motorway stop at "Burglar King" on the way. But like the arse I am I reset my trip meter when I got back before figuring my fuel consumption properly! It wasn't anywhere near as scary as I thought it was going to be though, considering I was sitting at 90 most of the way! (Evening Officer!)

Rob

[icsys]

When I did my coolant bits on getting my surf, I managed to get my arm up to the right (when looking at it from the front of the surf) of the aircon rad into a little gap and after some fumbling around eventually got hold of the drain plug and to my enormous surprise actually managed to get it to open!

Wow you're lucky.. I can see the plug through that gap but can I get my hand on it.... can I ****!

I tried removing the cowling and going down the back of the rad but the bottom (metal) hose pipe is in the way. not enough room between that and the pulley to get a hand through.

Ahh well.... tomorrow's another day!

[Robster]

Actually, thinking about it now, I did have to remove the bash plate that covers the aircon rad - but it's only a case of undoing 4 bolts if I remember rightly.Gives you that extra couple of mm's to squeeze your hand in!!

Always scares me sticking my hand into bits of engine I have no idea about!!

Rob

[icsys]

Good morning Rob.

Thanks for that... I'm just about to go out and start round 2. I'll try dropping the bash plate.
It's a pitty the hoses to the air con rad are not flexible enough to lower it out of the way. Would have plenty of room then.

Wish me luck.