How hot.....

[Razorhoof]

Should my bits and bobs be when I lift the bonnet?

The other day after about an hour and a half flitting backwards and forwards around town the second fan came on just as I was starting the engine (loud mechanical whirring noise).

After the journey I lifted the bonnet and the whole area was giving off quite alot of heat (pipes to radiator / expansion tank area were very hot especially).

Is this normal?

Any thoughts?

[The Lang-Shankit Scunner]

If your temp guage reads ok and there is water in your system, then yes its fine. At running temperature mine is untouchable. The fan that comes in when you start up, is it the big one run by a fan belt, if so thats your viscous fan and will go at engine speed until adequate air passes through the rad.
One thing to remember with surfs is that they have cololant probs from time to time. Maybe worth changing thermostat and the filler cap, these are prone to failure.
Hope that helps

[dieselboy]

what was the temp gauge at?
my rad gets bl00dy hot. my temp gauge never moves from just below the middle.

i dunno if the same conditions apply but it might: i used to have a car that ran hot under normal conditions because of raised compression. if i had been driving around as normal then parked up and went to start the car within 5 or 10 mins, the heat from the water/engine would have risen to make the electic fan come on when i turned the ignition on. once started tho it went off within a few seconds. may this be the case with yours?