Post by citizenk on May 1, 2016 21:40:47 GMT
Car in question: Peugeot 405 GL, 1991
Two questions on the radiator:
1. At the bottom left hand side (seen from someone facing the front of the car) directly below the radiator cap there is a sensor with a plug with three wires in it. It's supposed to give feedback onto the dashboard as to the water level in the radiator. Does that connection have any bearing on the radiator cooling fans? Is it somehow tied into the cooling fan circuit?
2. My original radiator had very thin tubes tuning along its breadth. One could almost describe them as capillaries. Our car was ordered for a very hot climate in Africa, so i do not know if this was the kind of radiator installed for that climate so that the coolant would cool easier since the tubes had such a small cross-section. As time went on, parts became rusty with age and I had to replace it. The new one actually had real tubes in it. I immediately noticed that it took more water/coolant than the old one. I also noticed another phenomenon. About 3 weeks ago I encountered some problems starting he car due to some weak starting components (a frayed wire connected o the coil, dirty battery cables/ terminals, weak plugs). Sometimes I had to crank up the engine up to Five times before it would start. I noticed that every time this happened, the coolant level in the rad would rise to the filler cap and bleed out of the breather hole. This was despite the fact that I had not overfilled it. This would always lead to an airlock in the water system. Now, mine is not the original engine, but a refurbished one. After some thought I remembered the thermostat in the engine head was absent. Most mechs over here recommend that it be removed to allow the coolant maximum cooling and quick circulation. This never occurred with my old rad although the thermostat had been removed there too at some point. My thoughts on this matter have been as follows. One, this rad takes more coolant, so the effect may be different when Having starting problems. Two, the absence of the thermostat may mean that because there is no inhibitor to stop coolant circulating through the whole system rather than only the engine (up to a certain temp), the heat from the repeated engine sparking quickly transfers to the radiator which now takes more water and swells it up, leading to the overflow. I have therefore contemplated reinstalling a thermostat. I am only afraid of it malfunctioning at some point though. At the moment, the coolant hasn't overflowed again because I fixed all the starting problems. But I am making arrangements to get a thermostat back into the system.
Any thoughts in these matters are highly appreciated!
Two questions on the radiator:
1. At the bottom left hand side (seen from someone facing the front of the car) directly below the radiator cap there is a sensor with a plug with three wires in it. It's supposed to give feedback onto the dashboard as to the water level in the radiator. Does that connection have any bearing on the radiator cooling fans? Is it somehow tied into the cooling fan circuit?
2. My original radiator had very thin tubes tuning along its breadth. One could almost describe them as capillaries. Our car was ordered for a very hot climate in Africa, so i do not know if this was the kind of radiator installed for that climate so that the coolant would cool easier since the tubes had such a small cross-section. As time went on, parts became rusty with age and I had to replace it. The new one actually had real tubes in it. I immediately noticed that it took more water/coolant than the old one. I also noticed another phenomenon. About 3 weeks ago I encountered some problems starting he car due to some weak starting components (a frayed wire connected o the coil, dirty battery cables/ terminals, weak plugs). Sometimes I had to crank up the engine up to Five times before it would start. I noticed that every time this happened, the coolant level in the rad would rise to the filler cap and bleed out of the breather hole. This was despite the fact that I had not overfilled it. This would always lead to an airlock in the water system. Now, mine is not the original engine, but a refurbished one. After some thought I remembered the thermostat in the engine head was absent. Most mechs over here recommend that it be removed to allow the coolant maximum cooling and quick circulation. This never occurred with my old rad although the thermostat had been removed there too at some point. My thoughts on this matter have been as follows. One, this rad takes more coolant, so the effect may be different when Having starting problems. Two, the absence of the thermostat may mean that because there is no inhibitor to stop coolant circulating through the whole system rather than only the engine (up to a certain temp), the heat from the repeated engine sparking quickly transfers to the radiator which now takes more water and swells it up, leading to the overflow. I have therefore contemplated reinstalling a thermostat. I am only afraid of it malfunctioning at some point though. At the moment, the coolant hasn't overflowed again because I fixed all the starting problems. But I am making arrangements to get a thermostat back into the system.
Any thoughts in these matters are highly appreciated!
