Westfield Elevens

(Also posted in Westfield Boardroom/XI)

Right.

I've finally got the car MOTd etc and had the opportunity to drive it in warm sunny weather for the first time with its new engine (MED 1380XT).
And oh dear, it does get hot. I've got an 85 thermostat and at constant speed the temp goes up to about 95 then reduces to about 90. So assuming that the thermostat is calibrated correctly my gauge is likely to be about 5 deg out.
However, after about 15 secs stationary, the gauge starts rising to maybe 105. So far we've always got going again at that point but it looks as if the rise would be inexorable. At the 105 point coolant is already starting to bleed though the pressure cap.

I'm using the standard Midget rad (albeit remanufactured to 'new' spec) and I've floored in the chassis forward of the rad (in an attempt to encourage the air to actually make contact with the matrix rather than duck under it). I've also moved the fan so it's behind the rad - and yes, it is sucking air from the front to the rear. (At least, it was very soon after I installed it )

Any suggestions as to what to do next? Different rad? Electric water pump? Water wetter? MX5?

Brian

I did put a more full reply on the WSCC Boardroom, but are you sure that the Smiths gauge isn't lying? Mine lies, so I just use it for general diagnosis, ie has there been a sudden change, if not, then it's probably fine. I used to worry about my temperature and spent quite a lot of time trying to "fix" the problem only to find that there wasn't a problem to start with. I do have an infra red thermometer that you can borrow if you want to have a check.

Hi Matthew,
Thanks - I did see the reply in the boardroom. I'll certainly have a look with a digital thermometer before I do anything too drastic. Charles' idea of moving the radiator to a more upright position seemed like an easy first step - if, indeed, steps are required!

Glad to see that you're getting to the bottom of the breathing issues. Shame about the 3 cylinders though

Brian - I apologise if this is teaching Grandma to suck eggs, but you don't have an airlock somewhere do you?

Is the water circulating back from the rad to the header tank?

stephen

Hi Stephen,

I don't think I have any airlocks. Apart from seeing bubbling in the header tank how should I tell?
Brian

I was having overheating-when-stationary problems recently and was chatting to Charles about it. In the end I did the following;

1) I ran the car for a couple of minutes, just enough to build a positive pressure in the cooling system, and then slowly released the bolts on the heater blanking plate (or just open the tap if you still have one on the head) until coolant came out, to make sure that there wasn't air trapped at the back of the head.

2) I squeezed, squashed and banged all the hoses as much as I could whilst the engine was running to try to get any air back to the header tank.

3) I turned off, waited for it all to cool, opened the header tank, wiped the opening clean and sealed it with my mouth and blew hard into it several times.

4) then repeated steps 2) and 3) a few times. Basically, did everything I had ever read on the subject of budging an air lock/air bubble. I suppose the other thing you could try is to just whip out the thermostat and check it's not jammed shut.

At the end of it, I noticed that the level in the header tank had dropped an inch or so, hopefully indicating that some air had made way for some coolant. Initial thoughts are that it doesn't appear to be overheating when stationary any more. Unfortunately a couple of days after doing this, I fell out of the loft, landing on my back. Unlikely to be related, but it does mean I can't get in the car at the moment to give it a run. Hoping that the above cured the overheating though, and hoping that my back recovers in time for LMC....

s

I have plumbed the heater tap back into the small return pipe from the radiator to header tank. That way I get some cooling flow round the back of the head that would have been handled by the heater circuit in the Midget.

That sounds like a really good idea actually. Is that "common practice" for those without a heater?

Where does the water normally return to after it's been through the heater (in a mini/midget/whatever)?

IIRC there is a hose that runs to join in one of the waterpump hoses (can't remember which). I just found a hose to fit the heater tap that I had lying round and bought a brass T fitting from Ebay (gas pipe fitting i think) that fitted, four jubilee clips and a couple of cuts with a Stanley knife and job's done.

I did something similar - I plumbed the heater take off as the air bleed (to the 8mm fitting high up on the header tank) as it's the highest point in the cooling system.