Coolant temp problems - Confirmed HGF

steve_weegie · Post by **steve_weegie** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 12:33 pm

That might be a plan john, cheers. I'm going to get all the air out and then start looking for leaks at the weekend. Taking the heater matrix out the equation might be very usefull.

Dont think i'm back in fife untill next week, but i'll give you a shout if i need the connector - its not far to go anyway...

Hows your car looking now? Any improvement?

Victor Meldrew · Post by **Victor Meldrew** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 1:28 pm

Hope to have a good run today, the sun is out and the roads are almost dry so it would br rude not to.

Victor Meldrew · Post by **Victor Meldrew** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 7:25 pm

Was out for a bit, car temp is stable, 80-82deg.

So.. is a heater matrix a clam off job or can it be done with the clam on?

Also, can anyone find a cheeper supplier than eliseparts.?

Andy G · Post by **Andy G** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 7:40 pm

I'd ask Ali mate - he should know

07961445483

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 7:46 pm

I would think it might be possible clam on, but its going to be tight. That said I doubt it would be much better clam off.

steve_weegie · Post by **steve_weegie** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 7:58 pm

Read somthing on seloc the other day about this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Lotus-Elise-95-00 ... dZViewItem

Thread on seloc:

http://forums.seloc.org/viewthread.php? ... pid2843646

HTH

Steve

fd · Post by fd » Thu Jan 24, 2008 8:22 pm

take the battery out and the heater is quite easy thereafter . . . clam off will make little difference . . . my elise is sitting with the heater out at the moment . . . took about 30 mins to remove . . .

Fd

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 8:24 pm

steve_weegie · Post by **steve_weegie** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 8:39 pm

Tool of choice on the S1 i hear

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:25 pm

Bit advanced for an S1

Victor Meldrew · Post by **Victor Meldrew** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:16 pm

Holding off ordering a new heater for a few weeks, till I run the car and prove it is the matrix... just need to remember to dress for roof off driving everytime I go out... and if I,m dressed for it, I may as well get the roof off...

Bought a set of waterproof seat covers for when its raining....

There's no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothes....

steve_weegie · Post by **steve_weegie** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 8:22 pm

Ok, i'm beginning to think that the thermostat is to blame here, and the majority of my cooling is being done by the heater matrix.

Symptoms after a bleeding session now are:

warm car up at stand still - temp gets to mid 90's

take it for a blast - as soon as i gave it high revs, temp dropped suddenly to 75 then gradually up to normal again.

come back and leave to idle - temp rises to 95ish radiator inlet side hot, output side mildly warm. Return pipe to thermostat is mildly warm.

Open engine bleed screw - no air escapes, radiator & engine bay return pipe heat up quickly.

Could it be the thermostat is very sticky and needing replaced?

Cheers,

Steve

roadboy · Post by **roadboy** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 9:03 pm

I very much doubt it will be the thermostat. Definitely sounds like air in the rad.

p.s. John, I'm sure I have a spare heater matrix lying around if you need one.

Dan@JPS

robin · Post by **robin** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 9:54 pm

What he said.

99/100 stats fail safe - was actually quite a common problem with the 135R for some reason - stat would stay open and you couldn't get the engine hot enough on the motorway to get beyond the low temp rev limiter!!

S2's have lower circulation through the radiator at idle, but should be OK by the time you're at 1,500 RPM or so - I think it's to do with the slightly different pipe routing around the rad (or maybe the rad offers more resistance).

Your problem sounds like air in the rad - you rev it enough and overcome the air lock, bingo, temp drops as a load of cold water is dumped in the engine.

Is the car still using coolant at all?

Cheers,
Robin

steve_weegie · Post by **steve_weegie** » Sat Jan 26, 2008 10:32 pm

Cheers for the input guys - you lot are keeping me sane on this at the moment!

THe car's not really using any coolant, but its always needed a slight top up every now and again. Nothing changed recently and no sudden level drops.

Mac and I spent a lot of time bleeding the system today, using a combination of yours and fds methods. After i left mac, i went to halfords and got an ezi bleed and started putting pressure through the system while cold.

The car's either jacked up on the pax side, nose down on a big slope with the pax side high, or nose up with the pax side high. Hot bleeding, cold bleeding and bleedy bleeding using all of the above combinations!

Bleed screws only pour coolant onto the road now and i've still got the same problem.... If its an airlock, its being a complete siht to get in the right place!

Cheers,

Steve