I have a customer with an 87 Westie that has a cooling system problem. The van will heat up rather quickly compared to similar vans I have here, and then will stay at about 3/4 on the gauge. I have an infrared heat gun so I can run around and check the temperatures of everything. I did this on a normal running van (needle at about center) and the overheating van. The only difference I can see between the two is this: If I check the hose that is to the right on the thermostat housing (goes to the plastic coolant distributor on the passenger side behind the firewall), it reads around 185F on both vans. However the difference comes with the larger hose that comes out of the left of the thermostat housing (short 90 deg hose that goes to metal coolant pipe). On the normal van this hose it around 165F. On the hotter running van this hose runs about 185F as well. Also measuring temp at the coolant expansion tank. The normal van sees around 185-190F. The hotter running van sees around 200-205F. If I turn on the front heater fan the needle moves down a little (plenty of heat coming out of here). I measured at the radiator (top corners) and they are running about the same temps. If anything the van that runs hotter has a slightly lower temperature at the radiator. I have recently replaced the water pump, the thermostat and flushed and refilled the coolant system with 50/50 mix coolant on the hotter running van. Also has a new radiator fan switch. Of course the system is bled properly. The van that runs hotter has a relatively new rebuilt engine (less than 5000 miles and I believe it is an AVP), however it did have some oil in the antifreeze before we flushed it (I believe this was residiual from the previous engine croaking). I am thinking that the radiator is either bad or needs to be flushed directly (we flushed the entire coolant system from the rear of the van). I think it has oily slime inside from the oil in coolant that is not letting it work properly. Any other opinions or advice are welcome. I just wondered if there was a full-proof way to know that the radiator was the culprit before going to the extra expense/pain of replacing the radiator. I appreciate any experience or advice you have to share. Ken Wilford John 3:16 www.vanagain.com |
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