7 replies to this topic

[Haynes]

Ok it was the hottest day on record (!) but found myself in a traffic jam yesterday and the temp gauge was gradually going up and up nearly reaching the red before I decided to give up on where I was going and get moving in the opposite direction.

Been driving for about an hour, mixed speeds, mostly A roads, through Downton and up into the New Forest. Temp Gauge just above the N. Then the traffic came to a grinding halt. So I was stuck in stop start traffic for maybe 20 mins as the gauge kept going up. Mid morning, heatwave, traffic jam, so ambient temperatures pretty warm.

Engine is a 1293 with a touring cam, 80bhp, rad is 2 core MS. Engine fully rebuilt 3 years ago, inc new water pump etc. Water level hasn't dropped. Fan is on the right way , smooth side facing engine! Temp has always been consistent before. I had set the tick over a bit higher last week, 1200rpm.

Should a mini be able to cope with these conditions or is there a problem?

[bpirie1000]

So many questions. Have you flushed the coolant? What colour is the coolant. Mixture of the coolant.


Why did you increase the idle speed..

Thermostat or not? What temp if there is one..

Minis do enerally run hot though.. no loss of coolant then that isa good sign.

[lippo]

 My engine was getting rather hot in traffic on warm days so I ended up flushing my coolant system which included flushing the heater matrix backwards. A load of old crud came out. Put decent coolant in and not had an issue since. 

[Haynes]

Coolant was replaced within last 24 months but not flushed recently. Rad was new 3 years ago. The antifreeze is the blue type from minispares, at 1/3 to 2/3 water, looks very clear. I think thermostat is 82 degrees but would need to check.

Increased the tick over as it was just a bit low, over did it because there's an annoying resonance at a certain rpm, with the intention of dropping it down slightly after a run, trying to find the sweet spot. I did mention the tick over, wondering if it's slightly fast will it generate a lot more heat. Or should the increased fan speed and air flow deal with that?

[Spider]

Usually, if all else is well, increasing the idle speed is all that's needed.

[68+86auto]

With cooling complaints, I always check the ignition timing and fuel mixture throughout the RPM range. Make sure the vacuum advance is working.

If either are out, it will create heaps of additional heat.

[mbolt998]

Try going for a similar drive then just leave it idling when you get home and watch what happens. Does it keep going up, or does it come back down to N after maybe 10 or 20 minutes or so? If the former, idle speed sounds like a good idea. If the latter, then it might just be the heat inertia effect of suddenly slowing down. It's normal for the needle to go up a bit when you stop suddenly in traffic after fast driving in hot weather, and it's hard to say what's normal for your car as you have a non-standard engine.

[Ethel]

If you're running an 82 deg 'stat you've got plenty of headroom. Cooling is all about temperature difference, if the air's 10 degrees hotter and everything else is unchanged, the coolant will also need to be 10 degrees hotter  to dump the same heat.

 

What could be useful is knowing where boiling point is on your gauge. You should be able to run up to 100^oc without any dramas, That's about where the auxiliary fan kicks in on Mins that have 'em.

 

You know you've got a real problem if the heater stops melting your trainers