water temperature

[alanlad]

Have a new electric fan been fitted to my 1969 Traveller and it comes on when the water temperature is about 70c is this correct ? As I can adjust the setting does anyone know what it should be?

[Stig]

I assume it's the radiator's water temperature you're measuring and at the top? If so, then I'd try it at 70C as you currently have and see how the fan behaves - if it's coming on a lot of the time when the engine's just idling then try increasing it. I doubt you'd want it set any lower (again, assuming it's at the top of the radiator).

What fan have you fitted? (it's something I've been meaning to do on my Traveller)

[alanlad]

Thanks for that, the make is Revotec and one made for the Minor so no drilling into the Rad. It's neat and easy to fit,when I lost the fitting instruction the company was super with help and phoned me to make sure I was happy.

Alan

[chrisryder]

i have a kenlowe on mine. it's activiation temp is adjustable, but the adjustment isn't given in degrees C, so i don't know what temp it comes on at! the instructions said to have it so that it hardly ever comes on, only when stationary for long periods of time, or on a really hot day.

mine is set at a point where it only comes on aftering being stationary, or creeping, in traffic for about 3 mins (ambient temp dependant). so if it's a hot day anyway, it doesn't take long for the temp to creep up and the fan to come on.

i wired mine up so that when it comes on, the 'change oil filter' light (that was redundant on my minor) comes on too. this was useful for calibrating it to know if it was coming on too early or too late. i've also got a manual override switch, so that light lets me know if i've left it on! turns out i never use that switch anyway!

[alanlad]

It looks like 70c is correct or there about. Only know it comes on at 70 as i fitted a water temp gauge.
I may consider a warning light as my Revotec makes little noise and cannot be heard inside the car
Alan

[MarkyB]

Good idea to use the change oil filter light, 70C seems rather too low, can you get a thermostat that operates that low?
You don't want it running all the time, if it comes on after about 5 minutes in traffic it should be fine.

It may be worth fitting it to the always live side of the fuse box, as water cooled engines get hotter after they are switched off.

[chrisryder]

water cooled engines get hotter after they are switched off.

i've noticed that. when i stop somewhere (and the fan never having been on). i just back in the car to carry on and the fan comes on for 10 seconds or so!

mine is wire on the ignition side, it means i can kill it if i want to, and don't have to worry about it coming on when i'm under the bonnet! i have a battery isolator anyway, which i always switch off as a force of habit, so it wouldn't stay on for long!

[alanlad]

At present I'm rebuilding this car and did not know about the oil filter warning light, so which one is that?

[MarkyB]

It seems a bit counter intuitive but it's true.
The water pump stops turning and whatever heat there is rises and soaks into the engine.

Many people think, I'll just turn the engine off for a few minutes and it will cool down, quite the opposite is the case.

[alanlad]

The temp is taken from the bottom hose and not the top, the range of the fan is from 70c to 120c so mine is set at the bottom? Does that make a difference?

[MarkyB]

Well the Kenlowe set up goes into the top hose, which is why I suggested something more in line with the thermostat.
Both should work OK, go by how long it takes for the fan to kick in when in traffic.
I think the top hose will better reflect the engine temp is though.

[alanlad]

The car is not on the road yet so can not go out in traffic but run it on the drive for 25 mins before the fan cut in. Will set up a warning light so I know how often it comes on. As 70c is the lowest setting it may have to be adjusted

[mike.perry]

Cold water is drawn in through the bottom hose so you want the fan to cut in when it measures the hot temperature at the top of the engine. There is a temperature sensor blanking plug in the cylinder head under the thermostat housing. The normal thermostat setting is 82 deg.
The oil filter warning light is the orange light on the left side of the speedo dial at about 15mph. Disconnect the other end from the oil filter.

[beero]

I would say the switch temp needs to be set higher than your thermostat temp (82?) otherwise your engine will never get hot enough. It needs to come on, as Chis Ryder says, after you have been sat in traffic for a few minutes. I would also advise an extra manual switch, because when the automatic thermostat switch fails, as mine did on the MG, you're in trouble! A warning light is also a good idea (reminder -must fit one of those to the MG! )

[alanlad]

Thanks, when the car is back on the road hopefully next month I will incease up to 80c. The expert at Revotec say to remove the thermostat for better performance? they say to remove it and relace with there blanking kit?
i agree that just to take it up to about 80c is a good idea.

Alan

[bmcecosse]

The 'expert' is completely wrong - DO NOT remove the thermostat unless your car is a full race machine - only used on the track ?

[chrisryder]

The oil filter warning light is the orange light on the left side of the speedo dial

it's on the right in mine! you can easily tell which way around yours is, as the opposite one is the low oil pressure light. low oil pressure light should come on when you switch on the ignition, and the other one won't. the one that doesnt is the change filter light.

that light is ignition live fed, and then earths through the filter housing when the filter needs changing (if it's still connected, i fitted a spin on filter, and the filter head had no switch for that light, hence the wire being redundant!).

obviously, you can't just plug that in to your fan, as the live feed to the bulb will carry on through the fan and power the fan. we had to change the wiring to the light on the dash so that it earthed under the dash, and the live feed was the same live feed as the fan. this ofcourse left a spare, ignition live, wire behind the speedo. handily that served use for wiring in a cigarette lighter socket.

interestingly, the flywheeling effect of the fan once it turns off serves as a generator, so when the fan switches off the light doesn't go off straight away, but slowly dims to nothing. and if driving particularly fast into a headwind, the wind passing through the fan makes the light on the dash glow gently too!

[phurn]

well most moderns are set so that 90* is just right, anythign hotter woudl be slightly too hot and then the fan kicks in so is be temptd to set ti to somewhere between 90 to 95.... if you find that its not cooling down quickly enough then turn it down to 85-90.

[faversham999]

I just fitted a water temp guage The temp never changes once the car is under way any time of year the thermastat in the engine is 82 simple