Coolant

[Lee Raybould]

Hi guys 

Thinking of running my pinto powered robin hood on waterless coolant, any advice welcome before I take the plunge. It's a 2lt efi and running a tad hot when stationary,fine if I can keep it moving. TIA

LEE

[richyb66]

Why not try fixing the actual problem rather than using expensive coolant? If the cooling system is in good condition the fan should be capable of keeping it cool when stationery.

Have you got an electric fan, how close is it to the radiator, is it coming on soon enough?

[Lee Raybould]

16 minutes ago, richyb66 said:

Why not try fixing the actual problem rather than using expensive coolant? If the cooling system is in good condition the fan should be capable of keeping it cool when stationery.

Have you got an electric fan, how close is it to the radiator, is it coming on soon enough?

Yes I have an electric fan fitted which I have bypassed the thermostat and put in a switch so I can work it manually. I recently lowered the fan so it was covering the whole core of the radiator but still have problems. I am getting small traces of black oil in the expansion bottle but no water in the oil if that makes sence. I have only been using the car since may as that's when it passed iva. 

[richyb66]

I think the oil in the expansion bottle needs investigation. Can you do a pressure test on the cooling system to verify if it is holding pressure or if it's leaking back in to the engine.

[Lee Raybould]

25 minutes ago, richyb66 said:

I think the oil in the expansion bottle needs investigation. Can you do a pressure test on the cooling system to verify if it is holding pressure or if it's leaking back in to the engine.

Yes will try that. That was one of the reasons I was going to try the waterless coolant, to apparently no expansion when using that. The oil is as it should be but yes a pressure test is important. Just need to research best way to do it.

[Bob Tucker]

Could be a leaking head gasket into a water way. You can get a test "sniffer" kit to see if the water is contaminated by exhaust gas. IIIRC.

do a search here....someone used one.

Also make sure the fan is running the right way. I dont mean pushing vs pulling. "changing the direction of rotation is easy, but the blades are designed  and shaped to work most efficiently only in one direction.

[Peter Bell]

Do you believe your gauge?

Have you overfilled the oil?

[Jez Morton]

Is your fan mounted direct to radiator? If not you need to make a shroud to force the air through it. For reference I'm using the Coolman rad (two core Cortina type) mounted behind the suspension cross members and the fan that came with the kit in front of them with a shroud running back to the rad. I've never had overheating issues, but the car gets very hot in summer so I switched to an 82 deg thermostat and 92deg fan switch.