Hi all,

A few months ago I got a leaking battery, without knowing how it happened.
Waited some time and bought a new battery today, installed it in started it up again (it's 2wd saph cos).

When I run it stationary for 5 minutes or so, it's all good, normal coolant temperature.
But when I go for a short drive (3 minutes or so), the temp meter goes up the almost 3/4th (O on 'NORM').

Afterwards I checked to see what could be wrong, I noticed that the cooland hose from the engine to the swirlpot to the header tank is very hot. Also the hose from the turbo to the header tank was quite hot. It doesn't look like I'm loosing coolant (or oil).
It could be a simple coincedence with the battery by the way.

Another thing I noticed is that a part of the bracket of the turbo is a bit white and looking 'blathered' (don't know the right word in english). This could be a sign of coolant or something. It also smells like coolant/ hot under the hood.

Can you someone help me out with some pointers what to check to see what's wrong.

Thanks.

 

If it's not losing water then there is no leak, going to the "O" on the temp gauge is nothing to worry about, just cossie paranoia setting in, the pipes will get very hot but totally normal, just keep an eye on coolant level, do the fans work/come on when it gets hot enough and cool it down enough to put the fans off ?, if the answer is yes stop worrying.
Cossie temp gauges are well known for lying, they're very inaccurate anyway, but O is nothing to worry about.
tabetha

 

Thanks for the reaction.
The strange thing is that it didn't have this before.

The fans by the way aren't even coming in, which could mean it isn't really to hot or that there's a problem with the fans not coming in. Although I doubt if a problem with fans coming in sounds logical, because with an outside temp of 15 degrees celcius and 5 minutes driving between 1000 and around 2500 rpm could probably not turn the engine heat up that much...

 

Mine gets warm quick according to the dash anyway. Just make sure your radiator fans work ok.

 

Just bridge the terminals in the fan switch connector and see if the fans run, if they do unless you have a suspect fan switch then they are ok.
tabetha

 

as above mines usually around the '0' ive got my fans on a switch so i just turn them on if i get worried

 

Just drove around for a while, didn't get higher then the lowest part of the 'O' (just above halfway), fans didn't turn on. So it all looked ok at first sight.

Afterwards checked under the hood, and believe it or not, again the battery's leaking, maybe something's extremely overloading the battery... there goes a 130 euro battery used for 1 hour....

 

mines the same scotti,but did have a problem with the fans the wire melted the fuse box.so i got a separate loom for the fans its got 2 relays for the fans and easily monted .if u want give him a call its ryan 07919537128 it was Ł65 posted works a treat the temp barely goes to half.

 

Your battery isn't lost yet.
The leaking indicates a too high voltage, your alternator is probably
overcharging. Have it checked with a voltmeter asap.

 

As above, "leaking" battery indicates way way too high a voltage, so new alternator is most likely needed, a lot cheaper than a new battery every time you use your car, and if too far overcharging can EXPLODE with acid and battery casing thrown everywhere, only seen it once, on a burnt out citroen BX, that owner was to tight to fork out for a new a battery for, was a antiques dealer and lost Ł3K of antiques in the fire/burnt out car, so he claimed for anyway!!
tabetha

 

Get a multi meter and put on the battery terminals. Start the car up and see what voltage your getting. Would should get more than 13 volts if the alternator is ok. If its higher than that theres something wrong. Also check the voltage coming out of the back of the alternator so that you know for definate the alternator is at fault.

 

There's only something wrong with your alternator if the voltage is higher than 14,7 volt....
14 volt is perfectly normal.

 

Hi, I measured it with a voltmeter.
When the car's off it's 12.4 volt, all good.
When I start the engine (cold), and it runs idle, it goes up to 16.7 volts )-;;

I think it's the voltageregulator (don't know if this is the right word) on the alternator. Do you have experience on replacing it? (is it welded, clicked or something else?)