essexRSTSouthend

Last year i found my car to be losing water every 7 to ten days id top her up a bit.id leave the water cap off for 30mins to 40mins letting car run plenty of cycles while squeezing pipes now and again.i noticed once thermostat opened,my autoS swirl pot would bleed constant water into the header tank,that normal?
Reason id bleed the system was because i found sometimes on motorway i had to keep fans on constant but didnt happen all time.PLus stuck in traffic it would take hour or so stand still with fans on before the needle would slowly go above half way and climb slow...
Any thoughts on this be great.no mixing of oil and water etc,no build up in rocker.all clean.what i did find was my fan switch was not fully tight,could see where it had been leaking.i didnt notice this until car was off road..
Also car needs the timing sorted..

Thanks in advance.

essexRSTSouthend

Anyone...

MO' BENT RIMS

is it bleeded properly? any water on floor when u park it somewhere? maybe its leaking mines the same but i just leave it its been fine for the year i had it all i do is top it up after a week or so... i no where mine is leaking though.. just the washer on the fan switch thing at the top but it aint bothering me YET

essexRSTSouthend

Yeah thats where mine was leaking. But doubt the leak caused the heat issue? Bloody car.

Rogeyboy

iTrader: (2)

Mine was reading hot all the time recently and i was overriding the fans to keep the temps down, also when parked up it took a while for the fan to go off... Ive just fitted a 2nd hand rad tho, so it might not be greatly efficient! I solved the heat issue by changing the temp sender, turns out it was running around 88-90degrees when it was in the red block - faulty sender!
I'd get rid of the swirl pot, as the thermostat housing is a swirl pot in itself, bleeding via the small pipe at the top.
What exactly are you concerned about, because taking ages to go above halfway once up to running temp isn't a great cause for concern. But getting upto normal temp in the 1st place is.
How long does it take to warm up and then for the fans to kick in?

Rogeyboy

iTrader: (2)

Also never keep your fans on when driving above 30-40mph as they can't replicate the airflow of a full on 40+mph wind let alone motorway speed airflow/wind! So actually they'd be restricting the airflow.
Ive never ever bled a cooling system on a mk4 escort before, as the thermostat housing bleeds off to the header tank anyway, so just leave the cap off for 5-10mins when you 1st fill the system!

essexRSTSouthend

Thanks for that info roger.takes a good 20mins or more to warm up.my main concern is the car getting hot when on motorway but dont always do it.i turn fans on and starts to cool her down.weird hey.i got uprated fan switch,just need to put car back together.

My other worry was about the aftermarket swirl pot,at temp it would flow water back to header tank,is that normal.for all i know it could be the standard ford item doing it,as both hoses joined by t piece to header tank.

Rogeyboy

iTrader: (2)

Id start by losing the aftermarket swirl pot and sticking a new thermostat in... Alot of ppl recommend an 82degree one from a puma etc... Then drain the system down and refill it with fresh water, run it up to temp and then let it cool down then drain again and refill with fresh coolant and water, run it up and see how it goes.

The ford thermo housing does flow water back to the header tank, the aftermarket one will too, so its both of the i reckon! Try it without the aftermarket swirl pot!

essexRSTSouthend

Yes got new 82 thermostat ready fitted.even got that wetter stuff thats spose to keep temps down.just got to get her back together and see how she runs.yes ill take the swirl pot off,means ill have to hunt around for pipe if i do that.got new header tank,cap,water pump etc.

Karlos G

iTrader: (4)

When did you last have it setup? Could be that you are lean and so running very hot.

essexRSTSouthend

Could well be that mate.It was set up by power engineering on standard head.Now has the stage 3 head,so i turned the boost down 4 psi to be safe.But also the timing is set on standard,as got no markings on head or dizzy.As the distributor is also new.