Ive noticed after a run tonight that my turbo cooler isn't getting hot... In fact after a burn around for an hour, the coolant system was 90c+ and the turbo cooler was stone cold... Im not sure why, there no leaks as when i take the hoses off they flow water through fine and the cooler itself.
Im thinking of removing it as it might be doing more harm than good!?

 

Is your car still running hot mate? mine runs hotter than I would like

 

Hotter than i would like, but not really tbh... It cruises at 85-90c and gets upto 100c after a blat then cools back pretty quickly.

Theres obviously some airlock or something stopping the water flowing thru the turbo cooler

 

Whats it like in traffic? how have you got the turbo cooler mounted to the car dose the pipes go to be top and bottom so the air can go out the top? I mite be wrong but when I seen one before that's how I thought you would fit it but then seen one with the pipes it either side? or am I just talking shit

 

Its fine in traffic the fans control the temps lovely...
The cooler is mounted as per airtecs intructions. Vertically.

Ive had a play with it and it seems that the flow of water is equal to either side of the turbo cooler, so no water flows through it, its just reaches that point and becomes a stalemate.
The water flowing from the turbo is flowing as it should be, but the little return in the rad is pushing water out rather than letting water return to the rad... Anyone else experienced this?

 

Those temps are perfectly normal IME mate.

 

If you have a gap between your intercooler and your radiator then your car will run hot. The air passed through the intercooler then just hits the rad like it's a brick wall. Ideally the cooler and rad need to be as close as possible.

My S1 has a GRS and standard radiator almost touching each other. 82-85 degrees cruise and not much hotter after having it's head kicked in.

 

Yeah im happy with the temps tbh, but its the stone cold airtec turbo cooler that worries me.
Daz i find mine runs cooler with a gap between the rad and ic i used to run them close together and it would run alot hotter!

 

There must have been an issue somewhere. The bigger the gap between the cooler and rad, the less airflow through the rad.

 

I find the fans work more efficiently when mounted on the rad rather than the front of the IC, they control the temps alot quicker that way! And it means less restriction of airflow to the IC core

 

The fans would work more efficiently directly on the rad but natural airflow cooling would suffer due to the gap.

 

So...
Here we go again!
On the cruise upto ford fair i noticed the car running 98/99c coolant temps.
On track it got F***king hot, blew some water out of the header tank
Cruising on the way back at 105-108c at 80mph if i slowed to 60 it would run at 98/99c

Im thinking the rads blocked?
The water pump is fubar?
or something wrong internally?

 

mine got hotter on sunday.cruising at 70mph it sat about 90c and when I give it the beans it went upto 110c lol.would come back down when slowed down.

 

I think mine mustve hit around 120c on track... Shame as i was enjoying it!
Had to give it a couple of cool down laps!

 

Hey Roger,

Mine is currently at Karls getting the headgasket done as it always ran crazy hot and the header tank ballooned while it was being mapped.

When I get it back I'm planning to try out an electric water pump as a helper for the standard one (and maybe one day replace it entirely).

My logic is that an electric pump will run at full speed even when the engine is idling, so should help it cool down once I've stopped moving.

I'll let you know the results!

 

youve still got issues somewhere
im lucky to get mid 80's on cruise and it never goes above 90
standard water pump,airtec rad and grs cooler

 

Cant believe your still having issues!
I thought you changed the water pump? Tbh the fact you've got flow i'd pretty much rule out the water pump ime.
Rad, again i thought you changed this? (might be making it up now,lol)

Im beginning to wonder if you've got a crack internally somewhere and its superheating the coolant when your gunning it or of course HG. Are you losing any coolant? Done a sniff test?

 

Haz -Water pump is 3yrs old now, brand new when i fitted the engine.
Im on my 3rd rad, all used items this one is an airtec alloy one.
Minor coolant loss, cooling system holds pressure hot and cold tho.
No other signs of HG failure, except i found mayo in breathers afew weeks back.

Matt - Thats not good m8, on a fresh engine. Maybe my HG is on its way out then! Keep me posted please! I wondered why i didnt see you at Ford Fair. I've thought about an electric pump too, but it shouldnt need it!

TBH i think im gonna flush the cooling system, re-bleed it. If that doesnt cure it, which lets be honest it wont... I'll take the head off! An excuse for a ported head and a nice fruity cam too!

 

On mine I'm running one 12" spal fan which cools it better than two 10" for some reason but my fan is on my rad and not the cooler


I found with my previous cars that the msd fan switch and 82 degree thermostat cured all my cooling issues when running fans on cooler with alloy rad, in a s1

 

Im using an 82c stat, lower temp fan switch didnt help. Just kept fans on all the time!
The fans work fine.
Its the driving temps that r too high!

 

Heater matrix been swapped for known clear one and/or bypassed the current one for test purposes?

 

Yeah with Matt's the coolant system was being over pressurised, header tank looked like a pufferfish, the water temps themselves where only about 110 degree's which is fine when being driven hard on a hot summers day (25 degree's ambient), in the process of fitting a new head gasket.

 

Mines running nearly that when driving at a constant 80mph (108c)... Strange as it drops if i drive at 60mph.
No excess pressure in system tho.
Heater matrix is 1yr old, problem has been there before and after that.

 

Id sniff test just to rule out hg/cracked internal then considering it costs naff all

 

If your near bracknell I got a snif tester you can use

Seems like airflow if it only gets bad at high speed

 

What is a sniff tester?
The issue seems to be getting worse... Im gna rip the head off the weekend!
A new gasket and a freshen up cant hurt can it!

 

im doing same with mine this weekend, mines fine driving its over heating when stationary mine ive tried thermostat etc but its thrown loads of k seal out of header tank ive only had it 2 weeks and ive certainly not put that it

 

It tests the coolant, takes 2 mins when the cars upto temperature

 

You probably already know this but make sure you clean the threads in the block, lube the new bolts and wind them all the way in and out at least twice by hand to make sure they are not snagging, are clean and rotate freely, also make sure you use the original head bolt washers (spreads the clamping force correctly and stop's the bolt cutting into the head and giving incorrect torque reading), I also lube the washers too and clean the deck with a stanley blade.
.... for combustion gasses.

 

You sure? I wouldn't. Lube gives false torque readings (obviously things like ARP bolts which are designed and torque spec'd to be used with a certain lube are exempt from that). Rest i totally agree with tho

 

Yes mate 100% sure, I realise some fasteners specify a wet or dry torque but as far as I have read nothing is indicated for the CVH so I always lubricate.
Once you've wound it in and out twice with your fingers you'll soon know if it's 'catching' or not and that's what is important, each bolt must stretch equally to ensure equal clamping force across the head.
A wet installation will result in a higher clamping force (greater stretch) than a dry installation but I have not snapped a bolt yet! lol

 

I have the dealer workshop manual somewhere and Im fairly sure it says to lube bolts.... Either way I would. Not excessively tho, don't need to fill the bolt holes up etc, that definitely would give false torque readings!

I would personally use new bolts and washers too, but others don't any they are fine. Standard ford ones are pretty cheap too

lol, that provoked a laugh!

Maybe its only Orions that have heating issues? My escort was always fine

Rob,

PS, fit a zetec already!!!!!

 

rog have you tried a rst bonnet or maybe raising the bonnet at back to aid flow ? just a thought would be nice to see if it made a diffrence

 

my zetec turbo appears to run quite hot, fans control it well enough but I think it needs more airflow when on the move.

 

Neither my CVH running around 270bhp @ 32psi nor my ZT running around 300bhp @ 22psi ran even slightly hot in the Cabby.... and by hot I mean over 115 degree's after sustained periods of WOT with an ambient of 25 degree's.

I didn't run water cooling to the turbo on either and on the ZT I had no oil cooler either... well, it was there but I never got round to plumbing it in! lol
Maybe these had an effect?! But my bumper did allow for very good airflow to the IC and rad.

 

checked my gauge against tuner studio reading, the ford gauge just under the red is 100degrees for what the ecu is seeing.

 

Im running water cooling to the turbo, but alot of ppl do with no issues...
Heads off, nothing major to reveal, some corrosion on the gasket between the waterways and the fire rings but nothing into the combustion chamber. Gonna get the head checked and skimmed, maybe ported too and put it all back together.
Once it's all back together i'll try a turbo bonnet to aid airflow and cooling.

Are people always using genuine headbolts?

 

Also recommend me an engineer that can skim, and pressure check a cvh head...?

 

I used gasket and bolts from gaskets for classics on the 3 cvh's I had fitted.

 

Cheers Stu, ive ordered them!