Overheating

[Chris]

My 1.6 saloon has been plagued by overheating problems for nearly a year.

 

The Thermostat was playing up – so I changed it.

The Fan switch was intermittent – see above.

The Head gasket blew – bugger.....see above.

The Fan switch plug disintegrated – ditto.

The Fan was notchy – you get the idea..........

 

After all that it STILL overheated alot.

 

Until I had a thought........

 

The Earth wire from the starter has a break in it (I know this), so that sometimes when I turn the key nothing happens and I have to pop the bonnet and wiggle the wire a bit, then try again.

The Fans Earth connects to the same wire......Hmmm

‘If the Earth wire is dodgy between the Fan and the Battery, that would explain alot’

 

I now have a New 17 amp wire running from the Fan earth to the battery.

Yesterday, for the first time in a long time, it Didn’t overheat.

In fact, the needle didn’t even get halfway up the gauge!

 

I’m currently touching every piece of wood in the house, hoping that I have now Finally fixed it........

 

Chris G

 

[Derek Clews]

Well Done!

Good to share the triumphs as well as the disasters!  The eleccy stuff is weird and needs a special touch to sort out.  Sounds like you are developing the touch …………………  keep on, keeping on.

Derek

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[Jim Hearne]

I hope you've fixed your problem, but....

The only earth wire from the starter is the great big black one from the engine block/starter to the battery.
If that had a break in it i'd also expect you to have trouble with the battery charging and the engine cutting out.
Also, the fan wouldn't normally be earthed to that point, though it is a Quantum so it's possible somebody did.
If you have intermittent starting issues it's probably the starter wire from the ignition switch that has the problem (Black with a Blue stripe from memory), quite possibly it's the round push on fitting on the end if it's original or a crimp connector if not. 
The stud or tab on the starter is plated steel and rusts creating an intermittent connection.

Also, 17 amp wire isn't really enough for the fan circuit, the fan is fused with a 20 amp fuse.
I would use 27 to 30 amp (3mm squared) wire for the fan circuit

The fan should only be coming on in slow moving or stationary traffic, if it's overheating while moving it's something else.

Sorry,

Jim

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[Chris]

Ok, I’ll investigate the starter wire for the ignition switch (I thought that was the earth...hey ho).

I used a 17 amp wire because it was the biggest I had plus it was bigger than the wire fitted to the fan (aftermarket).

 

>The fan should only be coming on in slow moving or stationary traffic, if it's overheating while moving it's something else.

 

Any suggestions?

 

The engine was rebuilt just over a year ago, when it was rebuilt before (11 years and 120,000 miles before) it also ran hot for a while then ran cooler as the years went by.

 

Chris G

[Chris]

Plus, the fan wasn’t kicking in when it should have so the temp just kept on rising. Then when it did decide to work it would bring the temp back down a bit until it decided not to work again (usually when going over a bump in the road).

 

When I idled the engine up to temp after fitting the new wire, the fan came on when the needle was about a third to half of the way up the gauge, which from the last 2 trips I did was normal running temp.

 

By the way, it also has a new rad, new ish heater matrix, a new water pump and new ish silicone hoses

I need to check the ignition timing with my new timing gun as I only did it by ear.

 

Chris G

 

 

From: Jim Hearne

Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2016 7:12 PM

To: quantu...@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: [Quantum Owners] Overheating

 

[robert greig]

Well done.

I wound not of thought about the wiring.

Robert Greig 

[Jim Hearne]

If it’s an aftermarket fan then it might not draw as much current as the original Ford so you may be ok.

Your wire being thicker than the fan wire is a good sign.

 

Is the fan blowing in the correct direction ?, it can be surprisingly difficult to tell if it’s blowing or sucking just by putting you hand in front of it as there’s a lot of turbulence.

Best way it to hold a sheet of paper up in front of the rad and make sure it gets sucked onto it.

 

Also, is the fan running in the correct direction, some people think you can reverse the power and put the fan on the other side of the rad, but this makes it a lot less efficient.

 

A newly rebuilt engine might run a bit warmer for a while while it beds in but i would expect the stat to just open slightly sooner and the difference not to be noticeable on the gauge.

 

Jim

 

 

 

From: Chris

Sent: Friday, May 13, 2016 10:34 AM

To: quantumowners@googlegroups..com

Subject: Re: [Quantum Owners] Overheating

 

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[Jim Hearne]

A third of the way up the gauge sounds very low for the fan cutting in.

What colour is the fan switch, the different colours are different temperatures, at least on Ford OEM parts.

 

Jim

 

 

 

From: Chris

Sent: Friday, May 13, 2016 11:03 AM

To: quantumowners@googlegroups..com

Subject: Re: [Quantum Owners] Overheating

 

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[Chris]

I can’t remember the colour, but I did notice there was a choice of temps. I chose the lowest.

 

Chris G

 

From: Jim Hearne

Sent: Monday, May 16, 2016 1:57 PM

To: quantu...@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: [Quantum Owners] Overheating

 

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[Chris]

I got the fan from Car Building Solutions and followed the instructions to the letter about getting it sucking and the blades running in the right direction.

The old fan blade was 12” diam so I ordered a 12” new one, annoyingly though although the new casing is 12”, the fan is only 11” !!

I did think about sending it back and getting the 14” fan but there just wouldn’t be room to fit it on my car.

 

Anyhoo, since I fitted the new earth wire it has been running ALOT cooler. I’ve been doing 25 mile trips all week at 40 mph around the outside of Luton and motorway bits.

 

I had thought about fitting a remote fan switch with a dial so I can set the temp it comes on at.

This may be a thing to do in the future.

 

Chris G

 

From: Jim Hearne

Sent: Monday, May 16, 2016 1:55 PM

To: quantu...@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: [Quantum Owners] Overheating

 

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[Chris]

The plastic on the outside is green, same as the original.

 

Chris G

 

From: Jim Hearne

Sent: Monday, May 16, 2016 1:57 PM

To: quantu...@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: [Quantum Owners] Overheating

 

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[Kish Patel]

Hi all any one got the front qsc badge ? For  Bonnet having my car re sprayed after a bang 

Sent from my iPhone  - Kish