drip drip drip

Bri · Post by **Bri** » Wed May 29, 2013 6:59 pm

Sorry just seen this, check your oil cap for white mayo stuff, then check you rad water. if its all as it should be then yes probably condomsation in the zaust.

Hth.

bb1boy · Post by **bb1boy** » Wed May 29, 2013 7:09 pm

Thanks mate, water and oil are normal. Excessive moisture in the exhaust gasses on startup though for sure. I'll do the water pump etc, change the thermal switch to see if I can get my fans to work, cross my fingers and carry on then I guess!

Post by **Thebusofwoe** » Wed May 29, 2013 7:46 pm

Ok so can i go through a few things chap. U say u have jumped the relay terminals and the fan kicks in?. So, you know the fans work, u know the circuit to and from the relay/fans is ok. U know the earths are ok, (u know all this from jumping the relay) And you say that jumping the fan thermo switch on the back of the stat housing doesn't kick in the fans?? Have you checked the relay itself?? Tbh Dnt worry about steam if it clears. Just the exhaust characteristics.

Post by **Thebusofwoe** » Wed May 29, 2013 7:54 pm

Oh and have you checked the fuse?

Bri · Post by **Bri** » Wed May 29, 2013 8:17 pm

My relay was fooked and so was my spare, get your car right up to temp, change relays, it wont come on straight away, even if you do get it working and pull the relay then put it back in it wont come back on straight away. patience is required on this one and as said by Thebusofwoe before check fuses, squirt some WD in fuse box too clean them up.

bb1boy · Post by **bb1boy** » Thu May 30, 2013 9:55 am

@Thebusofwoe, @Bri, sorry fella's, my bad for poor explanation. No I didn't jump the relay terminals to get the fans to kick in, I jumped the wires off the thermal switch on the thermostat housing, that got the fans started. My first attempt at jumping these wires failed because I was jumping wires off of the wrong green plug! All fuses that I can see look fine, none broken. I don't know which fuse does what but they all look good.

So, if I put power straight to the fan it spins, if I jump the thermal switch wires the fan spins (with the relay in place) but if I just leave the car to get hot, I get nothing. I have never noticed the fans working before, but it never got overly hot so I wasn't concerned. When I swapped out the radiator I noticed the fan plug was not even connected (!) so I got to thinking, perhaps the fans failed at some point and a previous owner disconnected the fan while looking for the problem, never found it and never connected the fan again.

I'm going to change the thermal switch (although I can't see how this can fail seeing as all it does is get hot) and then get it up to temp from there and hope the fan comes on - if it doesn't, I'm not gonna mess around for weeks on it, I shall just hardwire the fan in place and just turn it on if I'm sitting in stationary traffic.

89 UKDM BA4 4WS (resto job!) · Post by **wurlycorner** » Thu May 30, 2013 10:06 am

Thermal switches can indeed fail.

If you've checked everything from the plug onto the switch and it works fine, it's got to be only either the switch or an air lock, so you're definitely on the right track.

bb1boy · Post by **bb1boy** » Thu May 30, 2013 10:18 am

That's good to hear. I think the only thing I haven't checked is some control unit near the ECU (?) but I wouldn't even know how to check that... I'll hope the thermal switch sorts the problem. I guess it could be the thermostat, but after a while the bottom rad hose gets hot too so I'm guessing it's not that.

89 UKDM BA4 4WS (resto job!) · Post by **wurlycorner** » Thu May 30, 2013 10:20 am

If the temperature gauge comes up to half way and stays there while driving at speed, the thermostat is fine.

bb1boy · Post by **bb1boy** » Thu May 30, 2013 10:22 am

Yep, that happens