Vitaras and cooling

[cj]

I just picked up an lwb auto that had had overheating problems and has now been resolved. The mechanic reckoned that the head gasket was faulty and causing pressure problems in the cooling system. Anyway he stripped down the radiator and cleaned out the cooling system put in a new water pump and had the head checked. I just drove it back from up past Newcastle to Melbourne and the temp guage never went above 1/3 and later in the evening as I got to Melbourne it started to drop to the point that it was just above the cold mark. It was interesting to me as my swb 8v manual always sits on 1/2 or above on the guage and I was wondering if it is the different motors, the cleaned out cooling system or the guages that are the reason for the different readings.

[greg]

Based upon the fact that theage.com.au tells me that it is only 17 degrees outside in melbourne at the moment - perhaps that has something to do with your engine running cooler?

I would also super-double-check that the system is sealed and hasn't started losing fluid - the temp guage dropped to nothing on my sierra once and it turned out that i had a coolant hose come loose and lost all the coolant out of the system (the engine was actually running hot)...

[Gonzo]

i'm on my 3rd thermostat is just over 2 years

check that - it is a cheap fix that you can do yourself....

[No Idea]

Sounds like he did not put the thermostat back in.

[antt]

seems ok

mine has a brand new radiator, reco water pump, and new thermostat and it'll sit about 1/3 of the way up the guage all day. cruising on the freeway at night in winter (remember i'm in QLD) the guage will drop bloody near to the cold mark. flogging the crap out of it on the beach, the guage gets up to about 2/3's -> 3/4

[Beastmavster]

seems ok

mine has a brand new radiator, reco water pump, and new thermostat and it'll sit about 1/3 of the way up the guage all day. cruising on the freeway at night in winter (remember i'm in QLD) the guage will drop bloody near to the cold mark. flogging the crap out of it on the beach, the guage gets up to about 2/3's -> 3/4

Nice new pic antt..

The beach work puts a huge strain on it.... even for trail work here I never seem to get above 1/3.... Only in really heavy mud do I hit half and that's cos the radiaitor is clogged.

[antt]

yer, pic was taken out at beerwah on sunday. there are some awesome tracks out there.

anyway, about the beach and it getting to 2/3's........thats in the middle of summer, fully loaded (7 people in car), at high tide............not the best idea, but was the only way to get to camp

[Beastmavster]

yer, pic was taken out at beerwah on sunday. there are some awesome tracks out there.

anyway, about the beach and it getting to 2/3's........thats in the middle of summer, fully loaded (7 people in car), at high tide............not the best idea, but was the only way to get to camp

7 People

[Goatse.AJ]

Mine wanders around depending on what type of driving I'm doing... just cruising on the freeway, it tends to sit at about COLD to 1/4, (lotsa airflow?). Around town, it usually sits just under 1/2

I have a question though: I find that the engine bay in my Vitara gets hotter than ANY other car I've ever had, including the Datto rally car being driven at full noise. Is this normal?, or is there some simple way of getting a bit more cool air into the engine bay without filling it with mud and water the first bog hole I hit?

The radiator seems to be clean and clear of blockages, doesn't overheat, but I'm slowly losing coolant (head gasket or dud hose, not sure which yet).

Driving lights are only smallish Hellas, so I don't think they're restricting airflow.

I'm still running the standard front bumper.

Any comments or advice appreciated...

[WaveCult]

I have a question though: I find that the engine bay in my Vitara gets hotter than ANY other car I've ever had, including the Datto rally car being driven at full noise. Is this normal?, or is there some simple way of getting a bit more cool air into the engine bay without filling it with mud and water the first bog hole I hit?

...

Any comments or advice appreciated...

I notice the same thing on my 1.6 GV... on the move it's fine, but when you're stopped for a while everything get's awefully hot to the point that you'd hesitate in touching the "stick" to hold up the bonnet (at least in my case it gets extremely hot). I'm sure a vent of some sort leading into the inner guard (maybe high up and at the back of the engine bay) would help but haven't tried this. Could also try removing the panel that goes into the cowl of the windscreen (er... my GV has a screw on panel about 15cmx5cm or so, on your left-hand side when you're facing the engine, but not sure about Vits) but that'd get hot air into your ventilation probably... actually might try this tonight... (already getting hot air into ventilation, might as well make the most of it)

Question for you though, do you also typically get warm air coming through the ventilation when the car's sitting there idle (on the spot) for a while after a long drive?

[antt]

yer, pic was taken out at beerwah on sunday. there are some awesome tracks out there.

anyway, about the beach and it getting to 2/3's........thats in the middle of summer, fully loaded (7 people in car), at high tide............not the best idea, but was the only way to get to camp

7 People

yes, me and a mate left camp to pick some more people up, who were arriving on a barge. on the way up, my mates lux did a seal and dropped engine oil everywhere, so he limped it onto a barge, but i had to get all these people back to camp, so we waited for low tide, then went for it

had 7 people in the car, plus 3 esky's full, another 5 bags of ice on the back floor (people in the back had cold feet), plus all the bags and supplies the people had bought with em. the vit did it well, didn't even unload before we tried to get back off the beach at camp, 6grand in low first managed to haul us up off the beach.