Page 1 of 1
Muddy Radiator
Posted: Tue Aug 16, 2005 9:21 pm
by EricB
Just pulled out the radiator after last weekends effort to clean out all the mud. My car boiled over for the first time and lost a few litres of water.
I was thinking rather than having to pull the radiator out every 2-3 mths to give it a good clean, how bad would it be if I left the fan shroud off so that I could get the high pressure spray behind it when cleaning the engine bay? I know the fan would not pull the air through as well but my car (with a clean radiator) normally only sits on 1/3 on the temp gauge.
cheers
Eric
Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2005 11:52 pm
by turps
I havent got my shroud on my TD42. But the engine temp does rise alot more before the fan quicks in. And when doing slow 4wd it may not kick in at all as there is not enough flow over fan hub.
And still I dont get all the crap out when hosing it out.
Best bet is to keep on pulling it out every month or so. Or stop dring thru deep mud.
Option 2 is the cheapest.
Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2005 10:57 am
by marin
ive found pressure cleaner doesn't really do the job well anyway, i give mine (whilst it is out) a blast with the pressure cleaner, but then i use the hose on its own to get the volume of water through it, seems to do a better job.
marin
Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2005 11:32 am
by Doggy
I've found staying out of the mud solved the problem for me

Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2005 8:38 am
by crankycruiser
I used to have to same prob all the time..
I got some fly wire and put in front of the rad and havent had a prob since...
Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2005 11:53 am
by liftkit8
do the fly wire thing simple and it works.
Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2005 7:15 pm
by turps
st george mufflers wrote:do the fly wire thing simple and it works.
Would work except alot of the bogholes in vic that Marin and others are attempting arnt drivable so they are getting stuck and or travelling so slow that the engine bay fills up with this slop and the fan throws it everyware.
Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 8:32 am
by EricB
I dont mind taking it out for a good clean every month or so but its a shame to wash away all that coolant each time
If the fan shroud was off it would make it a little faster to wip the radiator out too.
I might try it without it and see how it goes as the weather warms up.
Cheers
Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 11:50 am
by turps
EricB wrote:I dont mind taking it out for a good clean every month or so but its a shame to wash away all that coolant each time
If the fan shroud was off it would make it a little faster to wip the radiator out too.
I might try it without it and see how it goes as the weather warms up.
Cheers
If you leave the bottom bit of the radiator off, there should be enough room to take it out. With the shroud on then just use a cordless drill with a socket on it to remove al the bolts.
And then hose the bugger out
Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 12:34 pm
by ludacris
If you clean the radiator after each trip in the mud it wont cake up and dry so much that even a high pressure hose wont clean it. If it is a ute why not relocate the radiator to the tray.
LudaCris
Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 12:46 pm
by EricB
MMmm my shroud has to come off otherwise it wont clear the fan.
That reminds me i have to put the protective guard back on the bottom and make some new hole to hold that rubber flap on tight.
I will test with shroud off.
Then its just two screws out and the hoses off and shes out for a clean.
I'll see how that goes
cheers
Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 5:21 pm
by marin
turps wrote:st george mufflers wrote:do the fly wire thing simple and it works.
Would work except alot of the bogholes in vic that Marin and others are attempting arnt drivable so they are getting stuck and or travelling so slow that the engine bay fills up with this slop and the fan throws it everyware.
i find that to be the problem some of the time, all the mud is on the back of the radiator...... maybe thermos would stop this clogging from the rear of the radiator, cauz i could turn them off? But then again, in the mud reving the car hard is sometimes needed, so would need the fan going..... also maybe would stop mud all over engine bay, as well as water less into electrics
marin
Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2005 10:52 pm
by EricB
Dont thermo fans clip to the radiator? Might be a pain when you do take it out to clean and you have the thermo fans to remove also?
Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2005 6:55 pm
by marin
i assume you would mount thermos with the same screw holes that the current shroud uses, that something like 4 or 6 screws, so you would unclip the power to the thermo, undo the 3 usual pipes, undo the top 2 screws, and pull out the radiator and thermos in 1, remembering there is no engine fan to get in the way, and then just unscrew the couple of other screws and then wash out radiator. The extra minute or 2 to clean out the radiator seems justified, given the benefits of the thermos.
marin
Posted: Wed Aug 24, 2005 9:33 am
by EricB
cool, I think i have seen some that have clips going through the radiator and look to be a pain to take on and off all the time.
Speaking of which, when are we getting our radiators muddy again Marin?
