how hot do your minis and mokes get? i have a freshly rebuilt 1100 engine and head in my moke with a brand new radiator, thermostat, capillary temperature gauge. all new hoses and thermostat housing. the moke goes really well but i am convinced that it is running too hot. i have been told not to worry until the guage starts to read 110* c but driving it to the city the other day when it was not even a real hot day i watched in horror as my guage rose to 105. i had to stop as im sure it was going to get hotter. i would hate to think what would happen on a hot day. is there any other way of cooling it down a little? would fitting a heater make that much of a difference? what else do people do to?

Where have you taken the power feed from for your Temperature guage. Long time ago I wired one in and took the feed from the wrong place and the engine rev's affected it, when I was driving it would climb way up and then in traffic on tickover it would fall back. It needs to be a supressed supply or something.

Can't remember how or why but it may be worth looking into.

Rick

i presume you are referring to an electric gauge. mine is a capillary type. it just screws into the head and thats it. there is no wiring involved. thanks anyway for the help

That's pretty hot. You could verify the temp gauge is working ok by putting it into hot water on the stove and comparing the temp with another known temperature measuring device. You can also check the thermostat is opening at the right time as well.

You've replaced everything, so you've done nothing wrong, what about the pump there's no mention of that. I reckon you replaced that as well? If there's no water getting about cos the pump impellor is rooted it will heat up.

Is it blowing all the water out via the cap? Maybe an expansion tank will help?

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

yeah the pump is the only thing i have yet to change. it is not really that old so i thought it should be good for a while but i guess i will look into that now. also the heater is something i guess i will need to put in but it is silly cause it should not have to come to that.

If the pump wasn't working you're temp would sky rocket after a few mins of idle at normal running temp wouldn't it? When my belt snapped my temp rose to 210F in like 5 mins standing in traffic.

Normal running temp for my car is 170-180 on a normal day 180-200 (180 being driving 200 if I get stuck in traffic) on a hot day and 150-160 at night/cold day.

Shard

I've seen mine go a little over 200 Deg F on a coldish night while crawling in heavy traffic.

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Santo

"The Lone Ranger"
HI-HO Silver......AWAAAAAY!

make sure you have a good quality thermostat and one that opens early - that is at low temperatures.

The cheapy ones can be wildly inaccurate and open at a far to high temperature which means that the water is already boiling in the head before the thermostat opens. The cooling systems is at that point struggling to cope. Go to your auto parts place and buy the best one you can afford and one that opens at a low temperature.

One that opens at a higher temperature is great for cold mornings and nights when you want the heater to work quickly but disasterous for hot weather driving.

It even pays to have a hot weather thermostat and a cold weather thermostat and install them as the season demands.

Even thoght the thermostat is a new one you can get a dud, did you get the right temp thermo for your car, it does make a big difference if you have the wrong one, is the gauge reading correct , time to get a thermometer in the rad and check the temp of the water after the car has been idling for some time with the cap off

Jon

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Roundies and Clubbies(except vans) are both ugly that is why I have Midas and a van
1293 Mini Midas Bronze,1275 Clubman van

If you crawl long enough sure it will, but it should slowly creep up and take a while to get there .

Shard

When i 1st got my car back in 97. It had a poor rad with a tired engine. It used to be a daily driver, and in summer it would be ike 35 deg here.

What i did was got a windscreen washer jet, mounted it to the rad cowling, hooked it up to my washer bottle, then if it got hot id just give it a few squirts. It wold work better at higher revs cause the fan would chop the spray up even more. The water vapour would then blow through the radiator, keeping every thing cool.

It worked really well, but did get a little messy under the bonnet. Also was constantly topping the washer bottle up!!!!!

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http://www.youtube.com/user/Hanras

For the record, I think "normal" Mini operating temperature is meant to be like 82 degrees Celcius. Something around that mark, anyway.

Oh, and if the motor is freshly rebuilt, then it takes a while for it to wear in properly and during that initial period, it will generate more heat, but still shouldnt be up where you say it is.

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Jonathan
http://photobucket.com/albums/y64/FatMaserati/

Is your fan in the right way round?

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

i got my thermostat and radiator from my local mini shop and they rebuilt the engine too. they have been really helpful and it is this same place that told me that 110*c is getting too hot. i believe the thermostat is opening at 83 degrees C.

Read what KC has to say on temp

http://www.gr8website2.com/calverst/CC110F.htm

and on Fans the wrong way round

http://www.gr8website2.com/calverst/ArticleFM.htm

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!