Following on from the old AT cooling, triple core, stand alone oil cooling, ATF melt down debate I thought I'd add this. It's not science, it's observation and not intended to provide a conclusion.
This weekend, I went off road at a local site. Not as muddy as the month before which was pretty epic. Anyway, I knew my rad needed a wash though before I started, but off I went and had a good time of it. Later on, I had to nip home, mostly down hill. On the way back there is a really long straight hill. About a mile and arrow straight. Halfway I up I glanced at the temp - WOW, it was literally off the scale. I pulled over for a look. I have never heard such a boiling. The engine was 'tinking' and it even sounded like the oil was bubbling. (I am working through all the fluids at the mo but they all look and smell fine) The rad was really choked as was the AC condenser. I let it cool gradually and made the last half mile to the site with the heater on and the windows down. Fortunately at the bottom of said hill, I have a mate. I free-wheeled to his gaff and borrowed his hose pipe. Nothing fancy, no spray - just a pipe. I spent 40 minis just washing it the best I could. I really couldn't blast it through. Going back up the hill, it stayed just below half and never got any hotter all weekend. Tonight, I pulled the rad out. To start with, the AC condenser is utterly choked. So flow to the rad must be pretty bad. Now as I pulled the rad out I thought 'blimey, that's heavy'. It was. It was more mud than rad. My little jet wash wouldn't clean it, I had to get the Bad Boy out. Difficult to estimate precisely but I would say there was less than 40% flow through the fins. That's being generous. Really only the area directly in front of the centre of the fan had any through put. And yet - the temp showing was fine with the engine working hard on a very hot day. It was really very warm and pretty high up above the Peak District. Rad is in excellent condition. Really good but it does look original as far as I can tell. It's got plastic headers and is triple core with bog standard car warehouse antifreeze in it. No, not special red or pink alien blood.
So what's the point of this rambling boll***s, well it's about the cooling capacity of the 80 system. No I am not in the Andes or halfway up the Hindu Kush, but on a very hot day with only limited cooling, almost no driven flow due to crawling and idling all day the rad kept everything in the green. So, is all the effort involved in fitting extra oil cooling, triple core rads, electric fans etc actually worth it? The ATF light never came on (yes, all my warning lights do work).
Like I said, just adding some real world experience into the mix. I know that people have been much further afield than me where the sun shines hotly, but in standard trim, under fairly tough conditions the 80 kept its cool. I am looking forward to seeing if it runs any differently with the new super clean cooling combo this weekend. I am going to jet out the engine bay whilst I am in there. It's pretty packed. got my AT's back on and no roof tent. Should get a trip to Scotland soon, so we'll see what it'll do on a run.
Make of that what you will Gentlemen.
Chris
This weekend, I went off road at a local site. Not as muddy as the month before which was pretty epic. Anyway, I knew my rad needed a wash though before I started, but off I went and had a good time of it. Later on, I had to nip home, mostly down hill. On the way back there is a really long straight hill. About a mile and arrow straight. Halfway I up I glanced at the temp - WOW, it was literally off the scale. I pulled over for a look. I have never heard such a boiling. The engine was 'tinking' and it even sounded like the oil was bubbling. (I am working through all the fluids at the mo but they all look and smell fine) The rad was really choked as was the AC condenser. I let it cool gradually and made the last half mile to the site with the heater on and the windows down. Fortunately at the bottom of said hill, I have a mate. I free-wheeled to his gaff and borrowed his hose pipe. Nothing fancy, no spray - just a pipe. I spent 40 minis just washing it the best I could. I really couldn't blast it through. Going back up the hill, it stayed just below half and never got any hotter all weekend. Tonight, I pulled the rad out. To start with, the AC condenser is utterly choked. So flow to the rad must be pretty bad. Now as I pulled the rad out I thought 'blimey, that's heavy'. It was. It was more mud than rad. My little jet wash wouldn't clean it, I had to get the Bad Boy out. Difficult to estimate precisely but I would say there was less than 40% flow through the fins. That's being generous. Really only the area directly in front of the centre of the fan had any through put. And yet - the temp showing was fine with the engine working hard on a very hot day. It was really very warm and pretty high up above the Peak District. Rad is in excellent condition. Really good but it does look original as far as I can tell. It's got plastic headers and is triple core with bog standard car warehouse antifreeze in it. No, not special red or pink alien blood.
So what's the point of this rambling boll***s, well it's about the cooling capacity of the 80 system. No I am not in the Andes or halfway up the Hindu Kush, but on a very hot day with only limited cooling, almost no driven flow due to crawling and idling all day the rad kept everything in the green. So, is all the effort involved in fitting extra oil cooling, triple core rads, electric fans etc actually worth it? The ATF light never came on (yes, all my warning lights do work).
Like I said, just adding some real world experience into the mix. I know that people have been much further afield than me where the sun shines hotly, but in standard trim, under fairly tough conditions the 80 kept its cool. I am looking forward to seeing if it runs any differently with the new super clean cooling combo this weekend. I am going to jet out the engine bay whilst I am in there. It's pretty packed. got my AT's back on and no roof tent. Should get a trip to Scotland soon, so we'll see what it'll do on a run.
Make of that what you will Gentlemen.
Chris
) but I had an idea of fixing a piece of hosepipe with holes punched in it along the top of the rad and just connecting a hosepipe from the tap and letting it run down between the rad and condenser after getting it muddy until it ran clear.
. I guess that if the rad is blocked the fan is perhaps working hard to pull air through - I'm sure Jon will explain. But I can see how this would easily sap power. It's going like a rocket again. Throttle response seems better and that roar is back when I boot it. Recently it has revved but seemed to be stuck in treacle.
