Omega Owners Forum

Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: Paulus on 21 March 2007, 10:24:20

Title: What does it mean when...
Post by: Paulus on 21 March 2007, 10:24:20
...my heating is rubbish and my radiator is cold at the bottom??? Are these related?

Paul.
Title: Re: What does it mean when...
Post by: Kevin Wood on 21 March 2007, 10:28:48
Is it overheating at all?

I'd say it could be a silted up cooling system or a knackered water pump.

What is the condition of the coolant in the header tank, though? Any mayo?

First step would be to give it a good flush through although if there's evidence of oil in the water it might be worth doing the oil cooler first.

Kevin
Title: Re: What does it mean when...
Post by: STMO123 on 21 March 2007, 10:47:15
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...my heating is rubbish and my radiator is cold at the bottom??? Are these related?

Paul.

If you dont know the FULL history of the car, I would just give the cooling system a good flush and see how it goes. There may have been problems in the past which have been fixed (oil cooler) but system not properly flushed.

As Kevin said , of course, if there is evidence of cross-contamination, then it may require an oil cooler.
Title: Re: What does it mean when...
Post by: Paulus on 21 March 2007, 13:19:04
No mayo in the coolant. I have recently flushed the heater matrix.
No overheating problems, if anything, the opposite.

One coolant system flush coming up at the weekend  8-)
Title: Re: What does it mean when...
Post by: Kevin Wood on 21 March 2007, 13:41:57
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No overheating problems, if anything, the opposite.

In that case, it could be a thermostat stuck open.

Start the engine from cold and feel for heat at the radiator top hose and the coolant hoses to the heater matrix (with heater on). You should feel the heater matrix pipes warming up gradually as the engine warms up. The top radiator hose should stay cool until the engine is up to temperature and then suddenly get very hot. If it warms up gradually it's an indication that the thermostat isn't closing. This could be causing the engine to run cool and hence the poor heater operation.

Where is the gauge needle during normal driving?

Kevin
Title: Re: What does it mean when...
Post by: Paulus on 21 March 2007, 16:04:26
It normally sits at 1/3 - 1/2 way up the dial (can't remember the temps showing).
Title: Re: What does it mean when...
Post by: TheBoy on 21 March 2007, 19:03:20
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It normally sits at 1/3 - 1/2 way up the dial (can't remember the temps showing).
maybe a tad low, but it is cold outside at moment I guess.  Mine tends to hover around the 95 mark (1/2 way on guage), may 92ish on very cold days (3/8 on guage)
Title: Re: What does it mean when...
Post by: Martin_1962 on 21 March 2007, 19:27:50
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It normally sits at 1/3 - 1/2 way up the dial (can't remember the temps showing).
maybe a tad low, but it is cold outside at moment I guess.  Mine tends to hover around the 95 mark (1/2 way on guage), may 92ish on very cold days (3/8 on guage)


Sorry Jaime but G[size=18]AU[/size]GE :y as a railway modeller this really gets to me :-X
Title: Re: What does it mean when...
Post by: TheBoy on 21 March 2007, 19:50:19
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Quote
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It normally sits at 1/3 - 1/2 way up the dial (can't remember the temps showing).
maybe a tad low, but it is cold outside at moment I guess.  Mine tends to hover around the 95 mark (1/2 way on guage), may 92ish on very cold days (3/8 on guage)


Sorry Jaime but G[size=18]AU[/size]GE :y as a railway modeller this really gets to me :-X
Sorry, I was on a boring conf call at time, so probably wasn't giving it much attention... ...but more attention than the call ;D
Title: Re: What does it mean when...
Post by: Martin_1962 on 21 March 2007, 20:19:41
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Quote
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It normally sits at 1/3 - 1/2 way up the dial (can't remember the temps showing).
maybe a tad low, but it is cold outside at moment I guess.  Mine tends to hover around the 95 mark (1/2 way on guage), may 92ish on very cold days (3/8 on guage)


Sorry Jaime but G[size=18]AU[/size]GE :y as a railway modeller this really gets to me :-X
Sorry, I was on a boring conf call at time, so probably wasn't giving it much attention... ...but more attention than the call ;D
;D ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: What does it mean when...
Post by: Paulus on 22 March 2007, 08:45:04
So the thermostat is looking a likely suspect.
Title: Re: What does it mean when...
Post by: rpont on 22 March 2007, 10:27:55
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So the thermostat is looking a likely suspect.
Not necessarily. Follow Kevins guide above but the thermostat doesn't snap open so you will find the outlet hose (the one near the battery) gets hot at the top first as the thermostat begins to open. As the engine warms up the heater hoses will warm quickly but the outlet hose should stay cold at least until those are very hot.
Title: Re: What does it mean when...
Post by: Kevin Wood on 22 March 2007, 10:43:34
It's a right pain to get to the thermostat on the V6 so it's worth spending some time narrowing it down first!

Kevin
Title: Re: What does it mean when...
Post by: STMO123 on 22 March 2007, 16:07:40
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It's a right pain to get to the thermostat on the V6 so it's worth spending some time narrowing it down first!

Kevin

A pain to get to? On our lovely V6's? That's a change >:(
Title: Re: What does it mean when...
Post by: Paulus on 22 March 2007, 16:38:45
I suddenly don't feel so confident  :'(
Title: Re: What does it mean when...
Post by: STMO123 on 22 March 2007, 20:43:05
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I suddenly don't feel so confident  :'(

Try a good flush first and take it from there :y