Omega Owners Forum

Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: bluebuss on 21 May 2010, 22:46:43

Title: lil' rad
Post by: bluebuss on 21 May 2010, 22:46:43
found a little radiator under the wing on my 2.5td omega.
is it good that the fan on it is jammed solid????
how does this effect the car..... :-/


anyone??? :(
Title: Re: lil' rad
Post by: Andy H on 21 May 2010, 23:07:13
Is that the intercooler rad?

A seized fan will cause one of the fuses for the radiator cooling fans to blow which will then cause overheating problems.

The lack of air through the intercooler will cause most problems at low speeds. Don't know if it will merely reduce power or cause clouds of black smoke on full throttle :-/
Title: Re: lil' rad
Post by: bluebuss on 21 May 2010, 23:10:32
thankyou, i think its been like it for a while, even before i was given the car. ther does'nt seem to be any adverse effect, temp ok, no exccess smoke and fuel consom' ok. will whip it off and see if i can free it off....nice one. ;D
Title: Re: lil' rad
Post by: bluebuss on 21 May 2010, 23:19:19
could this of caused the air con to blow also? before i was given the car i was told that if i put the aircon on it will blow all the fuses??? :o
Title: Re: lil' rad
Post by: Andy H on 22 May 2010, 09:23:02
The fans for engine cooling and air-con are linked & there is a guide somewhere on how to test them using a connector in the fuse box but I can't find it in the index >:(

The nearest I can find at the moment is Engine Bay Relay Box layout (http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1176542235)
Title: Re: lil' rad
Post by: TheBoy on 22 May 2010, 10:45:17
Right.

This is the intercooler fan.

Vauxhall, in their wisdom, decided this will only come on with the cooling fans.

BMW in their denser wisdom decided the engine needed a stupid, pointless, noisey, expensive, unreliable, 1960s technology viscous fan, which ensures that electric fans rarely come on.


So, solution. Free off the intercooler (turn by hand, then apply 12v directly to it for a few hours).  Rip out the viscous 'bhp sapper' (and the rad cowling) and store it upright (on the unlikely assumption it still works right).  Then the leccy fans come on a bit more, and the intercooler doesn't seize.

If you are going to tow, may be worth popping viscous back on for your holiday.
Title: Re: lil' rad
Post by: Andy H on 22 May 2010, 10:59:06
Quote
Vauxhall, in their wisdom, decided this will only come on with the cooling fans.

As well as being triggered by the thermoswitch in the end of the radiator the cooling fans also come on at half speed when you turn the A/C on.

[question for Jaime] Does the A/C switch bring on the intercooler fan as well? If so a  seized intercooler fan could well be the cause the fuse blowing.
Title: Re: lil' rad
Post by: bluebuss on 23 May 2010, 22:32:14
what a difference that's made to the car.
ripped out the old aircon rad as well. compresser has been seized a while before i got it. disconnected with a nice rusty pulley.
quiet and more poke......well a little more. gearbox is behaving differently. actually used fourth gear, which is new normally it glides across fourth and straight into the torq conv' lock up.
anyhow thanks a million. the viscous fan is worth a fortune over here in france............errrr  ebay? ;D
Title: Re: lil' rad
Post by: TheBoy on 24 May 2010, 09:32:42
Quote
Quote
Vauxhall, in their wisdom, decided this will only come on with the cooling fans.

As well as being triggered by the thermoswitch in the end of the radiator the cooling fans also come on at half speed when you turn the A/C on.

[question for Jaime] Does the A/C switch bring on the intercooler fan as well? If so a  seized intercooler fan could well be the cause the fuse blowing.
A/C will not bring on i/c fan.

sometimes it blows the (20A?) fuse in the relay box, sometimes it doesn't. Never worked that one out, as I would expect it to always blow.  :-/
Title: Re: lil' rad
Post by: hoofing it on 24 May 2010, 09:56:04
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Quote
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Vauxhall, in their wisdom, decided this will only come on with the cooling fans.

As well as being triggered by the thermoswitch in the end of the radiator the cooling fans also come on at half speed when you turn the A/C on.

[question for Jaime] Does the A/C switch bring on the intercooler fan as well? If so a  seized intercooler fan could well be the cause the fuse blowing.
A/C will not bring on i/c fan.

sometimes it blows the (20A?) fuse in the relay box, sometimes it doesn't. Never worked that one out, as I would expect it to always blow.  :-/
i wired the fan into the ac fans + removed over sized hair dryer(viscous).
I had to put visc back on on saturday temp started touching 100 wife (extra weight ;D)  +brats went to beach ac-fans couldn't cope ::) ;D.
slightly cooler today so its coming off :y
Title: Re: lil' rad
Post by: TheBoy on 24 May 2010, 09:59:33
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Quote
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Vauxhall, in their wisdom, decided this will only come on with the cooling fans.

As well as being triggered by the thermoswitch in the end of the radiator the cooling fans also come on at half speed when you turn the A/C on.

[question for Jaime] Does the A/C switch bring on the intercooler fan as well? If so a  seized intercooler fan could well be the cause the fuse blowing.
A/C will not bring on i/c fan.

sometimes it blows the (20A?) fuse in the relay box, sometimes it doesn't. Never worked that one out, as I would expect it to always blow.  :-/
i wired the fan into the ac fans + removed over sized hair dryer(viscous).
I had to put visc back on on saturday temp started touching 100 wife (extra weight ;D)  +brats went to beach ac-fans couldn't cope ::) ;D.
slightly cooler today so its coming off :y
You have a cooling system fault you need to resolve - viscous may be needed for towing in hot weather, but not for just running around.

100C is *WAY* too hot, as in reality that is 110C (the gauge lies) which is the limit BMW state for the engine before HGs/heads fail.
Title: Re: lil' rad
Post by: hoofing it on 24 May 2010, 11:30:13
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Quote
Quote
Quote
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Vauxhall, in their wisdom, decided this will only come on with the cooling fans.

As well as being triggered by the thermoswitch in the end of the radiator the cooling fans also come on at half speed when you turn the A/C on.

[question for Jaime] Does the A/C switch bring on the intercooler fan as well? If so a  seized intercooler fan could well be the cause the fuse blowing.
A/C will not bring on i/c fan.

sometimes it blows the (20A?) fuse in the relay box, sometimes it doesn't. Never worked that one out, as I would expect it to always blow.  :-/
i wired the fan into the ac fans + removed over sized hair dryer(viscous).
I had to put visc back on on saturday temp started touching 100 wife (extra weight ;D)  +brats went to beach ac-fans couldn't cope ::) ;D.
slightly cooler today so its coming off :y
You have a cooling system fault you need to resolve - viscous may be needed for towing in hot weather, but not for just running around.

100C is *WAY* too hot, as in reality that is 110C (the gauge lies) which is the limit BMW state for the engine before HGs/heads fail.
water pump getting changed today and a new copper/brass rad next month :y
Title: Re: lil' rad
Post by: TheBoy on 24 May 2010, 11:38:01
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Vauxhall, in their wisdom, decided this will only come on with the cooling fans.

As well as being triggered by the thermoswitch in the end of the radiator the cooling fans also come on at half speed when you turn the A/C on.

[question for Jaime] Does the A/C switch bring on the intercooler fan as well? If so a  seized intercooler fan could well be the cause the fuse blowing.
A/C will not bring on i/c fan.

sometimes it blows the (20A?) fuse in the relay box, sometimes it doesn't. Never worked that one out, as I would expect it to always blow.  :-/
i wired the fan into the ac fans + removed over sized hair dryer(viscous).
I had to put visc back on on saturday temp started touching 100 wife (extra weight ;D)  +brats went to beach ac-fans couldn't cope ::) ;D.
slightly cooler today so its coming off :y
You have a cooling system fault you need to resolve - viscous may be needed for towing in hot weather, but not for just running around.

100C is *WAY* too hot, as in reality that is 110C (the gauge lies) which is the limit BMW state for the engine before HGs/heads fail.
water pump getting changed today and a new copper/brass rad next month :y
Don't neglect oil.  Remember these are 4.5k MAXIMUM service interval.  3k is really about the most you can leave it before changing oil if you care about it...
Title: Re: lil' rad
Post by: TheBoy on 24 May 2010, 11:39:31
I should add, for clairity, the oil in TDs is a critical part of the cooling system - for example, the cylinders/pistons are cooled via oil jets at the bottom of the cylinders...
Title: Re: lil' rad
Post by: hoofing it on 24 May 2010, 16:50:43
Quote
Quote
Quote
Quote
Quote
Quote
Quote
Vauxhall, in their wisdom, decided this will only come on with the cooling fans.

As well as being triggered by the thermoswitch in the end of the radiator the cooling fans also come on at half speed when you turn the A/C on.

[question for Jaime] Does the A/C switch bring on the intercooler fan as well? If so a  seized intercooler fan could well be the cause the fuse blowing.
A/C will not bring on i/c fan.

sometimes it blows the (20A?) fuse in the relay box, sometimes it doesn't. Never worked that one out, as I would expect it to always blow.  :-/
i wired the fan into the ac fans + removed over sized hair dryer(viscous).
I had to put visc back on on saturday temp started touching 100 wife (extra weight ;D)  +brats went to beach ac-fans couldn't cope ::) ;D.
slightly cooler today so its coming off :y
You have a cooling system fault you need to resolve - viscous may be needed for towing in hot weather, but not for just running around.

100C is *WAY* too hot, as in reality that is 110C (the gauge lies) which is the limit BMW state for the engine before HGs/heads fail.
water pump getting changed today and a new copper/brass rad next month :y
Don't neglect oil.  Remember these are 4.5k MAXIMUM service interval.  3k is really about the most you can leave it before changing oil if you care about it...[/quote]

I change oil every 2 months I bought 100L 10-40(diesel) fully synthetic from a garage sale :y