| Author |
Message |
Lawrence Coppari (Lawrence)
Member
Username: Lawrence
Post Number: 324
Registered: 4-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, October 20, 2002 - 3:32 pm: | |
Mike:
Can you check the switch? If you have an ohm meter, you could connect it across the thermo switch at the radiator and run car. Resistance should go to zero when it senses the radiator water is hot enough for fans to run. If it does not do this then the switch is the problem.
If its resistance goes to zero, I'd check the fans. I have not fooled around with my 328 but the Porsche can be tested by turning the ignition on (where it is when engine runs). Remove the wires from the switch that screws into the radiator and connect one side of the plug to the other completing the circuit (wire side). The fans should come on.
Good luck. |
Mike Burns (Mike_burns)
New member
Username: Mike_burns
Post Number: 3
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, October 20, 2002 - 3:08 pm: | |
Lawrence,
Thanks for the input. Have had this problem since I purchased the car. Have also bled the system at the thermostat housing as well. Fans appear to be working properly. 99% of the time they kick in right on schedule. I believe the temperature sensor for the fan trigger is at the bottom of the reservoir so that should always (hopefully) be triggered by coolant temp. |
Lawrence Coppari (Lawrence)
Member
Username: Lawrence
Post Number: 320
Registered: 4-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, October 20, 2002 - 6:25 am: | |
Have you bled it at the thermostat? My 328 has a bleed bolt there. My system always has a tiny amount of air in the top of the radiator but it remains constant in time.
How do you know your fan switch is working properly and not sticking? This is a common problem with water cooled Porsches. I have one of them (track car) and have had to replace the thermostat in the radiator that controls the fans. It was erratic. Other Porsche oners have had the same thing happen.
Did the problem begin after you changed your coolant or did it just happen all by itself? I suspect the switch is not near the top of the radiator just for the reason that it should be in contact with liquid, not air/vapor, so it reacts quickly. You would have to have a large amount of vapor in the system for it to be not submerged in liquid. |
Mike Burns (Mike_burns)
New member
Username: Mike_burns
Post Number: 2
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, October 20, 2002 - 3:50 am: | |
If I leave it alone and do nothing, eventually, when the car is sitting still at idle it will heat up. Fans work normally except when this occurs. It seems there is a large pocket of air in the system and it is not triggering the fans (BTW, fairly new fan motors and new radiator cap). Or, that large pocket of air is passing through the radiator core and of course the fans are not going to cool this. Car will definately begin to heat up at idle without this frequent bleeding; I've never allowed it to overheat. |
Lawrence Coppari (Lawrence)
Member
Username: Lawrence
Post Number: 319
Registered: 4-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, October 19, 2002 - 2:17 pm: | |
Is it air or is it a mixture of ethylene glycol vapor and water vapor. Everyone (loosely) calls it air. Each gets there by an entirely different scenario.
If you would give the ordinary radiator cap on your ordinary car a turn, a gas (sic) comes out. Are these cars doing the same thing? It's just that this car has a little bleed valve that is causing all the consternation. You are fixating at nothing. Unless your car is running hot, don't worry about it. |
david handa (Davehanda)
Member
Username: Davehanda
Post Number: 263
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, October 19, 2002 - 11:47 am: | |
Mike, curious, but what would happen if you did nothing? Would it continue to get more air and create a problem? Or would it reach a point, and stop? I'm just thinking you may not have a problem here.... Just leave it alone and see what happens. I've never even messed with this on my previous 308 or my current 328, but I know the mechanic bled my 308 just for kicks, and quit a bit of air came out. Then I drove it for a year and never touched it, including stuck in traffic 85 to 90 degree days...I'm sure there was a bunch of air in there at that point.... |
Mark Eberhardt (Me_k)
Junior Member
Username: Me_k
Post Number: 138
Registered: 5-2002
| | Posted on Saturday, October 19, 2002 - 10:31 am: | |
Mike, is it cold when you bleed it? If it's hot, opening the bleed screw will drop the pressure and cause stream to form and hiss out the bleeder, just like air. |
Timothy Fulmer (Tf308)
New member
Username: Tf308
Post Number: 7
Registered: 5-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, October 17, 2002 - 8:02 pm: | |
Can you elaborate on they "suck"....mine also likes to "suck" air in. How about a solution. |
Jim E (Jimpo1)
Member
Username: Jimpo1
Post Number: 855
Registered: 7-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, October 17, 2002 - 7:21 pm: | |
Mike, the cooling systems on 328's frequently get air in them because they 'SUCK'. Sorry, couldn't resist. :-) |
Mike Burns (Mike_burns)
New member
Username: Mike_burns
Post Number: 1
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 15, 2002 - 1:59 am: | |
My cooling system gets air into it. I am very frequently bleeding the radiator. Replaced the hoses and they're tight, new cap, had Bobileff take a look at it and he says it's fine but I know I should not be getting this much air into the system, any ideas? |