Fuel pump woes

Cheers Chris.
Fan's arriving today, and I've just won a used MG rad expansion tank on Fleabay. The fan controller should be here any day now. I'll have another go at running the engine well up to temp without the cap on, and see if I can get any more air out of it, as I only gave it a few mins before. Got the MOT to worry about next... thats due in a couple of weeks. Should be ok though, I've only done a couple of thousand miles this last year, used every week. Brakes all seem ok, and that'd be my only concern, but thats another story..
 
Ran the car for a good 20-30 mins today, as you described, Chris, and did manage to get a fair bit of air out of it. I now have a nice warm heater too.. Well with the car stationary anyway.. :roll:

The temperature gauge didn't creep much above the 90deg mark in that time, so we'll see what happens. I'll be fitting the fan tomorrow, so I can see what effect that has when I switch it on.

With the header tank, what type of cap do I need to put on the rad, & what type on the expansion tank? Is it fixed cap on the rad, and pressure releasing type on the tank? (This is what I think.. Am I right?) :?
 
Hi .
This on the rad
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Morris-Marina ... 230c5c8906
And the 15 psi cap on the header tank . Mount the tank as high as poss , at least higher than the rad cap . I put mine on the inner wing behind the servo . You'll need to measure a few times to ensure it clears the under side of the bonnet .
Connect the rad overflow to the header tank .
Good idea to fit the blank cap to the rad , and the connecting pipe then seal your mouth round the header tank and blow hard to ensure the blank cap on the rad is sealing properly , you can dress the edges of the cap or the rad to seal it if not . The same seller does a nice stainless 15 psi cap also :wink:
Ps make sure no one around when your french kissing the header tank :LOL:
 
Re: Fuel pump woes - cooling issues?

Right, now I've got the fan fitted, and the controller plumbed in, and the car filled with coolant again. I just need to finalise exactly how to fix the fan in place, cos I dont want to use the fixings supplied that go through the core. I'll have a play around with that tomorrow. I have to say, the revotec fan controller is a really neat solution, it looks quite professional how it sits in the top hose. I'll fit the expansion tank tomorrow, and wire the fan electrics up. Did we finalise where the best place to get the hefty 12v supply from in the end? There were several ideas flying around. I'm not too worried about whether the ammeter reads the right way or not when the fan cuts in, but it'd be nice to get it right. Where did you connect your wiring to in the end, Stina?

I suppose with the 200W fan, and the 200W stereo, I should think about upgrading the alternator too.... :roll:

P.S. I'm not too sure I like the idea of French kissing the header tank... :shock: It'll definitely be with no tongues involved.... and if I do do it, it'll be when the missus is out, cos she already thinks I love the Rover more than her.. :LOL:
 
Hi . In the end i took the live feed off of the heavy brown and white wire that runs from the shunt to the back of the main light switch . I ran a heavy wire to relay at the front of the car . You use the black wire on the fan for the live to run it the correct way iirc !
Using this wire gives the correct reading on the ammeter .
Might be worth a look at my " engine upgrade " thread , somewhere in the last few pages , a discussion of where to take the feed from . Demetries seemed to have a good understanding of the wiring , and agreed on how i did it .
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=12365&start=165
 
Hi Stina. You were right about the motor, but I used a jewellers screwdriver to depress the tangs on the back of the spade connectors in the white plug to swap the leads over in the tail, so in the white plug, the black connects to the blue & vice versa. That way the colour coding of the wires is then correct, and the fuse is on the +ve side. All wired up now, and fan cuts in & out. I did notice that the temp gauge is right up to 2/3 on the gauge, indicating a temp of nearly 100deg when the fan shuts down, which is supposedly at about 80deg, so I got my homebrew thermometer (mercury thermometer about 18" long) and measured the temp of the coolant in the rad, accessed from the rad filler, which admittedly is on the cool side of the rad, and the temp read 75deg C when the indicated temp on the gauge was about 100deg, so I think the sender might be reading a bit high. This is backed up possibly by the fact that the gauge reads about 40 degrees when you turn on the ignition 1st thing in the morning with a stone cold engine, however it has only been doing this for a couple of days. I'll get a new temp sender and see what that gives me. Doesn't explain why the fuel vapourised when I got stuck in a jam the other day though. I had the dash out today & wired the electrics into the wire you specified, Stina, and the ammeter briefly flicks into discharge when the fan cuts in, then returns to zero when the fan is running, which I feel is correct. I just need to fiddle around with the setting on the revotec controller to find the optimum point for the fan to cut in, but need to get the gauge working properly first. Electric fuel pump next!
 
Hi , the first part of your post is interesting to to me and others who go this route , as i did the same and swapped the wires around in the moulded plug , but i couldn't explain what i ment when i was writing it . As you say you end up with it looking right , and the fuse in the right place .
I also have to add you are now ahead of me in the setting it all up stage as i just made sure the controller cuts the fan in and out , but haven't got to fine tuning it , as the weather conditions and temperatures are so balmy at the moment , and i'm waiting for the constant 28 degree summer days and traffic jams that give cause for concern !
I do think though that the old kenlow systems would over cool the system to an extent so that the controller wasn't constantly switching from on / off if you see what i mean , and it goes against the grain but turning up the cut in temp cools the temp more , and stops the frequent cutting in / out of the fan .
Time to tinker ! I'll be interested in your findings .
Stina
 
I must admit, I did have the control setting a little low at first, and couldn't understand why the fan was running continuously, and what really threw me at this stage was the erroneous temp gauge reading, which was up to about 3/4 on the gauge. These 2 things combined kind of led me to believe the car was too hot, which is why I reached for my homebrew thermometer. I haven't been out for a drive with it yet, as I'm still playing with fan mountings. I have a very fine meshed high performance core on my rad, and can't/don't want to use the quickmount kit that came with the fan. The trouble is, its a bit limited for space in there. I was toying with the idea of making up some kind of bracket that bolts to the two holes in the diagonal slam panel braces that sit behind the grille. I'd be interested to see how other people have got their fans mounted without going through the rad core. Next job's going to be getting the temp gauge sorted out too.
 
I'm gonna use 2 fans one each side of the water pump on the rear of the Rad if they fit!
 
V8P6B said:
Update on this thread, which will soon be more related to a cooling issue?? Went out yesterday for a 65 mile trip, and the temp gauge was reading about 90deg on the gauge. After a 10 mile blast down a dual carriageway at about 65, traffic slowed to a traffic jam, really slow, stop/start/mostly stop around Chichester on the A27 (Maybe Festival of speed related).
Click to expand...

Yep it was, I was in it on Saturday morning for nearly an hour! I've never queued for that long to get into Goodwood before. EMF ran fine through out though with the temperature needle reading just under 85ºC - I did have the heater on inside the car though just in case, but I think it would have been fine without it. I also, quite smugly, drove past a TVR Griffith which had overheated. :D

With regard to fine tuning the cut in temperature, with it set very lower, ambient heat in the engine bay is enough to start the fan even before the thermostat has opened. Mine's set to switch on at about 85ºC and it stays on until the car gets going again properly.
 
It was quite funny actually, my car suffered from fuel vapourisation more than cooling problems although probably linked, and I limped into a layby right in front of an E30 BMW which had dumped all of its coolant on the floor. The owner looked mightily annoyed, especially when I started up & moved on again after about 20mins, leaving him sitting there in a pool of coolant..

Shame I didn't see you though..

I think my main problems were fuel related, as I now know my temp sender is heading south, so made me worry about it more, as the gauge was up to around 100deg, although I now know it was probably only about 85. Next job is to fit my electric fuel pump, and I will hopefully futureproof my P6 for a while yet. 8)
 
Right, I've done a few mods so far..
1) Fitted Pacet electric fan (Not bolted through the core)
2) Revotec Fan controller
3) MGB expansion tank fitted
4) New temp sender, as all of the above didn't prevent my temp gauge climbing to over 100deg. but electric fan still shuts down, and gauge read 60deg with engine stone cold.. :oops:

I've left the mechanical fan on for now, but I'm tempted to try & remove it, as there's a kind of "beat" effect when the electric fan's running, which goes right through my head, kinda like humming with the vacuum cleaner on, if you know what I mean, and I quite like the idea of liberating a couple of horses & a bit of mpg...

Went for a run yesterday (scorchio outside), and fan never cut in while driving, but cuts in & out fairly quickly once stopped after a run. Gauge (now it has a new sender :roll: ) sits smack on 85 all the time, no matter what I'm doing. I haven't done the electric fuel pump yet, as I'm quite keen to see if the electric fan can keep things cool enough for the fuel vapourisation to not happen.
 
Hi , well done for getting it all fitted . Mine sits at 85 deg in all conditions , so as you say i'm in no hurry to remove the engine fan , and have the piece of mind knowing the electric fan will cut in if stuck in traffic , or after a hard drive etc .
Would like to see a pic of your installation , especially the fan mount .
 
Hi Stina, I'll post some pics up after my car's back from its MOT tomorrow (finger's crossed for a pass), though I'm not sure my engine bay comes up to scratch :oops: , unlike yours, which looks spotless.. 8) Basically what I did was use some ally 20mmx20mm angle, running vertically down each side of the fan, ground one part of the angle off at the top, and fitted it to the back edge of the slam panel at the top, just in front of the rad. I ground the same bit off the bottom, and left a "tongue" at the end, which I bent over & self tapped it to the panel which goes under the rad, between the rad "cushion" and the power steering pipe. The fan sits neatly about 3mm in front of the rad, and is solid, but I did have to turn it 90degrees and use the extra fitting pieces supplied with the fan so the angled ally will clear the fan cowling, and bolted the fan to the ally angle brackets using the the rubber shock absorbing washers supplied with the fan. I undid the 3 screws on the fan motor and turned that 90 degrees too, so the wiring still exits at the bottom to prevent water ingress.. Fitting the bottoms of the bracket were a right PITA though, even with the rad out, theres not a lot of room to get a drill in to drill a pilot hole in the panel under the rad. Be careful, & only use screws as short as poss, so you don't hit the lower front valance which is pretty close underneath it. Hope that makes sense... The good thing is that its all removable if you want rid of it, you can take the rad out leaving the fan in situ, and it doesn't really show at the top too much as its between the slam panel & rad. This was pretty much the only way I could think of to fit it, as there aren't many options of places to fix it to, and space is a bit tight in there as you will know.
 
Here's some pics, Stina...
DSCN5278800x600.jpg

DSCN5277800x600.jpg

DSCN5275800x600.jpg


I may paint the ally angle brackets black, so they don't show through the grille..
 
Well, I've been running the car for 2 weeks now after fitting the electric fan, and it hasn't cut in once. My car still had the fixed engine fan fitted, so I bit the bullet today and removed it... Wow what a difference to the sound of the engine! Couldn't believe how much noise the fixed fan was making at higher revs. Sounds lovely now, ticks over better, and warms up quicker, and is more free revving, and when you accelerate quite briskly, the sound is awesome... 8) The electric fan cuts in & out correctly, had it sat ticking over for about 30 mins after a 7 mile run, and temp doesn't go above 85 on the gauge. Well chuffed. Stina, I reckon you should try your car without a fixed fan, trust me, you'll love how it sounds.. 8)
 
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