Overheating.
Today I have been mainly changing my viscous fan!
I'll need a run out to see if it has had any effect. Everything else seems OK, for example I was out yesterday in it with my 10' trailer with 12 railway sleepers and it was getting warm (but not overheating). We stopped at one point and the top and bottom hoses were both nice and hot, but the fan was very wobbly on its mountings. Anyway we'll see what happens on the next long run.
Is there anyway of testing a viscous fan - is it like a thermostat, if I put it in a saucepan of boiling water, can I tell if it's "locked up"?
Undercharging
This has been worrying me for a while and whist my son had his 90 battery on charge I though I'd nick it to do some experiments!
These are the results:
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110 Defender BatteryAll voltages measured across the battery terminals.
Engine stopped No load - 12.44v Headlights (dip) - 12.12v Headlights (dip) + blower fan - 11.84v
Engine running (tickover) No load - 12.67v Headlights (dip) - 12.61v Headlights (dip) + blower fan - 12.47v
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90 Defender Battery (in 110 Defender)All voltages measured across the battery terminals.
Engine stopped No load - 13.04v Headlights (dip) - 12.40v Headlights (dip) + blower fan - 12.33v
Engine running (tickover) No load - 13.00v Headlights (dip) - 12.70v Headlights (dip) + blower fan - 12.64v
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Now the second battery is better (but then it has been on charge for the last 4 days!) I am concerned that the "on charge" volts are low in both cases. I assume the next set of measurements will be from the alternator. (I have checked the earth, that is OK).
On a related subject, I have two batteries in the car, one is used in series to give me 24v for the Eberspacher heater. If I were to fit a
24v alternator, leave both batteries in series and charge them both when running, that won't cause a problem would it?Cheers
Peter