Finally something went to plan.

Woohoo, new stat fitted. Doddle if you know how. Those 5 hours last weekend getting it apart to find the local motorfactors had sold me the wrong one, really helped.

Today, drained, apart, and back together in an hour and a half, and another 40mins to fill and bleed (been colder than a witches tit here, so took a while to get upto fan cycle temps).

Made sure I opened and closed the heater a few times too. that way I'm not going to get air trapped in there too.

Only took roughly 4 litres though again (like last time). I'm guessing, as it was a drain and fill, and not a full engine stripdown and dry build out of the car, that some of the coolant will stay in the block somewhere (like when you change the oil it never takes quite the expected amount).

gave it chance to cycle the fan 3 times, then switched off, put the cap on, and let it cool for an hour. Checked level, then went for a nece blast out the M62, did my usual route to work and back to Salford, and then did some crawling in traffic. Gauge got to dead middle and stayed there. Fan cycled more often too.

Only thing was, now it is staying at temp, it mean't the old dumpvalve hunt/stall is back.

Played with the dump valve tension (I love adjustability), and the throttle speed screw (yes on mine is does make a difference), and now it will idle ok too, although the dumpvalve locknut and the 10mm bolt on the alternator snorkel clamp had both managed to disappear during my test drive, and the snorkel was tryign to make a break for freedom.

Not the worst job I've done on a car (that would be removing rusted on rear shocls on a Skoda Favorit), but certainly one of the fiddliest.

Lets see if I can improve on 22MPG now that it won't think it is running cold 70% of the time.

Reply to
Sleeker GT Phwoar
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Have you read the procedure for refilling the cooling system on it?

I only ask as the s**te old Spider I had needed jacking up and all sorts of pissing about with to ensure you didn't get any air in the system.

Reply to
SteveH

There's a fair bit of bleeding (in both senses of the word) when playing with the cooling system on the R5.

Reply to
Mason

Yep, the old Skodas didn't need it doing, but it made bleeding so much easier, because coolant had to run round the engine at the back of the car, under the floor of the car in a cast iron pipe, down through the radiator at the front, back under the car through another cast iron pipe, then back into the engine. Used 12 litres of coolant. Guy in Halfords looked stunned when I asked if they did anything between the 5 litre and 1 litre sizes, said he had never heard of a car that needed more than one five litre bottle, and I did know I needed to dilute it, didn't I.

Reply to
Sleeker GT Phwoar

That's just insane :)

Reply to
Nom

The older ones had the radiator sideways on with an engine driven fan like the hillman imp. They were the ones that could really blow headgaskets. Also the heater unit was under the back seat and blew through the back first.

For the Estelle/Rapid models they moved the radiator to the front, made things more efficient cooling wise, because more room for bigger rad and much better airflow, but mean't much longer coolant runs, meaning the coolant temp at the rad was often far cooler than it was at the engine, so the engine might have been close to boiling, but the rad was cool to touch. More headgasket probs lead unless the cooling system was in tip tip condition. A lower opening stat, and thermoswitch for the rad fan was available. The heater got moved to the more standard front position, but to make allowances for those that grew up with the old ones, an air duct with a switchable flap blew hot air down the handbrake tunnel/gearshift rod tunnel. that worked so well, even in winter in the UK, with the heater rocking out toasty air, it could make the bare metal part of the handbrake handle too hot to touch, and one day, I'm sure I boiled the clutch fluid from it in traffic.

Reply to
Sleeker GT Phwoar

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