Greetings,
I just joined up to this list...I am currently helping a friend of mine
with his TR3...I think this car is a '59, maybe a '60, but I'll find out.
I took this car in to do some badly needed front end work on it. My friend
is a retired gent (my neighbor) and I thought I'd help him out. I also took
this task on because old english cars fascinate me...in a perverse way I
guess; I myself drive, restore, and race old Porsches, on a regular basis...
Anyway, when I took the TR out for a drive to evaluate the front end, I
overheated...damn near immediately. Got it home, saw that the upper
radiator hose was bad...OK...changed it, put everything back together,
filled it up with coolant/water and tried it again. This time I stayed in
my garage...good thing too.
Now, here's the deal:
1. the car is fitted with an electric fan...
2. there is a plastic rocker switch, hooked to fan, beneath dash...
3. When I started the car, it went to 185-190 degrees very quickly (I
understand 185 degrees is about right?)
4. But the fan never kicked in...I tried the switch several times-no
difference.
5. there is a slotted shaft sticking out of the fan's control unit(?),
adjacent to the radiator, it looks like an adjustment of some sort...what's
up with that?
6. do these things crap out?
g. how do you test them? I was going to apply juice, straight off the
battery to the fan motor,just to see if there's any current getting to it.
7. Are these things available anywhere? this setup sure doesn't look
"factory" to me...
8. Ed (the owner) only drives this car to the local golf course and
back...total running time of maybe ten minutes max (each way - small town
we live in) He has NOT heard the fan run for a long time...if at all. So
I think he's never in the car long enough, to have experienced the over
heating...actually, he was afraid to drive the car any further than that,
because of the front end problems, and that's where I enter this picture.
Being a (air-cooled) Porsche guy...I know zero about these fans, and
related bugs etc...
So, I seek the collective wisdom of you more experienced Triumph Owners. I
really don't want to waste my time "chasing ghosts". Any comments,
suggestions, guidance are all certainly welcome - looking forward to
hearing from some of you. This is gonna be fun. The TR3 is fun, a hoot to
drive - I just gotta fix it.
Thanks in advance; I appreciate your time.
Cheers
Thom Kuby
Porsche freak, with a TR3 in his garage
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