Hi List,
A little while ago I had been talking to people about an overheating
problem and a few suggestions regarding the source of the problem were
thrown about. Someone suggested that I might have a head gasket leak or
that maybe my leaking heater valve was allowing air into the system. I
ordered a new heater valve and when the new one came in I removed the
old one and drilled out the rivet and took the heater valve apart. I
did find some debris near where the valve closes but that wasn't the
cause of the leak. The rubber diaphragm had torn so when the heater
valve was open then the coolant would leak out. If the valve was closed
then the system would not leak. I would encourage people to check their
heater valve by taking it apart if they have a problem with it. The
valve is quite simple and straight forward and if there was some debris
or other simple problem then it might be able to be repaired. Having
said that I suspect that pretty much every case of heater valve failure
will be the rubber diaphragm. Now, if we could convince the
manufacturer to sell a replacement rubber diaphragm instead of the
whole assembly then repair would probably be rather easy and cheap.
As for my overheating problem I believe the problem is the temperature
sender for the fan. I chose the lowest rated one available that would
fit the hardware I chose. I think that sensor has either stopped
working or is just set to come on too high and the car has overheat
before the fan has come on. On those rare occasions where the
temperature has begun to get quite high if I manually turn on the fan
then the car doesn't overheat at all.
Finally, after I installed the new heater valve I do have complete
function of the valve. It can be completely closed from inside the car.
I think that if you don't rotate the valve too far that you can close
the valve completely from within the car. If you are having a problem
where you cant close the valve completely then try turning the valve
counter clockwise slightly and see how that affects the operation. You
may loose the ability to fully open the valve but a mostly open valve
will still provide enough heat in most cases.
Aaron
Aaron Cropley
71 TR6 (Throttle Body Injection!)
http://www.triumphowners.com/108
Topsham, Maine
|