I fired up the Jaguar for the thirty minute trip to share Christmas with my son and his SO. It ran great. Easy, for me,. freeway speed at 1750 RPM. Speedo is nuts, said 80. Almost all others blasting by!! Not so, for a couple of reasons. Not the topic for here.
But, the heater warmth was off. Set at 85 or so and auto or low fan speed. At times, warm air, felt good, but at times, cool, not so good.
But, the LT1 usually runs at just past center guage, about 100C. But, yesterday, a notch more past center. 110C estimated.
And, down to 100 C when back on surface streets
and speed down.
Preop thinking:
Coolant low. Add propolene (sp) and burp the system.
when it gets warmer… It is cold out there. For us anyway…
Other than contemplating it, none. I’ve hibernated a couple of days. Really cold out there. By CA standards. Spoiled, when compared to folks north and east of here.
Errands today. I’ll drive my Jeep. On my stops is CARQUEST for a jug of Sierra brand. Straight, not the “premix” !!!
I took a peak (Pun), into the radiator at the filler cap. Actually on the top hose . At times, I’ve added coolant. Just a tad. I’ve seen no evidence of loss.
A lot depends on how much it takes to get a visible level. No plastic remote can on this application to view the level and provide a place for a low coolant sensor.
I think the catch can behind the left outboard lamp may weep a bit. Only once have a seen a puddle
near there, and that was early on, in it’s short lived DOHC days.
Although space is limited, I mighty conjure a place for a visible remote bottle.
Or, and I sure hope not, my Mezzierre electric water pump is becoming erratic.
Well, I chased down some “Antifreeze”. I ended up
with Ace Hardware’s store brand. 50/50 mix, contrary to my usual use of the “real’ stuff. I chased for Peak’s Sierra brand. Web site said the local Carquest had it.
visited. NO, the counter lady had no idea what I was talking about!!! Propolene (sp) glycol, not the far more common ethylene. Passed. But, did get a small array of 1/4” drive TORX sockets for a Jeep job.
Added a bit of the coolant. Fired up the LT1! let it idle a bit, added some more. After about a quart, it showed in the filler neck, Nice. burble showing water pump action and no bubbles indicating air or combustion gasses. Replaced the cap to allow it to pressurize. Looked at all the hose clamps for weeping. None seen. Checked temperature. Holding nicely at 90C. Fans kicked in a time or two . Heater controls responded with cold air at first, then nice and warm.
Backed the car to see if any weep on the floor from the expansion tank or it’s hose. Dry!!!
So, declared all good.
Where did it lose a quart, I may never know.
Sidebar. Swapping out weak hatch struts on my Jeep. The TORX screws are a real pain. working arms up ain’t what it once was. I’ll have another whack at it later. I’ll see if I can rig my drill driver!!!
I looked into my “greasy box” for a funnel to assist in adding coolant sans spill. I considered a couple that I made from empty brake fluid cans. Cut off the bottom
on my trusty HF metal band saw. make small snips on the harp edge. Fold back to the inside for a beaded like rim. Safe, cheap and handy.
But, better yet. I found a small tin pitcher. it featured A lip and a bendable pipe snout. Perfect,
better than my home tech funnels.
Got one TORX free from on hatch rod. Tight and access clumsy. shoulders gave out. New plan.
Rig a longer extension and an adapter to my drill/driver. Wish I had a smaller one. But this
old HF denizen will have to do.
Unless, I can “neck down” a 3/8" drive air rachet to 1/4". Not sure I have such a piece.
Tree chop slash removal still in progress. burned some old Juniper and Bay on Xmas. In violation of the smoke police. Nice smell around he neighborhood, I was apparently not the only one to choose an open fire!!! Those woods burn fast, but hot. I’ll travel back to the “back 40”. I think I have some old pine there…
At son’s place, he kept a nice fire going with old boards from a decrepit ancient redwood fence.
Interesting. To my knowledge, the LT1 came from GM with the water pump driven off the nose of the cam, by a stepper arrangement in the valve chamber.
The electric pump in mine was added by me. An after market piece.
But, true, I could have, in some manner, energized it via the ignition switch and not fired the engine.
OTH, I also wanted to pressurize the system, once I was satisfied that the coolant level was up and free of air.
Another thought came to mind. After my trip that indicated a slightly higher operating temperature
and erratic heater behavior, in my driveway, idling, while I opened the garage door, it exhibited none of the gurgling and snorting usually connected with a very hot engine. Obviously, I did not remove the filler cap!!!
High temp on fast roads and lower temp on streets is usually a sign of dud water pump or drive. You say your electric pump is erratic.
Heating to 100C or over - even in a pressurized glycol system, is hotter than normal will often result in overflow to the catch tank and loss from main coolant system.You say your system goes down and the hidden catch tank seemed to drip a little?
Running a 50:50 glycol mix will lower the cooling effect compared to, say, 75:25 for low risk environments like yours.
In your shoes I’d be trouble-shooting that pump or its power supply, before you blow a head gasket and have to put a DOHC six in there!
Did I say erratic??? Whew, something is askew! Autotype in WIN 10 or in my head ?? I’ve caught myself at the latter!!!.
Electric water pump. The workaround for a misadventure in the “lumping” process. I’ve seen no indication of it going nutso. It gets direct 12v from the driver side fire wall plus post. Protected by a big blade fuse. In turn, the ignition switch triggers a relay that completes the post to fuse to pump circuit.
It was in prelump days, that I saw a weep at the expansion tank. None since. I have topped it off on occasion.
This was the first time that I saw a 100 C read on either. Well, except when the DOHC expired.
As stated, oddly, it dropped back to the usual 90 C on leaving the freeway. When idling in the drive while I opened the garage door. Old tech, no remote and mechanical lift!!! The old one piece door departed decades ago in favor of a “modern” segmented one.
No evidence of gurgle and steaming in clear over heat.
Don’t say it. Swapping out a pair of head gaskets in an iron V8, is fiddly, but far from what I read of in splitting alloy from iron.
But, I sure will keep a careful eye on it. Even more than my usual care. another may have ignored the additional “mere” 10 C degrees.
Enjoy your time in the UK with family…
Can’t be near as cold and messy as Maryland at this time.
Evening meal included Casper’s hot dogs. A close approximation to those enjoyed way back when in Germany. Chickened out on hot potatoe salad, German style. Deli mustard stuff subbed. OK, to a point. Shared dogs with Coco. Just fine with him.
Brotchen in lieu of dunkel brot. Unheard of at Safeway!!! A bottle of “Shock Top” Belgian White
washed It all down just fine. Snoozed off watching a car show rerun marathon and missed the incoming 2017 celebrations. Oh well, a supposed super star performer 'screwed up:" her act…
Interesting dilemna as to B1’ trans vs B2’s equivalent. Unless you swap 'em, a B1 sans trans
market value is probably a negative. If B2 had goods maintenance, it’s 4L60E probably has another 50 K.
Sport option in a Bronto !!! Gotta laugh, loudly…
Jag, I and Coco went to market yesterday. No evidence of cooling system irregularity. Sigh of relief !!!
Andrew:
Learned some more??? Public posts as well as PM’s appear on my incoming E mail. Gotta see if I can tell if they are intended as private or merely copies of a public post???
Pete:
B2 is looking pretty durn good. Lots of “push” aka understeer in that tight left. That right front tire is on the verge of “rolling” off the bead. Modern "safety beads on the wheels delay that. Add more PSI’s.
And, the left rear is just of breaking traction. LSD limits that. But, if open, momentum is lost.
That LT1 torque does much here. Were the Jag guys pushing their steeds or merely “cruising”.
Nice looking wagon. No doubt abut it. But, the need for a “sport mode”, wheee.
Have a look at the Subject: line of the incoming mails.
Private messages arrive with the subject line: [Jag-lovers Forums] [PM]…
but the notification and digest mails carry the subject line: [Jag-lovers Forums]…
Right as usual Carl, except I only drove there as service wagon full of cones, loaner helmets, scoring tables & chairs etc. Had I known I was going to run, I’d have put an extra 10-15 psi in the tires. All cars were run hard (I got FTD in a dealer-loan XE Jag) but I only ran the Brontosaurus for fun and a bet. Two guys bet it wouldn’t get under a minute but the old girl did 55 or similar - I forget what the times were.
