Cooling problem.

[VZ_commo91]

Hey guys, I'll start off with the story... I was driving in Ipswich today, and I noticed the temp start rising.. I was watching it on the scan gauge aswell, anyways, it got up to 3/4 when I pulled over, and then went into the red and gave me the hot coolant warning. I killed it then and there, but left the reds on for the thermo. Coolant temp on the scan gauge was reading 125deg

Pretty sure that the cooling problem is my radiator cap leaking as I have to put at least 600 mills of water every time I drive it and let it cool. . .

Brings me to my question, I have noticed at not matter what temp the car is, Both thermos are never on, Only ever the passenger side thermo. I changed the fuse and had a look at the wiring diagram, But still not working. Why do you think only 1 is working ? how do I fit it ?

Would it just be my radiator cap leaking just to confirm it is that leaking water...

Thanks guys.
The car is fine thank shit though, didn't do any sort of damage to the engine luckily.

[Luke52]

Change the radiator cap, common problem with the VZs. Any cooling issues with them, always change the cap first as it's the cheapest and easiest option.

Also, one thermo is for air-con. If you turn air-con on, one thermo will switch on. If the coolant temp goes over 108 degrees and you have the air-con on, then both fans should kick in.

It is normal for only one fan to be on at a time, so don't stress.

[impulsive]

Well posted above

[VZ_commo91]

Sorry should of worded it properly... Only 1 fan will come on regardless of whether the AC on or not... Had the temp over 108 with thermo on and AC on. Only 1 fan was on. Thats what I'm getting at, only 1 comes on regardless of the circumstances.

But thanks for the reassurance with the radiator cap.

[Luke52]

Here we go. My mistake, wasn't entirely correct with my earlier post. Hope this can clear a few things up.

Conditions for Stage 1 Fan Operation

1 The Engine Cooling Fan Relay 1 is turned ON when :

- Air Conditioning request indicated (YES) and the vehicle speed is less than 30 km/h
-Air Conditoning pressure is greater then 1 500kPa (so no, it wont turn on just because the AC is on unless the pressure is above 1 500kPa)
-Coolantg temperature is greater than 104 C OR
-An engine coolant temperature sensor failure is detected by the PCM OR
-When the ignition switch is turned from ON to OFF and the engine coolant temperature sensor is above 117Cm the ECM will continue to engergise tyhe Engine Cooling Fan Relay 1 (R7) for approximately four minutes

2 The ECM switches OFF Enging Cooling Fan Relay 1 when the following conditons have been met:

-Air Conditioning request not indicated (NO) and the coolant temperature is less than 99C OR
-Air conditoning request indicated (YES) with pressure less than 1 700kPa, vehcile speed greater than 50 KMh and coolant temperature less than 99 C

Conditons for Stage 2 Fan Operation

The ECM determines when to enable the Engine Cooling Fan Relay 2 based on inputs from the ECT sensor

1 Engine Cooling Fan Relay 2 is turned ON if the Engine Cooling Fan Relay 1 has been energises for one second and the following conditions have been met:

-if there is a ECM message response fault, setting DTC P1258
-an ECT sensor failure is detected by the ECM.
-Engine coolant temperature is above 108C OR
-Air conditioning pressure is greater than 2 000kPa

2 If Stage 2 has been enabled, the ECM reverts to Stage 1 operation when:

-The Engine Coolant Temperature is less than 103C and
Air conditoning request not indicated (NO) OR
Air conditoning request indicated (YES) and the pressure is less than 1500kPA

Courtesy of Torquative in the link below.

Boiling coolant?

Don't worry, I was having the same problem as you. I was freaking out thinking something was wrong with my thermos, but in the end everything was working as it should. It just wasn't working as I expected it to be, hence my confusion.

[VZ_commo91]

Yeah, I went to Holden, and had the tech 2 put on. No problems were found. So I'm just going to buy and after market fan and put it on the front. Just for piece of mind.

I also tried to change my coolant, failed on that. lol no one told me I need to bleed it. So I'll have to take it to holden to have it changed properly.

[impulsive]

I had a little over heatin problem today myself driving from Ipswich, car overheated In a big way.. Let it cool did the usual checks topped her up, expecting everything to be empty, but it was full. Originally thought it might of been thermostat, now believe poor maintainence...

[VZ_commo91]

Well here is my ordeal, I took the car to Red devil radiators in Slacks creek Moss Street because my air con was shit ! ( Always has been ) Turns out ( after the regas which wasn't needed $120 wasted lol ) The heater tap was leaking and stuck open, So it was just reheating the cold air coming through. Soo $200 later, it wasn't leaking Coolant and the air con was freezing again ( woot !!! )

Now to the other cooling problem I was having, ( you will laugh on how I fixed it too... ) I replaced the radiator cap as said and it fixed my problem... It was $24 dollars from holden . But I knew one of the guys there, and he put his Tech 2 on the car to see why the Big cooling fan wasn't working, He said that the whole system is fine. Nothing to worry about... ( but only one fan would come on still... )
So today at home, I had the shits with the car always sitting at 111 deg So I started beating the shit out of the big fan and hey presto, all these little rocks and black stuff shot out of the fan, and started working fantastic ! So now I just need to bleed the system some more and its all fixed !

Lol thanks for the help guys.

[impulsive]

just goes to show how important regular maintenence and cleaning is, i put my issue down to lack of coolant, and i check my car weekly usually.. Just this time i drove home from townsville, moveds house and forgot all about the car

[richardpalinkas]

heater tap at autobarn is 40 bux, should have got that instead of the 200 u paid lol. ah well, at least its all working, thats the main thing

[VZ_commo91]

heater tap at autobarn is 40 bux, should have got that instead of the 200 u paid lol. ah well, at least its all working, thats the main thing

Lol... No there was an aircon regas aswell as the heater tap.

[richardpalinkas]

ah ok, well good its sorted

[JShaw]

same happened to me, i just replaced the radiator cap and it was sweet