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96 VS Overheating Problem

FstStig

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Hey Guys,

I' am new to this forum, but am a long time Holden Fan. I have just recently purchased myself a 96 VS Commodore which only had water in the Radiator at first. I flushed the Radiator out and put in Long Life Coolant. However there were still some leaks which i have fixed by replacing parts and hoses etc. I have had my dad to help me to make sure everything is nice and tight, but not to tight. But I' am still having an Over Heating problem. The car is not using any coolant what so ever. There are now NO leaks. The Fan kicks in on the Second bar before it hits H. Would anyone be able to hand over some advice as to what might be causing this. I' am thinking the water pump, my dad doesn't as it isn't making any noise.

Once again any help would be much appreciated :)

Cheers

Mumbo Man
 

hako

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Its normal for the fan to kick in at halfway and then to hi speed at 3/4 (the fan is 2 speed). So its possible your car is not overheating. When the waterpump fails it will leak from the bleed hole under the pulley but you say you are losing no coolant so that should be OK.
 

FstStig

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No the fan isn't kicking in at half way. It is only kicking in on the 2nd bar before it reaches dead Hot. So it is over heating, but you are right the water pump would be leaking if it was stuffed. It will normally only stay at half way or a bar above half way.

Any other advice? Could i need a new relay switch for my Fan?

Cheers

Mumbo Man:)
 

hako

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OK - so thats higher than 3/4. It could be a faulty coolant temp sensor or a mis-reading gauge. The usual symptom of "overheating" is when the engine boils - either with the engine running or immediately after switch-off. The engine will also radiate a lot more heat than you'd normally expect when you pop the bonnet. What I'm getting at is that you need more evidence than the gauge gives that the engine is overheating and from your description that the car uses no coolant then I'd presume its not boiling....if it did boil you would lose coolant.
 
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FstStig

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Hey,

Thanks for your reply. I will do some more research tomorrow and do some tests to see what is really happening with the heating problem. Would it make a big difference if i bleed the Thermostat? I wasn't told to bleed the Thermostat first so was just wondering if it will make the world of difference to that first before flushing?

Thanks for you advice :D

Cheers

Mumboman
 

Harvs82

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Yeah I'd probably bleed the system just to be safe. Might also be worth checking out the coolant temperature SENDER (the one that controls what you see on the temp gauge) and the SENSOR (the one that controls when the cooling fan(s) come on). You can replace both for around $35 or so, with genuine new parts from Holden. I'd have a crack at that and see how you go after that.
 

FstStig

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Thanks for that, Where are the Sender and Sensor located? I would like to try and have this fixed by tomorrow as I have places to go the next day and the weekend booked out. Dam cars lol. Thanks for all your help guys :thumbsup:
 

Harvs82

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Thanks for that, Where are the Sender and Sensor located? I would like to try and have this fixed by tomorrow as I have places to go the next day and the weekend booked out. Dam cars lol. Thanks for all your help guys :thumbsup:

If you look under the thermostat outlet on the top of the engine, (where the top radiator hose connects) you will see a small brass connection with a rectangular black connection and a green wire heading into the wiring loom, this one is the temperature SENDER, the rectangle connection just slides off and then you unscrew the little brass thing. The coolant temperature SENSOR is located just under the SENDER, and it is much bigger, again brass coloured, and it has a large black connector on it.
 

FstStig

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Harvs82 and hako, What can I say, but thank you so much for all your quick responses, thanks to you guys i can now go out there tomorrow and hopefully resolve the problem at hand. Will let you know how everything goes with it.

Cheers again guys

Mumbo Man
 

FstStig

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Hey Guys,

Just thought i would give u some feedback. I replaced the Thermostat and the Thermostat housing today and i no longer have a over heating problem :) I must say i have rather enjoyed Working on the Project of fixing the overheating problem in this car and learning alot along the way.


Thanks for all your help guys :)

Mumbo Man
 
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