Water temperature - what's normal?

Water temperature - what's normal?

Author
Discussion

reggie

Original Poster:

1 posts

273 months

Saturday 2nd February 2002
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My new Tuscan appears to run very warm - what's the normal operating temperature...also how much water do others get through??? Is a litre every 2-300 miles normal???

Nick Elliott

2,409 posts

288 months

Sunday 3rd February 2002
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This time of year 80 Degrees is normal at motorway speeds, in traffic this increases to 93 Degrees before the fans cut in. If you are really using that much water there is something wrong, but be careful not to overfill it, I have been told by my dealer just to fill it so the coolant can be seen in the elbow of the header tank, and make sure the cap is very tight!

Nick

tuscan't

55 posts

276 months

Sunday 3rd February 2002
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Yep, 80 degrees motorway, 93-96 around town.

The coolant loss is an issue you should get checked out ASAP.

I've just finished the first stage of running in a new engine in my Tuscan and did experience some coolant loss - about 1litre over 1000 miles. The guys at Mole Valley said that they had tightened a few of the hoses as there could have been some loss from there.

On my car the horizontal section of pipe where you should see a couple of mm of coolant slopes downwards. This means that coolant pools in this area, giving the impression that the coolant levels are fine - when in reality they are not. The only effective way for me to check the coolant level is to actually try to fill it up and see if it takes any.

>> Edited by tuscan't on Sunday 3rd February 12:12

>> Edited by tuscan't on Sunday 3rd February 12:13

whitey

2,508 posts

291 months

Sunday 3rd February 2002
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Your Tuscan will always allow you to pour in 700 mls
or so of water when cold, as there will be space in the expansion tank for the cooling system to "expand" when the engine is hot.
I think the pipe which runs off the coolant header tank slopes down on all cars as this will catch some water when the system is fully hot which implies the water level is correct.

This is like the Griff/Chimaera system which allows you to look into the expansion tank whereby you only fill it to the weld mark, which if you filled it to the top it would let you put in about 700 mls or so of water.

I guess if it takes more than 1 litre of water then
you have a leak.

I discovered the above after topping up Tuscan to the top then going for a drive to warm it up fully then when I checked it when cold again it took the same amount of water. Now as long as the temperature guage is correct I will not top it up, only check there is a few mls of water in the neck pipe. Except maybe on a long summer trip where I might just top it up slightly as my Chimaera would use a little in the summer on a long trip.

Cheers
Whitey