V8 Rover overheating - Cured at last
- Grumpy Northener
- Posts: 1637
- Joined: Sun Apr 03, 2011 8:26 am
- Location: Hampshire UK
V8 Rover overheating - Cured at last
I have owned my Rover P6 3500 for several years but over the last 5 years have suffered from high under bonnet temps down to the higher temps that the modern unleaded fuels burn at - this has not quite got to an overheating situation - more that the under bonnet temp got so high (temp guage just out of the red) that the car would stall due to fuel vaperisation. The car was always fine when it was moving - but on a summers days in standing traffic I stood no chance - bring the revs on the engine up to get the water round the rad and the fan to draw air just put the needle in to the red and the car stalling.
With only 20k on the clock and the car being one of the most original examples out there (never welded / painted) - I did not want to do the obvious and bolt an electric fan to it. In the end it has been a combination of several things in order to find the cure - the engine otherwise is in good health / tune etc. The block was flushed and the radiator recored with with a high flow matrix along with new hoses / thermostat / rad cap etc (you can not tell the difference from the original rad matrix) this helped a little but not enough - next off came the the exhaust manifolds which were blasted and ceramic coated (nearly £400) this again improved matters but not enough. Over the last day I fitted a high volume water pump from JR Wadams - (no difference in original appearance) - now I can let the car stand but when the temp gets high in standing traffic - if I bring the revs up the pump gets to work and down comes the temp. Unsure if I had have done the pump first if just this on it's own would have done the trick - somehow I am not sure it would have - I am just happy that the cure could be found - however - it has come at quite some cost - still far cheaper than an engine rebuild!
With only 20k on the clock and the car being one of the most original examples out there (never welded / painted) - I did not want to do the obvious and bolt an electric fan to it. In the end it has been a combination of several things in order to find the cure - the engine otherwise is in good health / tune etc. The block was flushed and the radiator recored with with a high flow matrix along with new hoses / thermostat / rad cap etc (you can not tell the difference from the original rad matrix) this helped a little but not enough - next off came the the exhaust manifolds which were blasted and ceramic coated (nearly £400) this again improved matters but not enough. Over the last day I fitted a high volume water pump from JR Wadams - (no difference in original appearance) - now I can let the car stand but when the temp gets high in standing traffic - if I bring the revs up the pump gets to work and down comes the temp. Unsure if I had have done the pump first if just this on it's own would have done the trick - somehow I am not sure it would have - I am just happy that the cure could be found - however - it has come at quite some cost - still far cheaper than an engine rebuild!
Last edited by Grumpy Northener on Tue May 10, 2011 11:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
1937 Jowett 8 - Project - in less pieces than the Jupiter
1943 Jowett Stationary Engine
1952 Jowett Jupiter - In lots of peices http://Jowett.org/
1952 Jowett Javelin - Largely original
1973 Rover P6 V8 - Original / 22,000 miles
1943 Jowett Stationary Engine
1952 Jowett Jupiter - In lots of peices http://Jowett.org/
1952 Jowett Javelin - Largely original
1973 Rover P6 V8 - Original / 22,000 miles
Re: V8 Rover overheating - Cured at last
Great to hear that you got it sorted.
Posts like this are very useful I find. Folks (including me) are usually posting questions rather than answers, so its super to read about the effective solution to an issue which so many people encounter.
Thanks Grumpy!
Posts like this are very useful I find. Folks (including me) are usually posting questions rather than answers, so its super to read about the effective solution to an issue which so many people encounter.
Thanks Grumpy!
Re: V8 Rover overheating - Cured at last
Good to see a fix. what condition was the origional pump in?
Understeer: when you hit the wall with the front of the car.
Oversteer: when you hit the wall with the back of the car.
Horsepower: how fast you hit the wall.
Torque: how far you take the wall with you.
Oversteer: when you hit the wall with the back of the car.
Horsepower: how fast you hit the wall.
Torque: how far you take the wall with you.
Re: V8 Rover overheating - Cured at last
Hi GN
As a fellow P6 V8 driver it's good to hear when people solve these little problems.
My car had never suffered from the dreaded vapour lock until I cleaned the oil off the block last year. I think the years of oil and road grime had formed a thermal insulation barrier between the block and the fuel pipe and when I cleaned it off the first time it got hot the engine died
I've also fitted a recored (triple) rad and flushed everything backwards, forwards and sideways to ensure it's all clean. The usual suspect tends to be the inlet manifold tower which can become clogged up too and that is all clean. I agree that reducing the under bonnet temp is the way to go and I wondered if you had the stock cast iron manifolds on your car? I'd heard that coating cast iron manifolds would lead to early failure due to thermal shock as the heat generated by the exhaust gases has nowhere to radiate to??? Unless you've had them coated inside too, but would that not reduce flow??? Theoretically it should help fuel consumption and performance too as the temperature of the air into the cleaner box should be reduced. Be interesting to hear if this is the case.
I fitted an electric fan to mine and removed the engine driven fan to help fuel economy, but I couldn't get a fan sufficiently powerful enough to shift enough air through the rad when stationary. There's not a lot of space on either the front or back of the V8 rad, even less with the 3 row core. That works fine in the winter months but now it's warming up a bit I've refitted the engine driven fan and the temp remains very stable with that. The high flow water pump is a good idea too.
Dave
As a fellow P6 V8 driver it's good to hear when people solve these little problems.
My car had never suffered from the dreaded vapour lock until I cleaned the oil off the block last year. I think the years of oil and road grime had formed a thermal insulation barrier between the block and the fuel pipe and when I cleaned it off the first time it got hot the engine died
I've also fitted a recored (triple) rad and flushed everything backwards, forwards and sideways to ensure it's all clean. The usual suspect tends to be the inlet manifold tower which can become clogged up too and that is all clean. I agree that reducing the under bonnet temp is the way to go and I wondered if you had the stock cast iron manifolds on your car? I'd heard that coating cast iron manifolds would lead to early failure due to thermal shock as the heat generated by the exhaust gases has nowhere to radiate to??? Unless you've had them coated inside too, but would that not reduce flow??? Theoretically it should help fuel consumption and performance too as the temperature of the air into the cleaner box should be reduced. Be interesting to hear if this is the case.
I fitted an electric fan to mine and removed the engine driven fan to help fuel economy, but I couldn't get a fan sufficiently powerful enough to shift enough air through the rad when stationary. There's not a lot of space on either the front or back of the V8 rad, even less with the 3 row core. That works fine in the winter months but now it's warming up a bit I've refitted the engine driven fan and the temp remains very stable with that. The high flow water pump is a good idea too.
Dave
1966 Rover P6 2000 SC - in daily use and running like a dream
1972 Rover P6 3500S currently undergoing surgery
1965 Rover P5 3 litre Coupe - long term project
1972 Rover P6 3500S currently undergoing surgery
1965 Rover P5 3 litre Coupe - long term project
- Grumpy Northener
- Posts: 1637
- Joined: Sun Apr 03, 2011 8:26 am
- Location: Hampshire UK
Re: V8 Rover overheating - Cured at last
TerryG wrote:
Dave3066 wrote:
The pump was mint when I got it off - no obvious wear and the impeller looks like new - the difference with the high volume pump being that the impeller has twice the amount of vanes fitted although it is of the same diameter of the original.Good to see a fix. what condition was the original pump in?
Dave3066 wrote:
The exhaust manifolds are the original cast iron ones - Only the external faces have been treated - I have not heard of any issues with early failure through thermal shock to manifolds - however the temperature of the gases transferred onwards to the remaining exhaust system are higher has a direct result of the ceramic coating and I have heard of owners suffering from the front downpipes (mild steel) having a short lifespan - I have a stainless system fitted - all I can do is monitor it and see how it gets on.I wondered if you had the stock cast iron manifolds on your car? I'd heard that coating cast iron manifolds would lead to early failure due to thermal shock as the heat generated by the exhaust gases has nowhere to radiate to??? Unless you've had them coated inside too, but would that not reduce flow??
1937 Jowett 8 - Project - in less pieces than the Jupiter
1943 Jowett Stationary Engine
1952 Jowett Jupiter - In lots of peices http://Jowett.org/
1952 Jowett Javelin - Largely original
1973 Rover P6 V8 - Original / 22,000 miles
1943 Jowett Stationary Engine
1952 Jowett Jupiter - In lots of peices http://Jowett.org/
1952 Jowett Javelin - Largely original
1973 Rover P6 V8 - Original / 22,000 miles
Re: V8 Rover overheating - Cured at last
I fitted one of those to my P5B afew years ago, and although the car has done less than 1000 miles since, the bearing collapsed a few weeks ago, luckily when the car was idling at home. Now I'm unsure whether to replace it with another one, or get one from a different source altogether.
- Mrotwoman
- Posts: 646
- Joined: Sat Jan 22, 2011 10:36 am
- Location: We're gonna have a breakdance party,breakdance all night long.
Re: V8 Rover overheating - Cured at last
Don't start me on JRWs supposed high volume pumps
Have you forgotten that once we were brought here we were robbed of our names,robbed of our language,we lost our religion,our culture,our God? And many of us by the way we act,we even lost our minds.
Re: V8 Rover overheating - Cured at last
Surely a greater number of vanes means a greater likelihood of cavitation at speed?
Or are the Dolly Sprint racers in Australia (where it apparently gets warm during the race season) just lucky to get away with changing their 12 vane water pumps for 6 vane ones?
Or are the Dolly Sprint racers in Australia (where it apparently gets warm during the race season) just lucky to get away with changing their 12 vane water pumps for 6 vane ones?
J
"Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true..
"Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true..
- Grumpy Northener
- Posts: 1637
- Joined: Sun Apr 03, 2011 8:26 am
- Location: Hampshire UK
Re: V8 Rover overheating - Cured at last
I work in an environmental / construction industry allied trade, on occasions I need to pump huge volumes of water - quickly - so I tend to know a few things about pumps - the main point being is provided the pitch and angle of the pump vanes is correct to the speed of the impeller it should do the job but quite odd laws apply some times as stated in JPB's post where less vanes gives a better output by reducing cavitation and in other cases the reverse of this applies where the pump speed becomes critical. I am more than happy with the present set up on the car - as at least I can now control the under bonnet temperatures and use the car in decent weather.
1937 Jowett 8 - Project - in less pieces than the Jupiter
1943 Jowett Stationary Engine
1952 Jowett Jupiter - In lots of peices http://Jowett.org/
1952 Jowett Javelin - Largely original
1973 Rover P6 V8 - Original / 22,000 miles
1943 Jowett Stationary Engine
1952 Jowett Jupiter - In lots of peices http://Jowett.org/
1952 Jowett Javelin - Largely original
1973 Rover P6 V8 - Original / 22,000 miles
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