Cooling system.

[Turbo Haraune]

I have just filled my cooling system whit coolant today. it took 16 liters to top it up.!?
Jacked up the front end and bleed out all airbubbles from the hoses. i have two airlocks on the coolant hoses but they where "cancelled" due to the extreme angle of the car. so im pretty sure all air is gone.
Had the engine idling for a good 20 minutes but i still couldnt feel any hot water in the radiator up front. The output pipe from the engine where hot but it started to loose temp just a metre from the engine.
The oilfiltre was also hot so the engine had enough temprature for the thermostate to open i think.?
Maby i should mention that outside temp was about 0 degrees celcius.
I still havent connected any gauges so i dont know for sure how hot the engine was. but idling dont create much heat anyway.

When is the water supposed to start circulating? is it doing it all the time?
Is there any original location on the engine block for the coolant sensor?or is it supposed to be at the inlet of the radiator?

Any suggestions?
(the engine is the EJ20 Turbo)((and yeah it spitts 2foot flames when the dumpvalve opens))

[Rob]

I would check the thermostat.
If the motor is cold, it is closed and coolant does not go through the rad.
It circulates through the heater (which I assume you just looped).

I would make sure the thermostat works. Take it out and chuck it in a pan of boiling water. At some point it should open. If not, then it's busted.

There is a temperature sender in the coolant cross-over pipe (assuming the 2.2 has the same setup as the 2.5).

I'm not 100% sure, but I think it also gives a signal to the ECU, you are probably better off installing an aftermarket sensor and gauge.

Rob.

[ricola]

It is normal that the outlet pipe of the engine only gradually warms up, this is because it is the return flow that controls the engine temp, not the outlet flow.The bypass circuit (small bore pipework which flows around the inlet manifold) and the heater circuit which heat up the thermostat to open it.
Make sure your heater circuit is nice and hot as this is what the thermostat sees. If it is getting very hot and the engine temp is not stabilising it is probably a faulty thermostat.

Before you start it up again for a long period I would advise fo a proper temp gauge!

Rich

[tom'72]

I had problems getting the air out also (EJ20TT), I drilled 3 very small holes in the thermostat to compensate for the radiator being much further away from the engine then stock.

I filled up the system as much as possible and let the engine get warm, then turn the engine off and wait for it to cool down a bit (10-15 minutes) and put more water in the radiator in front (front off the car jacked up) or in the rear with the rear jacked up. Had to do this maybe 10 times before all the air was out and circulation was good.

[Turbo Haraune]

I just noticed that i had a third airlock also, in the back where the coolant comes out from the engine and is supposed to go up to the radiator, i have routed the pipe down to get it under the engine, this means that the coolant manifold on top of the engine is full of air?!
See this pic: http://v-dubs.no/haraune/album07/photos/photo_6.html
i think i need a bleedvalve on top of the outgoing pipe too!
I installet the temp sensor in the radiator (stupid me) dut there its not going to do any good. going to relocate it to the original position on top of the engine block. Or in the coolant manifold on top.

Vin

[Steve C]

Hi

Nearly everyone has airlock issues with subi motors. Im not up to that stage yet with my conversion but with my old wasserboxewr bug I just made sure that the fill point was extremely high, I used the wasserboxer header tank (recovery type system) with an overflow bottle, I could fill my motor when it was cold and the recovery system would get rid of any bubbles in the header tank, the motor needed to heat up, expell air into the recovery system and then draw back coolant in its place, I also had a tiny hole drilled in the thermostat to allow the cold coolant to equalise on both sides of the thermostat.

Steve

My setup before the turbo,

[Turbo Haraune]

Just as i was thinking.... coolant manifold full of air!
Drilled a hole for a temp sensor and then i could get in another 2 liters of water as the air was bleeding out.
Also found the thermostat stuck! but it could be fixed with boiling water and violence with a hammer! also drilled 2 holes in it as recomended.

Hope this wil help circulation problems.

And then a new problem...: Its leaking from behind the water pump... and the gasket is new. Anybody ?
Yes i have already checked hoses and clamps and bolts.

Vin

[Bad bug]

Steve c how did the waterboxer performed in your car, what was the horsepower rating i have a freind here in jamaica that wants to do this conversion.

[Steve C]

Hi

It was a 112 hp from the 10.5 comp factory version when I had 46 IDAs on it, never had it dynoed.

When I fitted EFI and dropped the comp to 8.0 it made 86 at the rear wheels, not bad considering the factory rated 9.0 comp version was rated at 90 hp at the flywheel.

Then I turboed it and only had it dynoed once, later found that the wastegate valve was ****ing and limiting boost and the injectors were maxing out on the dyno.

Then the car started to crackup, so removed a lot parts from it and sold it.

Steve

[Turbo Haraune]

After som small modifications the water is circulating fine. can feel the heat in the radiator up front.

But its still leaking from the pump.
Theory: All waterpumps has a drain hole to drain out internal leak. this is to prevent the bearings to seize and the cam belt to shear.(major disaster)
I think my pump is leaking from this hole =its busted.
The most common thing that causes internal leak is running the engine without water. wich i did several times. so i busted the pump myself.(stupid)

Advice: NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER RUN YOUR ENGINE WITHOUT COOLANT. YOU WIL DESTROY YOUR WATERPUMP IN SECONDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!