BX16V.com Forum

My 16v has a overide switch for the cooling fan incase it gets stuck in traffic,fitted by the previous owner, ive been told that you can change the thermoswitch on the radiator to that of a diesel one that operates at alower temperature to ensure it doesnt overheat. Ive never had the fan cut in on its own accord yet as ive alays chickened out when it gets past 90degrees and switch it on myself.

However its MOT time soon where they leave it running for along time and I wont be there to switch it on incase the thermoswitch already fitted doesnt work. I already have a new diesel thermoswitch at home are they a direct swop?

Any Ideas.

Thanks

Yes mate they are a direct swap.
Just remove the old one and screw in the new one simple as that.

Cheers
Luke

So hopefully it will cut in abit earlier then! I have heard stories about them geting very hot and overheating with disasterous consequences!

I was concerned about this when i had our Capri MOTed earlier this year as they are prone to cooking up. Freindly word with the tester and he assured my that he would switch on the kenlowe , horrable when your car is in someone else's hands.


Jez

TBH Tim I personally don't think it is much of a problem in this country but in hotter climes it may well be.

The theory is that if the fans don't cut in until a fairly high temp then if the car is hot and you turn it off the heat built up in the engine causes the system to boil with obvious downsides.

I would agree that fitting the diesel switch can only be an improvement over std item though.
If I change mine I will go for a diesel one but I won't loose sleep if I keep the std one as I know my system is in good order.

Cheers
Luke

i agree with luke - don't worry too much if your system's in good order. after all, when i 1st got mine it had done 130,000 trouble-free miles with the original set-up - only one cooling fan to the side of the radiator and the original high temp cut-in switch, meaning in traffic the gauge was often at 105.

however, only having one fan means that the side of the radiator without the fan disintegrates twice as fast as the other!

nevertheless after i did the twin fan + lower cut-in switch i felt more confident, which is always a nice thing when driving old cars.

Am going to get my cooling system flushed whilst im at it as I dont know when It was last done, anything to worry about or is it case of just open the bleed screws, my car has aircon (inop of course) does that make any difference?

if it's got air con then it should already have 2 cooling fans fitted, but i may be getting confuzzled with the blower fans.

there are plenty of bleed screws (5 i think) so don't forget them all - haynes describes the procedure pretty well. whenever i refill mine i always make a habit of bleeding it 3 or 4 times just to feel on the safe side. keep the water level in the expansion tank nice and full while you're bleeding too. oh and use rainwater or deionised water of course, but you knew that, right?

bon chance.

Will 2nd Rob's comments ref distilled water for filling (and proper Citroen antigel)

With aircon fitted you really should have 2 fans there, so take a look through the grill! If it hasn't then you need to take a careful look at the wiring and see if there's somewhere already there to wire a 2nd one (should be)

With the bleed screws, replace any plastic ones around the thermostat housing with the metal ones a la heater rail, but don't replace the one in the pipe by the radiator itself as that screws into plastic (i think)

DO NOT try to remove any of the plastic screws if the engine is warm or hot - they'll shear off at the head and leave water peeing out, and you stranded! Been there and learnt the hard way after refilling and trying to hot bleed......

Adrian

I'll ad one other bit to Adrians post re: metal bleed screws, also don't use an allen key whe you fit them particularly into the thermostat (plastic) housing as you will split it.
I changed my engine thermostat (waxstat) to an 82 degree version (88 is original) and the thermofan switch to the diesel variety because I just got sick and tired of driving with one eye on the temp gauge and eventually it caught ne out. I've never regretted changing them over and never had a problem since I did. My engine temp sits around 88 most of the time and might occasionally get to around 92 and never gets up to 100 since I did these things.


Alan S

Deionised water?? I though you use that in batterries!

You can also use it in irons to stop them furring up - same principle for a car cooling system.

Have always done it ever since I used an inline filter system we had at work for cooling system water and radiators will last a lot longer

You can buy it in 5 litre bottles for next to nothing - I buy them in cases of 6 and keep them in the garage for when they're needed.

Adrian

Didnt know that thanks!