Talk Morgan Forums Community The Malvern Arms Overheating

1996 morgan plus 4 with T16 rover engine.

When i leave it in nutral it quite hapily sits there at 80c. When i drive it at normal conditions then again sits at 80c quite happily. However there have been a few times in the last year there has been an accident and you hVe to crawl forward stoppin and starting at 5km an hour. In these conditions the heat creeps up. When it reaches 110c i find a bus stop and let it cool down for 10 min.

This doesnt happen often and only in the above conditions but should i be worried. What temp should i make sure it deffinetly doesnt go over

Regards
David

Doesn't sound like something to be overly worried about, most I believe have problems at lower speed with airflow through the radiator.

Do you have an electric fan fitted? If so, is it working, is the thermostat set correctly etc.? If not perhaps you could fit one (behind the radiator.....

I don't think it's anything to worry about David, my '96 Plus 8 normally indicates 105-110 when stuck in traffic, I've never had it go any higher though. I was concerned when I first got the car but have come to understand that this seems quite normal.

I tend to agree that, as you have described it, it doesn't sound to be a major problem. But if you have an electric fan I would, as others have said, check that it operates correctly. You could also consider fitting a manual control switch, so that you can run the fan manually when you see the temperature starting to rise in slow traffic.

It might also be worth looking at the pressure cap (radiator cap) on your cooling system to see what pressure/temperature it is rated at. If it is rated at >110C then you shouldn't boil the coolant and you won't risk loosing coolant in a traffic jam. If it is rated at close to or below 110C you could consider upping it to a slightly higher temperature/pressure specification to be on the safe side.

Careful! Upping the pressure the cooling system operates on will lead to a greater chance of leaks. I gave up trying to contain the standard pressure with Woodstock, and fitted a lower rated pressure cap. But my radiator was considerably uprated as a friend was a Serc agent!

Thank you all for the helpful replies, much appreciated

I have fitted a manual switch so as soon as it looks like we are stuck just a flick of the switch.

I have fitted a manual switch so as soon as it looks like we are stuck just a flick of the switch.

Best to put the switch on a relay, or the current will eventually cause the switch to burn out. I did the same and later had to fit a second with relay.