Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing High temperature

My Plus8 runs at about 80 on the gauge unless hot weather, when it runs towards 90. The fan cuts in and is noisy! Rover V8 and the underbonnet gets WARM!
I used my OBD meter to check the incoming air temp.
Ambient was 15 degC and IAT was reading still 35 and rising slowly.
Engine does not overheat as the fan cuts in. Triggered at about 95 on the gauge.
I have just fitted bonnet extenders to the rear fixings and it appears to work as gauge temp is a couple of degs lower and the fan isn’t triggered as often in traffic,
If you look at Gomog site they describe ways to help, including making sure the air coming in through the cowl all goes through the rad and not round the edges. You can also get a scoop to channel air up to the rad too.

First service at the end of the warranty. The OE item will last for between 3 and 6 years. When they fail, it is usually a recovery truck job.

+4 old style...

There is a secret switch for the fan under the dash;-)
The gauge ist direct without any damping - so an honest indication of a thumb.

In summer it indicates a 100 to 110 in the city and on the motorway and a 90 on rural roads.

Having the switch under my control feels good;-)

I'd second that - the app is very good (and particularly good for removing fault codes prior to MOT on a doggy motor )

Update on my original post. Drove home after midnight on Saturday, mostly motorway and it was chilly. Felt like 11 / 12C but definitely under 15C. The gauge still showed over 90C so I think that is just 'normal'. Checked the next day and no problems with hoses or leaks but the water in the header tank was at minimum level so I topped it up. Thanks for all the comments which have been very helpful. Will be getting the ODB dongle anyway.

In Western U.S. there is a Chinese Alloy Radiator being offered for 4/4, +4 and +8. I just ordered one for a +8. It should arrive in late July. I will try to remember to report if it looks good. Under $400U.S. I will try to remember to post how it looks at least to Me. Might be a gamble that end up regretting but who knows.

The following may or may not be relevant as my car is a 2002 1.8 zetec but here goes.
I have been investigating the apparent over temperature in my car since last September (when I retired and had more time). The indicated temperature is about 97 once warmed through and up to 50 mph and on back roads at this sort of speed over the winter it will remain at that. Take it up to 60 and it will soon reach 100 and then remain around that until speeding up again and will reach 110 - ish at 70 to 75, I haven't tried higher honest m'ludd. This bothered me because once when static in traffic the fan relay failed and the engine overheated (my apologies to the two cars either side in the queue for the Eurostar who thought we were on fire). The result is quite spectacular when the expansion bottle cap lifts depositing most of the coolant over the passenger side windscreen. I used to hear the fan stop and start all the time when driving (I found a clip stuck to a fan blade, removed it and it's much quieter now) so my concern was in the event of failure of the relay at speed the contents of the radiator would be thrown all over the passenger.
I have fitted an alloy radiator (partly because the plastic one failed twice), an allow under tray between radiator and engine, moved the front number plate to inline with the bumper and fitted a scoop and now it's rare that the fan starts during normal use but the above temperatures remain unchanged.
To find out what's going on in the system I bought a 6 channel barbecue temperature sensor which blue tooths to my phone (about £30 and very good incidentally). I fitted one to the top hose, one to the return to the bottom hose and one to the bottom hose before this return and the results confounded me completely! Over the last week we went to Wales and back and covered about 650 miles, the only time the temperatures round the system increased was in traffic with little air flow over the radiator, eventually the fan would cut in when the bottom hose was at about 95 and cut out at 90 the rest of the time the top hose was about 75, return to bottom hose about 60 and bottom hose 35 to 40 so nothing like the indicated temperature. I believe the sensor is fitted to the cylinder head and it is this temperature that is being reported, I can not find a sensor anywhere for the fan so that remains a mystery but it works so if not broken don't fix.
In conclusion the cooling system seems to be working fine but I will leave the sensors there in case we ever get some higher ambient temperatures - just out of interest.
Sorry for the ramble and hi-jacking your thread. I just thought some of this might be of interest to others.

I spent a small fortune trying to find out why my Alfa Spider 3.0 was overheating only to discover it was the gauge If the true readings are normal, suspect sensors or gauge.

Hi to all!

Is there a quick/ easy way to identify the cooling fan relay (4/5 2005/ 2006, 1,8 Duratec)?

I´ve found a wiring diagram for older cars. There are 4 relay shown. One is the flasher unit (so no problem). One shoild be the fuel pump (il hear this ralay9 bit....

My car is stored some "miles" away so I can´t have a quick look on the wiring diagram and my car...!
Thank you for any help!
I

http://www.talkmorgan.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=2497&Number=24637#Post24637

This was the 2005 Roadster layout. Scroll down for the reposted image.