Thread: P38 Radiator what options?

From what I understand the only difference was the top hose location (left or right).

I'm definately interested in this as I believe it to be a major weak point with these cars.

Stu

i dont consider radiator the weakness unless blocked with rust , i found a design fault in the non activation of the twin fans in frount of the radiator not comeing on at all ,air or no air (only came on once when top of radiator burst at 230,oookm).i drive also a vt holden and when i swich the air on ,fans work as well at the same time automaticaly ,in p38a when air is swiched on ,fans dont move .what i have done is crimped the 2 yellow wires together which go to the pressure switch part no btr9223 the lower one at frount pass side behind under frount bumper bar (done nothing else )so when air is on ,twin fans are on .found doing city deliverys temp stays constant half way stop start driveing no mather what ,were before between 1/2 and 3/4 more importantly before starter motor would play up in the heat sometimes ,since fans work starter has not been giveing me problems in stop start city driveing were i might use starter up to 50 times in a day doing my job .also oil level constant level now fans cool all the time ,its still warm in engine bay but nothing like before, at least i can touch the fuse box and not burn my finger on the yellow sq relay if i touch that as well . just try that before spending around 700 hundred dollars or so on a new radiator ,worked for me cheers .

Running a good radiator flush treatment and re-filling with a good properly mixed coolant fixed the problems on my 99 RR. I'll definately be looking at re-wiring the thermo fans as I've also noticed not coming on that often.

I'd suspect a blocked core.

This was mine:



The radiator currently fitted may be Chinese! The coolant label on the top of the radiator is spelled "Coolent"!

Like rofosixone's car, my electric fans rarely switch on. I suspect a faulty trinary switch.

Got any pictures? any complications with this for the longer term? everything i have read on rangerover.net points out that the system is designed not to use the fans unless needed but i find it hard to believe that they have never been needed (as i have never seen mine on). Aslo lots about pressure of the gas being the activator. What if the gas is low? I have just fitted the kit to supply correct voltage (thanks Scouse) and seems to be working. i will take it for a run towing a trailer tomorrow.
Cheers,
Remy

Originally Posted by rofosixone

i dont consider radiator the weakness unless blocked with rust , i found a design fault in the non activation of the twin fans in frount of the radiator not comeing on at all ,air or no air (only came on once when top of radiator burst at 230,oookm).i drive also a vt holden and when i swich the air on ,fans work as well at the same time automaticaly ,in p38a when air is swiched on ,fans dont move .what i have done is crimped the 2 yellow wires together which go to the pressure switch part no btr9223 the lower one at frount pass side behind under frount bumper bar (done nothing else )so when air is on ,twin fans are on .found doing city deliverys temp stays constant half way stop start driveing no mather what ,were before between 1/2 and 3/4 more importantly before starter motor would play up in the heat sometimes ,since fans work starter has not been giveing me problems in stop start city driveing were i might use starter up to 50 times in a day doing my job .also oil level constant level now fans cool all the time ,its still warm in engine bay but nothing like before, at least i can touch the fuse box and not burn my finger on the yellow sq relay if i touch that as well . just try that before spending around 700 hundred dollars or so on a new radiator ,worked for me cheers .

Where is this switch. I am a bit confused. rangerover.net suggest on the thermostat. Rave suggests on the drier/finisher.

Originally Posted by p38arover

Like rofosixone's car, my electric fans rarely switch on. I suspect a faulty trinary switch.

Re: Electric cooling fans not operating-

Postby Garvin on Mon Aug 25, 2008 4:07 am
If the main engine cooling (viscous drive) fan is working correctly then the condensor fans will rarely activate as the air flow through the radiator and will be sufficient to cool both the engine and the air con condensor in only but the hottest ambient temperatures. The condensor fans will only operate when the air con is on and the engine should be capable of maintaining 'its cool' without the air con operational. Now the condensor fans can mask a poorly functioning engine cooling system (poor fan, water pump etc) when the air con is on as the engine radiator will start to overheat and this will adversely affect the operation of the condensor causing the aircon to swich on the condensor fans to help cool the condensor. This will have the knock-on effect of helping the air flow through the engine radiator and thus cooling the engine. If the engine is overheating then it is not the fault of the condensor fans ........... but, of course, that doesn't mean they are necessarily working :wink:

yes by rights viscos fan behind radiator should be ok but were not in england were in australia its hotter here ,but i noticed off road and when i sometimes take the rangie to work instead of vt i notice in stop start traffic in sydney it gets so hot.as said vt fan comes on at 104 than stops at 94 and if air con switched on fan comes on all time ,in rangie nothing ,in mine as yours always 1/2 way but it sometimes rises in sydney stop start to 3/4 .my radiator flows fast when flushed and has no rust (did buy new at 230,000km ),but talked to auto electrician and said british do it different way to holden .so as said (and told )crimped the yellow wires just before the lower air switch btr9223 ( not the one up higher were drier is ) behind frount bumper pass side and doing that makes the fans come on when you switch air con on ,if you turn off air con ,fans stop working .if you pull out the plug that goes to btr9223 switch you get a book sign on your lcd air con screen in the cabin so i just leave plug in only crimping (joining the wires together with crimp ).and now as i wrote above there are benifits to this simple thing and nothing is affected computor wise ,i tried to put pic but can not but if you send me a email can send anyone a pic (know how to do it that way )were i have and what i have done to make it easy visually ,and as said before does work or else wouldnt have done it cheers, ralph .