The Flavia is getting hot on the motorway!

[davidalanbatt]

Hi Guys,
I have just bought my wife a Flavia Vignale 1800. Bringing the car home, I noticed the temperature guage suggesting the engine was running very warm at 70-80 mph. The needle did not go into the red, but did sit just at the edge of the red line. The rest of the time, the guage reads somewhere in the middle, even in heavy traffic.
I am new to Flavias, is this a case of they are all like this or do I need to look at the radiator?
Thanks everybody,
Paul

[rogerelias]

Hi Paul. Welcome to the world of Flavias! The first thing I would be looking at is, is the water pump circulating the water fast enough, I had a car years ago that did the same sort of thing, turned out that the impeller in the pump was worn away, and could cope at low revs but not at high revs. I presume that their is not a build up of pressure in the radiator. Any water loss? Themostat opening and closing as it should? Or it could be something very simple like the sender unit in the rad is faulty, i also had a car that the voltage stabiliser was faulty, and all the gauges did not read properly, does the fuel guage read ok. Also does the guage go up not down when filled,i have seen cars which have had the polarity reversed, and people have not swapped all the wires on gauges over , so as you go faster the temp gauge goes up , but with airflow through the radiator it should go down, and also check if rad clogged up inside and outside. Thats a few things to be getting on with. I am sure there will be more replys soon. Let us all know how you get on. Roger. 

[Scarpia]

Given it runs at normal temperature in traffic I think Roger is right to suggest the water pump as the possible issue.However I would still check for the faulty guage/sender unit reasons first. As Roger says, even cars with fairly ropey cooling systems i.e duff radiator or leaks still generally run cooler if you go faster. Also things like thermostats and sender units are not too difficult to test first and eliminate before you start looking at the water pump as perhaps the next line of investigation.

[davidalanbatt]

Thanks Roger, Thanks Scarpia! I will look at the sender and thermostat first. I believe the thermostat can be difficult to remove though.
The water pump failing had crossed my mind. I will let you know how I get on. Thanks again, Paul

[davidalanbatt]

Here is an update! I got a Bentley specialist to look over the car (he looks after our cars very well and is reasonable too), and he discovered that the shutters over the radiator were in the close position. He informed that that this system was popular on older Rolls Royces and he recognized it straight away. It appears the thermostat control cable had snapped. He jammed the shutters open for now.
I did notice some coolant which appeared to be leaking from the top of the head gaskets. I fear I may have cooked the gaskets on the drive home on Saturday! Our mechanic carried out a block test which was OK, so maybe I have got away with it.
Now I need to find a replacement radiator thermostat. With luck, the consortium may have one.
Again may I thank you all for your advice. I may well be back for more if the head gaskets have gone!
Cheers, Paul