Over heating in traffic

[mowogdave]

After about 3 years I have not managed to get around this issue

Driving my 998 auto clubman normally I have no overheating issue. But as soon as it stops in trafffic the temperature rises and rises over about 5 minutes. In my other manual 998s and cooper this was never quite so bad. Sure the temp rises in traffic on all minis but the auto seems more prone from what I can see. Winter months generally ok, summer is the problem!

Any one else experienced this?

I've done the usual stuff - flused rad, new thermostats 82 deg, 84 deg, 88 deg, fitted a 2-core new rad, checked the fan is on the right way round. No improvement. Having the heater on did not help - no flow at idle so it runs cold unless the revs are higher.

Then I did some tests. I sat the car still and let the temperature rise up. I went outside and put my hand next to the wheel arch and there was air being blown out that was pretty warm. After increasing the revs to maybe 1500 it gave me a good clue to the problem.... the air started coming out a load faster and was so hot it was stripping the skin off the bones on my hand Then the temp guage dropped down

So my best guess after all of this is that at idle the fan is running too slow to cool the engine when sat in traffic? Maybe because it is sitting there in "D" could this make the engine generate a lot more heat when compared to my old manual minis where the problem wasn't half as bad?

So next summer I'll just live with it and try not to stay in "D" in traffic, slip into "N" and manage the revs to keep the temp down. Fitting an electric fan could help but I want to keep my car completely original.

Any other ideas

[clambod]

what sort of fan have you got. Is it the multi bladed plastic one?

[mowogdave]

Yes, the plastic one. I understand this is supposed to be the best fan at shifting air at low speed?

[Admin/Founder 2]

The Only Thing i can think to suggest would be to possibly get a later radiator with an electric fan to help things along

I suppose theres a small possibility the temp switch has gone faulty but I've found when thats happened to me in the past the gauge tends to read nothing as opposed to over

I know its not ideal but until you get to the bottom of things I've found turning on the heater can stop the car overheating in traffic

Did you fit the fan yourself?
Just wondering if it was fitted that way when you bought the car could it possibly be fitted back to front?

Hope you get it sorted out,theres bound to be somebody on here who's had a similar problem in the past who can shed a little light on the problem

[mowogdave]

The fan was already fitted. But when the rad came out I checked it was the right way round and it was.

I don't think theres much I can do to be honest..... But I was thinking of changing the pulley size so that the fan runs faster. Will probably think about this when its warm enough to venture outside again!

Was interested if the auto generates more heat when sat in "D" or is it just me?

[Admin/Founder 2]

Im Not sure on that Dave but Boris was on the verge of Overheating coming out of Crystal Palace on Last years L2B so whilst stuck in slow moving traffic i drove him using 1-2-3 gears and he cooled down

So i think they may run cooler in gears rarther than D