overheating

[sayulita101]

We ran our van up the coquihalla on friday with very little fluctuation with the temp guage.Once in Kelowna we hooked up a trailer with 7 bikes and 7 pax and headed up to the Kettle valley area to do some bike riding.We just got to the parking lot when the rad boiled over.We came back Hope Princton just to be on the safe side .we got pretty hot by the Mine but made it over .Can anyone suggest a course of action. Im thinking radcap/pressure test......thermostat check.....radiator flush...with a radiator pressure check.We are new to Delicas and any feedback would be great(We are leaving for Oregon on Sunday for a trip down the coast and would feel better if we figure it out before departure. Im sure the coastal tempuratures will be fine as far as overheating goes but who wants to worry on holidays. Thanks
Paul

[Green1]

your course of action sounds good... the big thing to check is that the radiator isn't clogged, that's what did my van in the first time...

[konadog]

I've been told that delicas often arrive from Japan with heavy calcification plugging their rads. When ccautos did a refit on Hazel they replaced the rad with a reconditioned one. Glen showed us the old one and it was pretty clogged up for sure. If the rad in your bus is an untreated original perhaps that is the trouble. Good luck in tracking down the trouble...

[sayulita101]

I guess clogged rad equals new rad?
Paul

[konadog]

I guess clogged rad equals new rad?

Pretty much. Or at least a reconditioned one.

[mdrive]

need to re-core your radiator.

[Mystery Machine]

Jap rads tend to have a much (MUCH) finer core than a lot of other vehicles....certainly here in Europe anyway - we don't get N.American stuff here!

They clog real easy and as the others have said, a recore is the best course of action.

While you're at it, change the thermostat for a new one - peace of mind.

If it has overheated there is a chance you could have cooked the water pump which is a bit of a pain to change - so keep a close eye for any drips from this area and change if you need to. If you're changing the thermostat, you'll have the floorpan out and powersteering disconnected anyway, so its probably only another hour or so to do the waterpump too....personally I would (all for preventative measures) but see what others say about this??

Regards,

Bruce.

[delica 304]

You may want to try a product called Water Wetter. It helps the coolant dissipate more heat. I used to use it in my Rx-7.

[josh]

As Bruce suggested change the thermostat. It is a simple cheap fix, and could be the source of the problem. I just had my Delica overheat a few weeks ago, and was in a panic myself. It turned out that all it was was the thermostat.

Josh

[sayulita101]

We replaced the cap and ran it down to Oregon last week with no problems.Although it wasnt in the 40S we drove back yesterday in the low to mid 30's from Rockaway Beach Oregon up I-5 without issues.Thanks for the help Mardi!
Paul

[lisairwin2001]

We just bought our delica a week ago.What we are wondering is how cool is cool??Is it normal for a deli to stay just above the cool line.It raises a bit going up hill but not much??
thanks

[jrman]

Yes I believe. My experience has been just slightly above cool - raising to as high as half way up the guage and only during my occasional run up the coquihalla - always in the lower half otherwise and generally just above cool if puttering around town. By the way, I have one year old re-core and new thermostat but original water pump sadly!!! Original owner should have had it done with the timing belt......grrrr.

[mararmeisto]

So, is 1/3-scale the correct temperature, or 1/2-scale? I've heard both and I'm thinking it's probably 1/2-scale for correct temperature (diesels like to be warm). I pushed it up to edge of the "I'm-okay-zone", but it was going up Kootenay Pass, pulling a trailer, fully loaded and it was about 35 degrees outside! Kept the revs down to 2500 or less, and slowed down to 30 (that was the slowest). We made it, but I've never watched the temp gauge that closely.

Also, how does one know if one's radiator is clogged? Short of cutting it open, how do you check? And, is there a suitable North American substitute for these vehicles? If the Japanese one is so fine, wouldn't a more robust radiator be better?

I was talking with someone the other day who changed the radiator in his pickup for a 'commercial' or 'industrial' radiator and it ran like a dream he said, even with the camper and the trailer in tow. Could something like that be available for these?

[ccautos]

I have found almost all radiators in Delicas to be badly clogged with a calcium build up . There are two ways to deal with this problem . 1) open the radiator and have each of the coolant tubes manually cleaned then rebuilt and pressure tested . 2) recore the radiator with a wider coolant tube core . Along with new water pump , thermostat , radiator cap and radiator hoses the cooling system will run as new .
For all those who say save some money and run a flush ...... I have been there and it has cost me dearly in overheating problems afterwards . The amount of `crust` inside of these radiators is huge and after a flushing it can continue to loosen this build up and it will gradualy circulate aroung the cooling system forming a mat across the top of the radiator . I have been a mechanis for 22years and have never seen another vehicle do this to the extreme that Delicas can . I will not take the risk of flushing radiators in the shop . For anyone interested in seeing what I am talking about , I have had a typical radiator opened up for people to look at on the open days coming up on saturday 9th and 16th .

PS thanks `loki` for the use of your old radiator !!!

[delicat]

Hey Glen,

Hello from your good old country (I'm in Peterborough UK at the moment). So where do you like the temp gauge to sit? Somewhere between 2/3 and 1/2?

I might try to fly back for your show on the 16th... Sounds like a great show!

Cheers,
David