Xantia 1.9td overheating up hills

jereme · Unread post by **jereme** » 20 Aug 2008, 09:02

Can someone say if this is normal? Usually my temp gauge fluctuates very little between 70 and 80 degrees. Whilst on holiday this year near Millau in France the motorways go up and down some awfully steep hills. As i drove up them the temp went up and up to over 100 degrees. Luckily then I would be going down hill again, easing off the throttle and the temp dropped. The trouble was I had to slow right down to minimize the temp rise and if the hills had gone upwards any longer I would have had to pull over. Last year it happened in the same area when we were towing a trailer tent and I thought that might have caused it. So i was quite suprised when it happened again not towing.
Has anyone else experienced this at all, is it normal?
Vive la France!

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 20 Aug 2008, 09:17

I'd say that was pretty normal. I've seen my own 1.9TD do exactly this on long steep hills in summer and always when towing. Diesels do dump a lot of heat into the cooling system when working hard.

As long as the temperature comes back down again readily and you're not consuming coolant, nothing to worry about.

Have you checked your fans are working normally?

jereme · Unread post by **jereme** » 20 Aug 2008, 09:22

Yes fans are okay coolant levels are good. I just needed reassurance and wont worry anymore, thanks

pete_wood_uk · Unread post by **pete_wood_uk** » 20 Aug 2008, 10:03

Suggest that next time you get it good and hot, you run your hand down the inside of the radiator and make sure that it's getting hot all the way to the bottom, that there's no sludging or anything restricting the flow.

Having said that, mine used to get good and hot round Millau as well. Lovely scenery, though...

Cheers
Pete

jeremy · Unread post by **jeremy** » 20 Aug 2008, 10:25

I agree with Pete. These cars have crossflow radiators - which means that the flow is across the car and the header tanks are vertical. All works well but and sludge in the system will settle in the bottom tubes. This is fine as under most conditions the rad has a considerable surplus capacity - but it eventually shows up when the car is stressed and too many tubes have blocked.

Unread post by **CitroJim** » 20 Aug 2008, 11:04

Also, have a check behind the rad for debris between it and the intercooler and aircon condenser. It's amazing how much rubbish gets in there over the years. I once found a complete dead bird trapped between the rad and intercooler

Blow out the intercooler and condenser fins to remove any muck from those too.

Even on mine with a brand new rads (both the 1.9 and 2.1) run hot when really working hard.

Unread post by **Peter.N.** » 20 Aug 2008, 12:07

If it's done 100k miles or more, I would be inclined to fit a new radiator.