'STOP' Lamp came on

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pete.fair
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'STOP' Lamp came on

Post by pete.fair »

Hopefully only a simple problem, while driving home tonight the STOP lamp lit for about 3 second closely followed by the temp level orange light, again for only 1 - 2 seconds. The needle was between the quarter and half mark. When pulling onto the drive heard the fans running at full pelt. Checked the water level, thats fine, and that the air con was not on, it was'nt.
Can anyone shed any light on what it may be or had a similar problem.
Thanks
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AndersDK
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Post by AndersDK »

Guess it's a Xantia you have Pete [;)]
The STOP lamp would follow the orange temp warning ?
(if any logic !)
Did you have to cane the car for any reason - explaining the engine running hot ?
The fans running at arrival tells the engine was hot - and likley had peaked at orange warning level. The needle was at usual level - or the "quarter and half mark" means higher to you ?
There are 2 facts you deduce from the event :
1) the engine was hot running
2) the fans was working - trying to force cool the coolant.
It may be the 1.st stage of the reputed bitron problem - disturbing the fans coming on at lower temp.
JohnM52
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Post by JohnM52 »

Pete,
I experienced exactly the same circumstances on Sunday - the radiator was not hot the temp gauge was showing normal 75-80 reading, aircon made no difference. I used car today and the system behaved perfectly. I have ordered up the Temp sensor for the Bitron unit (the brown connector) since that it the most likely culprit and will change it when I have time ( I have had one of these sensors fail on a XM, but never had a Bitron unit fail). The fail safe mode is that the fans run at full speed all the time. I dont think it is a water temp problem at all in my case.
Part No 1338 66 if you need the number.
xantiaBFY
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Post by xantiaBFY »

guys,
sorry for butting in but what is the normal operating temp for a XantiaTD. My pals here are always debating this issue as they would like to modify the themostat on the car so as it runs at a temp of 80 deg.
regards.
philhoward

Post by philhoward »

Mine runs fine at an indicated 75 degrees, if that helps, and gets there pretty quickly as well
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davek-uk
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Post by davek-uk »

I've noticed a lot of people ask the running temperature of cars recently. No one has pointed out that differences in 'normal' running temperature can fluctuate on the same vehicle due to many influences - short/long journey, driving style, weather, engine & component cleanliness etc, etc. Add to this many different cars/drivers and the inaccuracies of the temperature sensor and gauge itself and you can get a whole range of replies.
What is important to notice is what the ‘normal’ running temperature of your car is - where the guage normally sits, where the fans cut in and out etc. Variations on this should be analysed and where necessary further investigation should take place.
rg
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Post by rg »

Two penn'orth coming up...
Kenlowe, (the cooling fans people), claim that most gauges are not that accurate, and are scaled so that when the needle is at the mid-point of the gauge face, even minor (actual) changes of a degree or so are exaggerated. Conversely, further down the gauge, quite large changes are under-reperesented. (Don't even think about at the hot end...)
It would be interesting to caliburate a temp gauge against a accurate thermomenter..
Sorry - rambling here - point being maybe we take minor fluctuations too seriously.
rg
tomsheppard
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Post by tomsheppard »

I do not understand why anybody should find it necessary to deliberately reduce the running temperature of the engine, which silliness I've seen in a couple of threads recently. The manufacturers tune the engine's thermal characteristics for best performance and emissions. Overcooled engines don't work properly- are you listening? If there is a need to reduce the temperatures found within the engine, then improve the oil cooler!
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Kowalski
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Post by Kowalski »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by tomsheppard</i>

I do not understand why anybody should find it necessary to deliberately reduce the running temperature of the engine, which silliness I've seen in a couple of threads recently. The manufacturers tune the engine's thermal characteristics for best performance and emissions.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
I'd tend to agree with this, but add that manufacturors also introduce some sort of safety margin here to make sure that when an engine is in the worst thermal conditions (i.e. pulling a heavy load up hills at low speeds in hot weather) it doesn't overheat and die.
Manufacturers also tune the car to the market it is being sold in, i.e. a car sold in Norway has a different thermostat etc to one sold in Spain.
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AndersDK
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Post by AndersDK »

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by rg</i>

Two penn'orth coming up...
Kenlowe, (the cooling fans people), claim that most gauges are not that accurate, and are scaled so that when the needle is at the mid-point of the gauge face, even minor (actual) changes of a degree or so are exaggerated. Conversely, further down the gauge, quite large changes are under-reperesented. (Don't even think about at the hot end...)
It would be interesting to caliburate a temp gauge against a accurate thermomenter..
Sorry - rambling here - point being maybe we take minor fluctuations too seriously.
rg
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
It is in fact not that hard to somewhat "calibrate" the gauge.
The sender would be a resistive NTC element - thus bridging the sender with some (hi-ohmic) resistance will make the gauge read a bit higher - or connecting some (lo-ohmic) resistance in series with the sender cable will make the gauge read lower.
(or is it vice-versa ? [:I])
Anyway - the general idea is to gauge the engine temp at same point as the sender unit - with an external known precise instrument. The probe of such instrument on the measuring point should be covered with insulation to prevent false readings.
Once the fan(s) come on at low speed - the engine has reached it's normal working temp - which should be set as the ref point on the gauge - to judge for deviations during drive.
pete.fair
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Post by pete.fair »

Went to the arage yesterday and it turned out to be the thermostat, new one fitted and the needle now settles around the 80 mark and no sign of the fans cutting in and out.
Thanks to you all
CITMAN
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Post by CITMAN »

my petrol zx always runs just over 90c around town. Creeping up to around just over 100C on the dual carriageway. How come diesels seem to run cooler than their petrol counterparts.
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