Thermostat problem or what?

B

banquier

LVC Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2009
Messages
16
Reaction score
0
Location
Globe
Something strange started to happen with my LS. I have not done any changes for last two months and this started one week ago.
No bleeding, coolant on right level when cold, this seems fine. But it slowly overheating when driving slower speeds. I mostly driving highways and it happened only when i was driving in city to home, but never to complete overheat.

Today i was driving in city little bit more and get back home almost complete overheated. I opened trunk(car was running) checked degas bottle(it was empty), checked under car if there is any bleeding, nothing. I turned off engine, still no changes. I little bit opened degas bottle cap and it started to fill with coolant and bubbling and steam was going out, also under the car coolant started to bleed.

Is it looks like dead thermostat? Or where can be problem? Jaguar thermostat fits LS? I was reading that thermostat housing from Jaguar fits LS, then also thermostat should fit?

Sorry for my English.
 
I have read a lot of articles about overheating, does not help, because there is nowhere issue like mine, but mostly it's problem with thermostat. V8 gen1(2000)
 
There are hundreds of articles with your EXACT issue listed. You need to replace all of the plastic coolant components, including the Degas bottle.
 
You may well have issues with the coolant part of the cooling system, but from your symptoms, I am going to guess that your problem is the hydraulic cooling fan.
There are lots of threads on here about the cooling fan, and may do in fact, cover your exact issue.

Start with the basics:
1. What is the condition of the Mercon ATF in the cooling fan reservoir (not the coolant in the degas bottle).
2. With the engine running, does the fan spin and is it moving some air?
3. If you turn the AC on, does the fan speed up and move a lot more air?
4. When you are overheating (or starting to) does the fan get so fast that it makes a loud noise that you hadn't heard it do before?
 
1. About 1 year ago my service guys have changed couple AC hoses and radiator. I think they also changed Mercon ATF in the cooling fan. But i am not sure, will check.
2. For me it looks like works just fine.
3. There is no any problems with AC. Everything is working.
4. I know that noise, but it i think it starts only when it's almost fully overheated. Will bring more attention to this.

Also when it's starting overheat, if i turn on heating to max, it starts cooling down.
 
banquier said:
...
3. There is no any problems with AC. Everything is working.
...
Click to expand...

I didn't ask if the AC works. My question is "does the hydraulic fan speed up when you turn the AC on?"

When a car only overheats when driving slowly or idling, it is usually an airflow issue, which is usually a fan issue.
 
Ok, so i checked cooling fan reservoir, Mercon ATF for me looks normal, color is normal and no dirt or something else.

Car was almost cold, i run it till working condition, fan was spinning and there was air from it. I turned on AC, i didn't noticed any changes in fan spinning speed or air amount what it generates. I raised rpm to 2-2,5, no changes. I was tried to raise rpm with AC on max for like 20 min, i tried to get it start overheat, but it was not overheating.

Usually it takes some time to overheat, i can drive ~10 miles(engine in working temperature) in city and it will not overheat.

In past i had Porsche Cayenne with similar problem, when driving high way it was fine, when stopped to pay toll all coolant was on ground and car overheated. Sold it with that problem, don't know what happened. But it seems similar to this problem, but it don't overheat so fast and coolant is not bleeding without degas bottle cap opened when overheated.

Bad thing is that i am now in Spain, they never have seen Lincoln LS here, maybe 1 from 1000 have seen Town Car. 90% cars are Peugeot, Citroen, Fiat super mini cars with 1.2 liters engine and of course a lot of scooters. So the service people don't understand how to fix this car. They know scooters, but no cars. Overall vehicle service level in Spain is disaster. I am 1600 miles away from home. It's crazy if it's something serious what i can't fix by myself. All i have here is couple of standard tools and underground parking space.
 
You can try the bleed procedure to see if it cures the problem. If so it'll almost certainly be a crack in the cooling system. This is a test only, the problem will return if the problem is air in the system.
 
Thanks joegr, i will drive tomorrow till it will start to overheat and check to be sure that it does not run in high mode.

From the manual...
*NOTE*
Water in your Hydraulic Fan Fluid can cause the Actuator to go out!
Make sure your fluid is a Dark Red Color and not a Pinkish Puke color.
(Water caused mine to go out)
Click to expand...

Main was not dark, i will not say that it was pinkish but it was more like to orange and sure not dark. But i don't understand how water can get in there. Almost no rain in Spain. Last rain when i was driving was almost year ago.
 
banquier said:
... But i don't understand how water can get in there. Almost no rain in Spain. Last rain when i was driving was almost year ago.
Click to expand...

Water gets in there because people add it there thinking that the fan reservoir is the radiator overflow. Sometimes it is the owner, but often it is some idiot at an Iffy Lube type place that does it.
 
since not a lot of people are familiar with the LS there, thats shouldn't be too big if a problem, just find a shop that is familiar with Jaguars (specifically the S type)



banquier said:
Car was almost cold, i run it till working condition, fan was spinning and there was air from it. I turned on AC, i didn't noticed any changes in fan spinning speed or air amount what it generates. I raised rpm to 2-2,5, no changes.
Click to expand...

when the AC is on, the car should be commanding the fan to go to high speed (no need to guess if the fan is spinning on high, you will definitely know) since yours did not increase in speed, it looks like your problem is with the hydraulic fan actuator. very common.
 
First of all, thanks guys for your support! But i have new problems.
Before i changed hydraulic fan actuator i was driving highway(to receive package with hydraulic fan actuator) , then stopped in traffic jam, it started to overheat as always. I drove off the road, shutting down the engine and there was a lot of steam coming from engine part and also a lot of coolant leaking on the ground.

I left car for couple hours, when returned i added coolant and drove it to nearest service. I changed hydraulic fan actuator and noticed that one hose near thermostat housing is popped off(sorry for my English). Hose nr. 1 in picture. I put it back, done bleeding procedure. Everything was fine. No leaks, hot air was blowing from heater, just in my opinion engine heated little bit to fast, but i don't remember how long it take to heat up engine till normal temperature before. But anyway, there was no leaks and no air in the system. But i didn't drive it, just heated till normal temperture and let it cool down, added coolant to degas bottle and started my way to home. After driving somewhere about 20km(13 miles) i noticed that car started to overheat again, now even on highway, there was going a lot of steam from back of the car(i was driving 75-80mph), pulled car off the road and again there was going a lot of steam from engine part. I left car till the next day, when returned i noticed that other hose is popped off(hose nr. 2 in picture), this time it was hose connected to thermostat.

G85lkmQ.jpg


I taked out thermostat(i wanted to check it, but car is 30 miles from home and i needed to get car home), i was thinking that probably fault is in bad thermostat. I connected thermostat hose back and tried to bleed system. And when i added coolant to engine fill there was leak under the car, somewhere between engine and transmission. But leak was low and only when i was adding coolant to engine fill and it stopped after few seconds when i stop adding coolant to engine fill. Anyway i added coolant how much it was possible, started engine, waited till it heats up(there was no leaks in idle), turned on heater and there was no hot air and coolant started to leak a lot in the same spot(between engine and transmission). Turned off heater and leaking stopped. Started driving and after i noticed that coolant also is leaking when in drive position. And car started to overheat quite fast.

I have checked thermostat, thermostat works good. Monday i am going to service(renting box and doing all stuff by myself). Where i need to start checking? I'm thinking about water pump or maybe there are also some hose popped off under the car. But then there is question why? If before i have done system bleeding, there was no leaks, heater was working and thermostat also is fine. How did it happened.

Also checked oil, there is no coolant marks.
 
I have done that process and there was no leaking at all and everything was fine. I will check on Monday, i think that maybe some other hose was about to go off the line and when i started to drive on highway it finally popped off from the pressure. Steam comes somewhere from under engine. Will lift it up Monday.
 
what do you mean its not leaking and everything is fine??? three hours prior to that your post is full of the word leaking... and its really not fine... if it was fine, there wouldn't be anything to fix.





so if I understand this right...


the car overheats
the fan doesn't spin faster when it should
and at some point there is coolant just pouring out



so this sounds like every other LS out there, failed hydraulic cooling fan system and failing plastic parts under the hood...
 
Please check date of the posts. I have changed hydraulic fan actuator and now fan is spinning fine, kicks in faster mode. When i changed hydraulic fan actuator i noticed that hose nr.1 was disconnected. I put it back, done bleeding procedure as in this manual http://www.lincolnvscadillac.com/tech/drain-lincoln-ls-cooling-system/, there was NO any leaks and hot air was coming from heather, everything seems good. But when i drove ~13 miles on highway, car started to overheat again and i noticed steam coming somewhere from engine part or under engine. Also i noticed that another hose is disconnected(NR. 2 in photo), i put it back. Tried to bleed system as in the manual, but this time it was leaking coolant somewhere under car when i was filling engine fill with coolant, also when heater was on and also when driving. No leak when in idle with heater off. Leak only when filling engine fill, idle with heater ON or driving. I also checked thermostat and it works fine. I think that maybe some other hose has disconnected under car. Need to lift it up and check all hoses, because i was driving before i fixed hydraulic fan actuator and maybe they got to much pressure and now are not fixed in the place they must be.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

No members online now.
Total: 82 (members: 0, guests: 82)
Back
Top