Waterless coolant

allien m
If your Magna gets a bit hot in traffic it could be the thermo fan isn't cutting in as it should. In traffic it shouldn't overheat, Magna cooling is usually quite good.
With country use the fan often never runs and it seizes up and blows it's fuse so then it doesn't run at all.
Make sure it spins free and idle the car until it heats to cut in temp to check it all works properly for town use.
Maybe the water pump, Does yours have the outrigger thingo pump on the RHS of the engine head? They corrode inside and are belt driven, could be it slips a bit and water flow is slow or it's fins are eaten away and not much water is pumped at slow engine speeds.

Normal additive and water provides the best transfer of heat and it also absorb the most heat value before a boiling point is reached.
I would stick with the known rather than begin to entertain the unknown.

Cheers
Ross M

Allein - I've never heard of the product and never used it. I checked out their website and they brag about their product being good for 190 deg C without boiling! I don't see where that's any major benefit.
An engine is stuffed if it reaches around 135-140 deg C. At that temperature rings start to soften and loose their tension, oil starts to lose it's ability to lubricate, and seals and gaskets become burnt and hardened and start to leak.

I note the waterless coolant site says an engine will run 3 -7 deg hotter with their product in the cooling system. If your cooling system is already marginal due to corrosion and scale and reduced coolant flow, then an additional 3 to 7 degrees could see internal engine temperatures rise to a dangerous level.

In my experience, I've found that it's crucial to use the manufacturers recommended ready-made coolant or rust inhibitor mixed in the right proportions with distilled water or rainwater.
Using "off-the-shelf" coolants and inhibitors means that they may not contain the correct chemicals that match the materials used in your engine block and head. The OEM coolant and inhibitor is tailored to your engine and provides the best protection against corrosion.
Cooling system corrosion is not caused only caused by water (rust and scale), it's also caused by galvanic action between dissimilar metals (electrolysis between alloys and cast iron).

It also pays to drain and flush and replace the coolant in your system in line with the manufacturers recommendations - usually every 2 or 3 yrs. This provides top-class protection for your cooling system on an on-going basis.

If your cooling system has been "let go" and corrosion has started, it's imperative to do a chemical clean and flush promptly and add all new coolant/inhibitor.
About 60-70% of engine problems and vehicle breakdowns can be sheeted directly home to poor cooling system maintenance.

If I'm buying a used vehicle and I unscrew the cooling system filler cap and can see corrosion, I walk away from that vehicle.
Another good indicator of potential problems is a buildup of white gunk at the point where hoses join the metal fittings such as water pump and heater hose outlets.
With modern engines containing large amounts of alloy it's critical that cooling systems be maintained fastidiously on todays cars.

Like so many of these exotic products they are of no benifit unless you are doing weird things or the system is specfically designed for them.

One of the issues with modern cooling systems is that people do not.
Replace their coolant regularly enough
Run the correct coolant
run the correct concentration.

Most of our systems are designed to run one of two types of coolant....red or green.

Both must be replaced more regularly than most people want to know.....2 years at the outside 3.....if the coolant is stale it wont perform as well and it will become corrosive as its corrosion inhibiter is spent.

Both have to be run at the recommended rate and for a lot of japanese derived vehicles that is twice the standard dose on the bottle.

The coolant increases the boiling point of the coolling system and thus the temperature difference to the outside air and thus the efficiency is improved.

The boiling point is increased by both the coolant concentration and the preasurisation....in about equal proportion.

Many of these systems are designed around this increased boiling point.

many toyotas in particular will boil their little heads off with only slight provocation, if you run straight water in them and will not perform well with the "standard" dose of coolant.

It does not hurt to run the double dose of coolant in any case.

If you look on the Nulon coolant bottle for example, it will list boiling points for the standard dose and the double dose of coolant.

OH and BTW..look up the coolant capacity of the cooling system and add the correct amount of neat coolant..THEN top up with clean demineralised water.

because many cooling systems are very hard to drain completely....and this can bake the coolant dose wrong if you premix.

Go the manufacturer recommended coolant type and at the corrdct dose

cheers

i will get it checked out next week I am sure it will just need a good clean I will also put new oils and filters in it for good measure .

if i know the car cannot do the trip I would not take it .

thanks for that

Why does an engine overheat? Check these answers and cross off most of them.
1 Blocked radiator: If you have been doing the righ thing and using and changing coolant regularly, this should not be the answer. If you have rust in the water passages, this may be the main problem.

2 Thermostat: Thermostats usually fail shut - they do not open at all and then the engine boils, but if it is only opening a bit, it could be OK on the highway but for stop/start driving, would block it enough to cause overheating.

3 Temperature gauge: Temp gauges are simply a microampmeter, responding to changes in resistance of the sender unit as the temperature changes. For our TM magna, the resistance at the 'zero' or cold mark on the gauge shoudl be 104 ohms. At the last mark before the red zone, the resistance should be 24 ohms. Don't know which magna you have, but I would expect it is the same, assuming that it is an analogue instrument panel.

4 Water Pump Drive Belt: The drive belt is the little vee belt at the transmission end of the engine. Is it tight? Does the pulley turn when the engine is turning?

5 Airflow to the radiator: Is there any restriction to the airflow? - Fins damaged or blocked with dead insects?

6 If you have exhausted all the above, you have fairly well checked the cooling system. Next is to check if the system is being overloaded eg a blown head gasket or air leaking into the inlet manifold, causing the mixtures to be too lean. Failing all that, the exhaust could be blocked but this is most unlikely.

You could have any of these issues, or even a combination of them. Check them out and then if all else fails get a new radiator.

When I was racing cars, on of my race cars was very marginal in the cooling department so I ran straight non-diluted coolant, no problems at all for many years.

If a modern standard vehicle overheats these days, there is something wrong. Possibilites are radiator, water pump, fan(s), thermostat and possible blockage somewhere.

As others have suggested, run the manufactuers recommended coolant and change it every couple of years. Get a mechanic to suss out the complete cooling system, radiators, water pumps and thermostats do not last forever but using the correct coolant does extend their lives.

I have never had a modern car overheat in traffic. By modern, I mean made in the last 30 years or so.

I'm not too sure about the location of sensors, but.....

The Magna has two fans, the left one (if viewing from the front of the car towards the back, then it'll be right) will only turn on when the A/C is activated.

The right one should turn on momentarily once the car has warmed up, basically when the temp guage reads about half.

So to test it, once its warmed up let it sit there idling, the fan should turn on in the space of 15mins. If it doesn't, i'd suggest find a multimeter, unlplug the right fan connector, and test the connector and see if it gets a reading at some point in time, ie. you may have to wait 15mins.

now after some resarch I did find this that the 2nd thermo fan only works with the air con on

as I rarley use the air con I may have not worked that out

you learn some thing new every day lol

ok

new fluid

hoses checked


radiator is in good condition no insects or blockage

fan works fine

ok I did some searching on line and found a post similar to mine and found out some thing new

magna s have 2 fans and the 2nd one only works when the air con is working

now I rarley use the air con it does not get hot enough

so i switched engine on and air con and the fan fires up no problems.

the drivers side thermo fan is for use when the air con is on the passenger side is normal use when it gets way past half way on the gauge

I have done as much as I can the old fluid was clean and no sign of any corrosion

next week I will change the oil and check out tires and every thing else

thank you for your help it has been another good learning experience

I feel a lot better and more comfertable that I got that problem sorted out