[1783pictures]

Gentlemen, looks like I'm off to a very bad start with my 500sec. After about 20 minutes of driving suddenly I notice the temp needle was super hot. We are talking 110. I immediately pulled over into a Lowe's parking lot, turned the car off and opened to the hood. The Hood nearly burned my hands.

A few minutes before this happened the AC was suddenly less cold and even blew hot air for about half a minute.

I don't know what else to say because there really isn't much else to say. The radiator fan was turning, that I verified.

Right now the temperature cooled down to around 90 if I turn the electronics on. I think that too about ten minutes.

I'm trying not to panic, but I've never had a car get that hot and I'm terrified I just destroyed my car after literally 20 minutes of ownership.

I'm going to go get a water and try and calm my thoughts and hope that some of you can respond. It makes no sense that this car, as well maintained as it was, which passed an inspection, can suddenly overheat to 110 degrees Celsius. As a reminder, this engine was fully rebuilt in 2005. Reams of paper work on it. The mechanic who inspected this car for me said the job looks to have been done right. This car was very well maintained by a single owner since 1986.

 

[TexFinn]

Is/was the auxiliary fan working? The AC going hot sort of points to that direction, I think. :dunno:

 

[Richter Rox]

is that picture of those gages with the car running or off ? was there coolant full before driving ?

 

[1783pictures]

Yes all fluids looked good. And yes, that's the temp guage from my car. I snapped that to be sure to remember the temp correctly.

 

[tusabes]

You are fine- that temp was not hot enough to damage your car.
But you do need to figure out why it overheated .

My first fix would be a 75c thermostat . Maybe the old one got stuck . And definitely check the auxiliary fan

Unfortunately it’s probably just a bad coincidence that something went wrong with an old car , but just to play devils advocate,
Was the mechanic who did the pre purchase inspection connected with the seller in any wAy? They may have concealed a known problem .

 

[bondavi]

Aren't you glad you decided to ship instead of drive it cross country now?

You can relax. 110 won't hurt the motor, only when it goes past 125-130.

Air in the cooling system, or a sticking thermostat (check the upper rad hose for super hot, which is good, if relatively warm, not good), for one. The system must be pressurized in order to flow correctly. How does the overflow tank cap look?

Run the car tilted a bit upwards nose-wise, run the heat on full blast 5-10 minutes, to get air bubbles to the highest point of the system which is the radiator, then that will move to the overflow tank, and burp out.

Drive the car with the heat on full blast, does it stay at 80? If so, turn off the heat, keep driving. It should not go past 85-90. If it creeps back up to 100-110, park, stop, and return here.

 

[wilson1010]

Air pocket, thermostat, radiator. In that order, the most likely suspects for a temperature spike. All 30 year old cars need a new radiator so when you get to that step just do it. Check with others but the Nissens is the best, IMO.

 

[Richter Rox]

was the car running when you took the dash picture? I ask because your oil pressure gauge should read zero if the car is off and if the car was running when you took that picture your oil pressure is way low or the gauge is not functioning.

 

[vdubpower]

See told u not to drive cross country

Jk. Hopefully everything thing will get sorted. I've been trying to figure out why my sec is 100c at all times

I can drive for one mile in cool weather and it goes to 100.

Ac on ac off it doesn't matter.

I can't get my auxillery fan to work either... But my understanding is that is supposed to go on at 100c bit only with ac on.

Regardless I dunno why it even gets to 100. I have new thermostat and cooling system has been serviced.

In regards to thermostats there is a 75c thermostat and another version right..? Which is that? And what are part numbers.

I need to check my radiator age too

Will follow this. Good luck

 

[1783pictures]

Guys, if I had driven it cross-country I would have had the car gone through again before I got out there. Not important right now.

To answer a question, the upper radiator hose was very hot. Really hot.

When you guys say "auxiliary fan" you do mean the fan behind and attached to the radiator in in front of? Please clarify for me. I wan't to be sure which fan you refer to. The one in front does not seem to turn. Behind, yes it turns.

How does the overflow tank cap look?

What am I looking for?

So after nearly an hour I started her up and drove with the heat on full blast. Temp hit about 81. Turned the heat off and after maybe ten minutes I was at my place and it was maybe just at 83. Driveway is an incline and I let it sit nose up, running, heat on full blast for maybe ten minutes. Rain was moving in so I shut her off and put her in the garage. The rain is now clearing and so I will go out and drive a bit.

I called the really good independent mechanic who is about 50 minutes from me and he said he won't look at any 126's as of a few months ago. Same with 140's, 123's and pretty much anything pre 2000! "Too damned hard to get genuine German parts and no one wants to actually pay me to repair anything." Ouch. I had no idea he'd made that decision. That means the nearest reputable guy is 2.5 hours away in Raleigh! There is a so called European mechanic in my town, but he has as many bad reviews as good. He charges $100 to look at a car and assess. I am not exactly thrilled at the prospect of turning my SEC over to him. Pierre Hedary he is not, lol!!

I'll post back here shortly.

P.S. The guy I bought the Penta wheels from said my car's A.C. was really cold. And it was last night when the car arrived. But today, not at all. It was cold when it first went on, got less cold, then got hot hot hot and then kind of cool. That entire AC system was redone a number of years ago. The records are in the pile.

 

[Fonzi]

Time to invest in tools, and really enjoy your simple gen1 old classic.

The oil pressure gauge is my greatest concern for you. Blips in temp will occur with air pockets and bad sensors. Thermostat is my guess since you say the motor was so hot.

 

[1783pictures]

Fonzi, I will go and take a real quick video turning the car on so you can see the needles.

 

[ianrandom]

The oil pressure displayed is ok, especially for a very warm motor. As long as it rises as soon as throttle applied.

 

[bondavi]

Do you have a record of the brand/grade oil used on the last oil change? Usually when non-spec or generic oil is used the pressure reading will read low. Had the same thing happen to a Volvo, changing it to Castrol the recommended spec, brought the pressure up at idle.

 

[TexFinn]

The oil pressure displayed is ok, especially for a very warm motor. As long as it rises as soon as throttle applied.

Agreed. IIRC, even the owner's manual says that warm/hot idle pressure can be around 0.5, or something like that.

 

[1783pictures]

I made a video of the car starting so you can see the oil pressure.

To be clear, aux fan is the fan in front of the radiator at the nose of the car and radiator fan is the larger fan behind correct? I want to be sure i know which fans you guys are asking about. That front fan does not go on.

 

[TexFinn]

To be clear, aux fan is the fan in front of the radiator at the nose of the car and radiator fan is the larger fan behind correct? I want to be sure i know which fans you guys are asking about. That front fan does not go on.

That is correct. If the AC is on, that fan should be on.

 

[Dikdaan]

I vote for air bubble in coolant circuit too. Very common. Burp the radiator then check coolant level.

 

[bondavi]

That doesn't look like a normal 5.0 M117 fan. Looks like a early M117 fan

5.0 fan

450 fan

 

[John350]

With the engine off, spin the engine driven fan. If it coasts more than about half a turn the fan clutch is bad. When the engine gets too hot you should hear the fan roar if the clutch is working. It's unmistakable.

If it starts to run hot again, first thing to do is shut off the AC and turn on the heat. If you shut it off there's no way for the engine to cool itself. Only do that as a last resort.