Thursday, May 12, 2005

I think I've sorted it out...

I bought a new radiator cap for £4.50 from a local motor factor so now there's pressure in the cooling system. I took a closer look at the old cap and I noticed "Unipart" so I think it could be the original 1982 part! I bought some antifreeze, some radiator flush and some fuel additive. I put the additive in when I filled up the petrol tank (the Acclaim's in daily use now) and when I got home I drained the radiator, filled it up with clean water, drained it again, put some more clean water, added the radiator flush and ran the car for 10 minutes as it said on the bottle. I then turned the engine off, drained the radiator, refilled with a 50/50 mixture of water and antifreeze and then I took the car for a run and it seems to be running better. It hasn't made much difference to the temperature but some Acclaims do run hot (i.e. the gague hits halfway) and the cooling fan kicks in so at least the car won't overheat. I feel I've done all I can with the cooling system. The coolant that drained out was quite clean so I don't think there was anything seriously wrong.
While I was at it I checked the rev counter cable and lo and behold the inner cable was missing! I'll have to source a replacement. I gave the engine bay a degreasing with some degreaser spray (won at the quiz at the local TSSC meeting!) and it looks a bit cleaner! When I get time I'm gonna do a proper job with it.

No comments: