Current plan is just to run it on cool for the summer and see how it goes. Would flushing the system with dishwasher powder get as deep as the heater matrix?
The inside of it, yes. But the air being blown into your cabin goes over the outside of it...
Would flushing the system with dishwasher powder get as deep as the heater matrix?
Assuming it did, what would it achieve?
Dishwasher tabs might dissolve the remaining oil in the cooling system but you need to be sure to flush out all the dishwash detergent as it's extremely caustic - hot caustic dishwash solution actually attacks and erodes alloy... guess how I know that?
And no, if oil was spilled on the outside of the heater matrix this won't clear it. The matrix is just a smaller version of the main engine radiator so there's an awful lot of surface, onto which runny hot oil can spread. Eventually the oil will get clogged up with dust and start to look like a badly maintained bicycle cassette.
Give it time, perhaps you're smelling oil evaporating off the manifold and other hot parts.
(Not a mechanic but a former Land Rover bodger)
Yes - if you spill oil in the engine bay on something hot (ie engine block, which is actually pretty easy to do) it makes the interior smell for ages because some of the air coming into the car comes via the engine on many cars. Speaking from personal experience.
Right, so the coolant flows inside the matrix, and air over the outside. So in theory, the fact I had oil in my coolant shouldn't mean an oily smell in the heating system. It's more likely a secondary contamination of the outside of the heating fins.
Have I got that right?
dantsw13 - MemberRight, so the coolant flows inside the matrix, and air over the outside. So in theory, the fact I had oil in my coolant shouldn't mean an oily smell in the heating system. It's more likely a secondary contamination of the outside of the heating fins.
Have I got that right?
Or a small leak in the matrix that's alowing the oily coolant in to the air passage. Radiators and the heater matrix(small rad) are a bugger to get all the oil out of.
If I had a leaky matrix, wouldn't I have had a coolant smell in the air before?
Yes to your first post - possibly to the second. But what does coolant smell like? Oil is pretty pungent, I'm not sure antifreeze is.
However, with only a trace of oil in the coolant, you'd have to be losing enough to notice it in order to smell it like that, I reckon.
Any oil visible in the engine bay anywhere? Black griminess? Or just open the bonnet see if it smells. When it's hot and running of course.
Posted 24 minutes ago #
dantsw13 - Member
If I had a leaky matrix, wouldn't I have had a coolant smell in the air before?
Possibly, although flushing has been known to cause previously week but not leaking area(or had leaked but sealed with the normal gunk that builds up in the cooling system) to leak.
Antifreeze smell is noticable if you know what it is, it's a kind of sweet smell
I'd say the current smell is sweet oily, exactly as you'd expect a mix of burnt oil and coolant to smell.
Dan, if you check your coolant and oil levels and they're not moving you're fine.
As you say, the coolant is inside the heater matrix ( it's just a heat exchanger), so there shouldn't be any smell even if the coolant inside is contaminated by oil.
At least this stuff hasn't got organophospahates in it.......
That is a slight worry, being in the aviation industry where the whole toxic air debate is a big issue.
If it was just contaminated air from the engine compartment, I'd expect some fumes whatever the temp setting.
If you're selecting a cool temp, then the air won't be passing through the heat exchanger.
Exactly, but someone above was suggesting it might just be contaminated air from spilt oil on the hot engine compartment. I'd ruled that out from the lack of smell on cold temps.
Worth adding a k- seal to the coolant.if there are any small leaks it will seal it.good stuff even if it doesn't fix it it won't do your coolant system any harm unlike some adatives. Pick it up in most good auto stores possibly even halfords for about a tenner.
Thanks.
molgrips - Member
I reckon it'd be harder to implement logic like that than just stick a normal meter in there.
Worked on various instrument clusters a few years ago, if they have a "gauge" now, it will be driven by a micro-controller, not a analog gauge. As such this needs SW and a transfer function to define where the pointer should be in relation to the temperature - which will most likely be received from the engine control unit via network comms on the car.
As others have mentioned the transfer functions are generally non-linear - as that gives an impression of more stable coolant temperature. What actually is implemented is a ramp up from cold followed by a large dead band around "normal" - typically from about 75degC to 110degC[1], with a further ramp when temps start to increase beyond that.
A tri-colour "lamp" could achieve the same effect - blue-warming up, green-just fine, red-getting a bit warm down the noisy end chaps. Though to be honest, I don't see why most people even need anything other than the over temp warning.
One consequence of this is that if you do have a "gauge", modern cars appear to warm up faster than older ones with a more traditional analog gauge.
[1] - Engine coolant happily runs at well over 100degC - one because it's pressurised, and two, the coolant additive increases the boiling point (as well as other benefits). Back in early/mid nineties - systems I worked on were designed to "boil" at 131degC at sea level with correct coolant mix, which equated to about 127degC at high european mountain pass altitudes.
