The 'E' Type Forum

Hi I am a new member having recently bought a Series 3 V12. It is a great car and I have re-bushed, re-raked and new exhaust on it. It drives like a dream, but if I get in a queue of traffic it overheats and looses oil pressure. I have checked the fans, which are working.

Has anyone else had this problem? If so how did they overcome it or has anyone any pearls of wisdom they can offer?

Hi Andrew and welcome.
The V12 radiator is prone to silt up, especially if the car has been infrequently used, laid up for a while or the antifreeze levels haven?t been maintained.

I would first try to flush it out using a good flushing agent (you?ll need quite a lot!) and see if that makes a difference. Replace the thermostats at the same time. If no difference, then it?s off to the radiator shop to get the radiator re-cored.

If that doesn?t work then it starts to get expensive. If the radiator has silted up, there is also a chance that the liners have done likewise. If a flushing agent doesn?t sort that out, then the only option is to get the liners out, and that operation requires a major engine strip and re-build. It rarely comes to that, and I would spend a lot of time flushing, reverse flushing and using flushing agent multiple times first.

Good luck, and let us know how you get on.

Andrew
Although the fans are working are you sure they are both rotating in the correct direction i.e. pulling air through the rad. from the front of the car?
Are the rubber strips fitted over the slots in the fan shroud and the horizontal ones the right way up so that they are sucked shut when the fans run?
Is the shroud fitted over the top of the rad?

Pete

Thanks Mark,
I will certainly start there and let you know how I get on. It has only done minimal mileage over the past 10 years so silt up is a likely problem.

Hi Pete,
Thanks for the reply. I have checked the fan rotation which is correct but not the flaps. Will look at them tomorrow