Hi, got the wife a cinq sporting for her first car. It's an R reg and its done 56k. The car pulls well and drives superbly but when its sat at idle it runs around 1000rpm and the exsauhst makes a continual popping sound,is ths normal?

Also if left for a while (about 30mins) the car's temp guage will reach the max, but when you drive it along it will stay below 90, will this be thr thermostat?

any help would be great

cheers

could be the head gasket, is the engine losing water? feel the rad for any cold spots (blocked rad) does the electric fan work? should do,as it would stop the temp gauge climbing,

its not lost any yet, good shout on the rad though, will check in the morning

let me know what you find,

will do bud, any ideas on the idle?

Idle should be about 800rpm. Check first that the throttle cable has plenty of slack in it.

I think it could be too fast. 800 about normal,the accelerater (idle) stop screw could have been screwed in to speed it up, to hide something. see how you go in the morning

You need to rectify the cooling issue very promptly.

One way a head gasket can go is between two cylinders. This will not cause any loss or pressurisation of fluids.

With the engine idling, remove and refit each plug lead in turn.

Find out which leads make no difference and report back.

Cheers

SPD

Hi all, sorry for the delay in reply, work has been hectick! i have pinned the cooling problem down to the cooling fan not kicking in. Is this controlled by the thermostat? going to check the fuses tomorrow but other than that i'm a bit stuck. (bit of a novice on car electronics) Idleing seems to have calmed down now and popping has gone, think the car just needed using.

Plenty here about the fan.

First, check the fuse. It's a maxi fuse behind the battery, IIRC.

Next, try bridging the switch contacts (on the rad, right hand side as you face the engine) with something. If the fan goes, try bridging with a paper clip. If the clip glows red, the fan is drawing too much current and needs replacing (visit the scrappy).

If the fan doesn't work, disconnect the connector to the fan itself, and put 12v (+ and -) to the fan directly.

If the fan works, put a meter to each of the contacts in turn (the other probe to earth). One should show 12v, the other nothing. If you don't get 12v, the live side is faulty.

If the fan works and you get 12v, the fault must be on the -ive side. This will almost certainly be nothing more than a bad earth, so, attatch a supplementary earth to the earth terminal on the offside wing, use the other end to probe the contacts on the radiator switch contacts in turn. One should cause the fan to run: you want to connect the wire to the other one (rather, to the wire going to it).

Thanks for that post fingers. I replaced my partner's fan a couple of hundred miles ago. Last week she texted to say the fan wasn't kicking in and the temp was getting high.

Although the fan was 2ndhand I couldn't imagine a 2nd on had failed (the 1st lost an argumnt with a bollard). Then I rembered I've since changed the antifreeze which made
me suspicious that I'd caused the problem. I didn't test anything, but sprayed some contact cleaner on the fan connecter and plugged it in a few times, then I did similar on the rad switch. Fan works happily again!

When bridging something like the radiator switch plug, what would one use - a paperclip or something like that? If I wanted to run 12v to the fan, can one get alligator test cables?

Marc

Rallycinq uses a paperclip -- he is de man! -- but don't hold it in your fingers! I cheat when putting 12v to the fan -- I use a connector chopped out of an old harness.............

I use a paperclip because it will also show up an increased draw on the system by glowing red.

If the bearings in the fan are on their way out, the fan will still turn, but not fast enough to cool.

This is shown as a greater electrical requirement, hence the clip glowing or smoking.

Cheers

SPD

Two common faults with rad fans.
1) Brushes not sliding in their guide from corrosion/dirt. (serviceable with light oil and tooth pick to keep moving the brush).
2) Brushes jammed from melted plastic guide due to overheating. (scrap).

Bit of an update for you lads, after 550 miles the idleing issue has sorted itself out, I do know that the car had been stood for quite a while before we purchased it. Rad fan is still an issue that needs sorting, was just wandering if you needed to take the headlight out to access the plug to give it a clean?

No, you can get to the connector to the fan itself either from underneath or by removing the offside wheel arch liner. The rad switch you can probably just about get at from the top, but it helps alot to take the front bumper off.