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Hi Guys,
We have had an unusual run of hot weather here in the U.K. and I have been a bit cautious when taking the old girl out after my spell of overheating, but she has performed very well and has not reached any critical temperatures thus far, so there has indeed been an improvement.
Last sunday it must have been in the 80's and becoming rather warm in the cab even with all the vents open and my wife complained that her feet were boiling. On checking I found the heater was throwing out tons of heat and I decided to shut off the valve on the rear of the cylinder head. This promptly stopped the heat in the cab but I noticed that the temperature gauge had also stopped working. On turning the valve on again the gauge started to function once more. But of course the heat was back.
The question is :- Is the valve the feed to the gauge or is this suggesting a blockage in the waterways in the head at the take off point for the water temp. gauge?
I am assuming that there are waterways in the head not being that familiar with this type of engine. If so any easy fix cures please.
Thanks in anticipation
Terry

Sounds like your valve location preceeds the capillary bulb on the temp gauge so it no longer is in the water circulation path when you close it. A picture or two of the locations of the valve and capillary bulb would be helpful to comment further.

Hi Dave,
I've got the pics but I have totally forgotten how to post them onto the site but I will give it a try

I await your pictures, but the capillary bulb of the temp gauge should be within the coolant flow in the cylinder head. Anything other than that gives rise to the possibility of false readings.

Why not move your valve to the other end of the water flow which I assume is at the cast iron hose adapter up front by the oil cooler?

No pictures from my end, my 34 has the Kelch hot air heater.

Hi Dave,
Thanks for the reply. I thought I had sent the pics but obviously I made a big snafu of it.
How do I get the pics onto the site? I have done it before but for the life of me I can't remember how.
Terry

Terry,

This FAQ, Photo Posting Guide Lines, may help.

Thanks Mal. Much appreciated.
Terry

Posting one of two pictures for Terry, and as suspected it shows that once the valve is closed the capillary bulb is no longer adequately exposed to coolant flow but just sits in a kind of backwater. Answer is to remove the valve assembly and relocate it the forward end of the other hose, and insert the temperature gauge capillary bulb directly into the cylinder head where it will experience the direct flow of coolant in the head.

The pictures you send me by email were too large to post, I reduced the one to 10 x 6 @150 pixels/inch which is a reasonable size for web posting.

Attach file:

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Hi Dave,
Thanks for the e-mail reply and posting the picture onto the website.
I took the valve off this morning and it is actually in two halves. The top section comprises the heater shut off valve and the bottom the flow from the cylinder head to temperature bulb. The problem was that the hole feeding the bulb was full of crud and therefore was not allowing the bulb to heat up at that point but was getting a supply of water from the heater valve supply.
After a good clean out and re-assmble back on the engine everything was functioning as it should be and totally different readings from the gauge with the heater valve shut off. It now reads much cooler and not so much fluctuation on the gauge.
Once again thanks for the help.
Terry

Glad you found and solved the problem, and that it was that simple. As I think you can see from the configuration, the capillary bulb is in a bit of a dead-end of the flow, great place for crud to accumulate.