temp gauge rising

[markta]

hi all, wondered if anyone knows or who has this problem too.
i,ve done 3 trips to solihull & back this week(approx 150 mile there & back) & used the fronty 2.3d as my van was being repaired,now all is fine on main roads ie driving around 55mph,but when i get on motorways at 60 - 70 mph the temp gauge starts to rise to 3/4s,so i have to slow down to around 55 mph for the temp gauge to go back down to half way,it only does this on motorways & hills,doesnt make sense,i have spots on the front bull bar but i wouldnt say there are over sized & it doesnt really use alot of water
temp gauge has never gone into the red,but rise's abit fast for my liking

[The Engineer]

It is poss the viscos fan not working chekk when the engine is hot it should be stiff to turn it will spin easy when cold

[markta]

i will check that tommorrow engineer thankyou....never thought of the fan

[alex]

Have a look at the rad too, if its bocked it may be able to shift a certain amount of heat at low load and get overwhelem at higher demands.

[Trugga]

Are you getting warm/hot air through the heaters ? if not, the thermostat could be stuck closed.

If the fan appears to work, the next step might be to drain, flush and refill the cooling system.

Lawrence

[markta]

fan comes on with the engine & works fine when engines warm,it will sit in traffic allday & not move up on the temp gauge(only when driven a tad harder than usual),so it looks like ill have to flush out the rad etc as trugga & alex said,i do have warm air not hot though heater(i have flushed out matrix & reversed pipes etc never made any difference only luke warm heater) & i changed the thermostat when i flushed out the matrix a few months ago.
whats the best way to flush out the radiator without damaging it,drain water & put hose pipe though it
thanks for your help,ill have to sort it this week coz i dont want the head going on it

[alex]

My 2.8 was like that for ages, takes some bleeding and bet you havent done it right. run it without the res cap on (not on raod), keep massaging the pipes. On a 2.8 its worth removing the rad/stat pipe off and the rad end and holding vertical, fill with water, then quick as pos connect without losing loads of water.

[markta]

hi alex ,no i ran it for around 20-25 minutes with the res cap off,always done that on any car from a lad,i must say though thinking about it it was like this (rising temp gauge) from when i brought it(before i flushed the matrix )its just i dont use it on the motorways much so i dont notice it as i very rarely drive over 55mph