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RADIATOR STUFF ; LINK

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ANTIFREEZE

Approx protection ratio ;

33% Mix protects down to -20C

40% Mix protects down to -25C

50% Mix protects down to -36C

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By the way you will get better summer cooling if you do not use a 50/50 mix in the summer .

Reduce it to 25% antifreeze to 75% water { Distilled water if you live in a limey area }

More info click HERE

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WATER HOSE ;

ROBIN / RIALTO / KITTEN is 12.7 mm { 1/2 inch } INSIDE BORE

SUPPLIER .............. PART NUMBER ....... SIZE

QUINTON HAZELL ....... HP477 ....................... 12.7 mm

The hoses are preformed on the later ROBIN / RIALTO with the big heater box and the hose inside bore is bigger at 16mm { 5/8 } .

The heater ON / OFF valve is a different type and is situated inline in the hose .

If you decide to remove the inline heater ON / OFF control you will require a Reducer

WATER HOSE ; REDUCER

16mm-12mm Straight Barbed Plastic Hose Reducer Connector Fitting Joiner -1 Piece

Available from many suppliers including ;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/16mm-12mm-STRAIGHT-BARBED-PLASTIC-HOSE-REDUCER-CONNECTOR-FITTING-JOINER-1-Piece-/380377189268

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AIR LOCK REMOVAL / HEATER WARM AIR

You need to find whether it is an 82 degree or an 88 degree thermostat fitted and if it is working ok or even if a thermostat is fitted .

But before you remove the thermostat housing it would be better to get a couple of thermostat housing gaskets first .

Check that the thermostat is opening at the correct temperature by inserting it into a suitable pot etc and fully covering it with water . Heat the water till the thermostat opens , checking as you heat the water up , using a cooks thermometer , or an infrared thermometer , or any other suitable temperature detector .

When refitting take great care not to catch the edge of the thermostat housing on the side of the rocker cover .

Tighten the bolts down fully finger tight before tightening but do not over tighten .

Query

The core plug has been fitted and the cooling system has been filled, but the pipe going into the heater matrix is warm but the one coming from the heater tap is not very warm and no heat appears from the vents at the screen.

Assuming that the heater matrix and the engine waterways are clean and both in good working order then the following procedure might help prevent / clear an air lock.

This method is better with two people but can be done by one person . {The second person is only there to give you the finger on your matrix end }

Cover the coil area with a poly bag to protect from spillage

With all hoses on as per normal .

Remove radiator cap .

Fill through radiator till full.

Replace radiator cap.

Disconnect hose from heater matrix to water pump only at matrix end

Leave heater matrix end without hose on it .

Now start to fill slowly through the heater hose

Continue to fill SLOWLY through hose end until water pours CONTINUALLY from heater matrix { first water will be followed by air then water }

You can use a cloth to soak up water as it comes out .

When water continuous from heater shove a finger over the open pipe end at matrix and fill hose to the top .

Reconnect hose smartly to heater

TIGHTEN ALL HOSE CONNECTIONS

Start engine .

Warm up slowly to full temp

BEWARE THE ROTATING FAN BLADE then

Check the temperature of the hoses where they go into the heater matrix and if cooler than the hose part further down then do the following.

When warm , squeeze the hose near the top { heater to the water pump } flat with your hands for a few seconds to cut off the flow from the heater to the water pump then release very quickly .

Do this two or three times and this should hopefully get rid of the air lock .

The unwanted air will go into the radiator .

When working OK you will feel the water pulsating through the hose and a noticeable difference in the temperature

I peronally think this is how Reliant engines should be filled every first fill { unless you are lucky }

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Thanks to Reliant World Forum Member "wheaters " for the bringing the following Link to my attention ; The valve shown below is 16mm .

Caterham-Westfield-kit-car-Bleed-Tee-Coolant-valve

The fitting shown below is available at April 2013 from the link above

and the sellers info is ;

E-bay name ; gooea

Andrew Goodliffe

Woodstock

Boyndon road

Maidenhead

Berkshire

SL64EU

United Kingdom

Phone : 07976 281704

WATER HOSES ; LAYOUT ;

The water hose layout for the earlier ROBIN / RIALTO with the SU carb and the heated water jacket which has both outlets pointing forward is as follows on the chronic drawing I made a wee while ago

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And For later models with the carb heater which has one outlet pointing forward and one pointing rearwards the Excellent diagram which was Originally posted by Johno is a must

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The following is the ROBIN / RIALTO modified hose set-up

used by R3W forum member mark13-2001

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KITTEN / FOX WATER HOSE LAYOUT

with the SU carb and the heated water jacket which has both outlets pointing forward is as follows on the chronic drawing I made a wee while ago .

WATER HOSES ; How to bypass a burst heater hose on a later Mk2 / Mk3 Robin

I have a 1997 Robin with the water hose pipe layout of one pipe on the heated carb manifold goes to the front and the other to the rear.

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Yesterday while out for a wee jaunt around the Trossachs one of the hoses from the water pump to the heater burst open in the middle .

It had been rubbing on the edge of the air filter housing and over a period of time had worn through

I normally always carry an emergency length of hose and a hose bandage but I had taken them out to do some work in the boot and forgot to put them back in

The cure was simple ; It required a BYPASS operation .

Wait till engine cools .

Completely remove the hose from the heater to the side of the thermostat housing .

Completely remove the hose from the heater to the water pump { complete with inline ON/OFF heater control }

Cut the offending hose at the split .

Attach length of hose to water pump end and secure with jubilee clip

Measure up the other end of the hose to fit over the hose connection on the side of the thermostat housing .

Cut to size and secure with jubilee clip.

You now have the Bypass setup on the earlier Reliant .

Refill Radiator and recheck and refill after a few miles .

Beware getting scalded while removing the radiator cap

Better to wait again till it cools down

Remember not to put COLD water into a HOT engine .

Off course you do not have a heater but you can fix that when you get home .

Crappy drawing to illustrate

New hoses now fitted { minus that stupid heater ON/OFF contraption which in over 40 years of Reliant ownership I have NEVER switched to the OFF position as I believe you need to let the water circulate and if it gets too hot OPEN the window further }

Spares back in boot

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CARB ; PICTURE of Carb Heated Water Manifold which was Fitted To Later Robins

RADIATOR ; Back flushing Radiator and heater box on Robin / Rialto

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WATER ; HEATER CONTROL VALVE ;

ON / OFF INLINE CONTROL VALVE ON LATER Mk2 & Mk3 MODELS

WATER ; TEMPERATURE SENDER UNIT Details

WATER ; THERMOSTAT ; Thermostat Alternatives

WATER ; WATERPUMP ; RECONDITION ; Link to recondition service

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WATER PUMP ; HOW TO IDENTIFY A WORN PUMP

If there is no visible sign of the water pump leaking externally and if you are suffering overheating

then perhaps the water pump is worn and not working at maximum efficiency ?

When you have removed the water pump it might appear to have nothing wrong with it .

All the vanes will be intact , it will be spinning freely and have no noise when it is spun .

However that is not the check for efficiency .

Although the blades might all be intact the critical check is the gap between the end of each blade

and the approx 45 degree machined part of the water pump body that the blades rotate around .

There should be no big gap .

As the gap increases the efficiency of the pump diminishes .

Try feeler gauges in the gap and I suspect you might { If worn }

have to use a lot because you will be able to see a gap up to 2 - 3 mm .

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/lh/pho...eat=directlink

Imaginary experiment follows ;

If you can imagine a tin can as the water pump filled with water and a pencil standing upright in the middle .

Imagine rotating the pencil and not much will happen to cause the water to flow around the can sides .

Now , with your ever increasing imagination , think of the pencil with a flat bit sticking out of one side but only going to halfway between the pencil and the can side . Now , once again , Imagine rotating the pencil .

This time the water will start to move in the direction of rotation near the centre of the can ; Not all the water , because the water which is not being touched by the blade is not being pushed around

Then , with your imagination running riot , Imagine the flat bit on the side of the pencil is right to the

side of the can with only a couple of thou gap and this time when you rotate the pencil the water has

nowhere to go except in the direction it is being pushed around .

{ I would like to report that no cans were hurt during this demo but I would be lying }

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When you get your new water pump you will immediately be able to see the difference compared to the old water pump .

You will be able to see that the vanes run VERY close to the water pump body compared to the gap on the worn water pump.

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WATERLESS COOLANT ; FOR AND AGAINST ;

FOR ;

http://www.evanscoolants.co.uk/

AGAINST ;

http://www.norosion.com/evanstest.htm

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