ok drove about 700ks today and at about the 500k mark noticed the temperature was just over half. Normally sits a fair bit below half when drive on the hwy.

Took it easy and kept an eye on it closely after that an it didn't get any hotter.

Coolant level is fine. Sugestions to wat I should do?
I'm 700ks from home, have got a spare raiator at home but that's not much help to me for the moment.

Im a bit worried about driving it home. Cheers.

are the thermo fans turning on

Thermo fans - good call!

If you have air-con, turn that on and see if the fans operate..... if fans not working right with air-con off, but fans run when air-con switched-on - then we can suspect fans thermo-switch. Just keep air-con on for return trip home, this would keep fans running and keep your beast cool.

If fans not running with air-con either off or on.... check Fuses for fans. If fuses OK, try to make some jumper wires to battery, disconnect fans loom connector and try to run fans straight off battery (for purpose of testing ONLY). This will let you work out whether electrics are stuffed somewhere or fan motors are stuffed.

Just check collant level again, squeeze radiator hoses to make sure that there are no air locks in them (would cause bubbles in radiator as you squeeze hoses - rad cap off, of course, car cool. Check that heater gets hot, to eliminate possiblility of airlock in there.

Thermostat, start car cool with rad cap off, observe radiator as car warms up - if radiator stays cool with no circulation for a while - then radiator warms as coolant begins to flow..... then we know that thermostat is working at least partially. If radiator circulates coolant all the time, thermostat may be stuck open or part open (if it was stuck all open it shouldn't have made car hot at all. If stuck partly open, it limits circulation to rad when car is hot, so limits cooling capacity).

Best wishes.

thank you very much :D it was the fan relay. I'll pick one up tomorro.

I greatly apreciate your help guys

Thermo fans - good call!

If you have air-con, turn that on and see if the fans operate..... if fans not working right with air-con off, but fans run when air-con switched-on - then we can suspect fans thermo-switch. Just keep air-con on for return trip home, this would keep fans running and keep your beast cool.

If fans not running with air-con either off or on.... check Fuses for fans. If fuses OK, try to make some jumper wires to battery, disconnect fans loom connector and try to run fans straight off battery (for purpose of testing ONLY). This will let you work out whether electrics are stuffed somewhere or fan motors are stuffed.

Just check collant level again, squeeze radiator hoses to make sure that there are no air locks in them (would cause bubbles in radiator as you squeeze hoses - rad cap off, of course, car cool. Check that heater gets hot, to eliminate possiblility of airlock in there.

Thermostat, start car cool with rad cap off, observe radiator as car warms up - if radiator stays cool with no circulation for a while - then radiator warms as coolant begins to flow..... then we know that thermostat is working at least partially. If radiator circulates coolant all the time, thermostat may be stuck open or part open (if it was stuck all open it shouldn't have made car hot at all. If stuck partly open, it limits circulation to rad when car is hot, so limits cooling capacity).

Best wishes.

That was an AWESOME post mate.
sorry this isn't on the topic, but respect to you :)

@Blazin' - Thanks mate .... just wish I'd thought to mention the Relays as well as fuses, eh?

Glad its all sorted - nothing worse than having trouble when a long way from home, and frustrating when your tools (maybe) and stock of spares are not at-hand.

Safe trip back home to OP.

it was an awesome post and probably the most helpful post if had on amc. I didn't even think to check the fans. And it didn't matter that you forgot to mention the relay because you set me in the right direction. Thanks again.

Aw gee shucks... I think I need to send props to 1986SE, cos his post set me thinking the right direction, and then I just got into 'trouble-shoot" mode. AND ... There are many many posts in these Forums that are better-informed than I, guys with years of motor-trade experience whereas I am just a driver (albeit, with fairly "hands-on" father and brother on family farm).

I read lots of posts here, tend to do the "Todays Posts" and "New Posts" shortcuts.... and I learn lots of good ideas for maintenance, mods, and reference info. There are guys whose opinion I have come to respect greatly - just readiung here you get a feel for a member's interests, knowledge and helpfulness.

I also but a Haynes or Gregory's Workshop Manual for ANY car I buy, and I have downloaded the Mitsubishi Workshop Manuals from these Forums.

Getting into a bit of logical thinking about any problem is the real help: What is most likely and simplest to check? Do that first. What does result of any check imply? (Eg: what made a fuse blow?) If not what we just checked, what else could it be? That kind of thinking. Sometimes the manuals (either after-market or factory) have a trouble-shooting work-flow, where most-likely and simple checks are presented first.

Even if you never plan to do much work yourself, reading the basics and maybe some specifics for your car is a good practice - at the very least you'll be partly-informed, and possibly less likely to be misinformed or led-astray by folks working on your car. (You'll smell the bull-poo if it is being directed at you, hopefully).

Thanks mate

ok well iv replaced the relay and now the fan is working, but the car is still getting hot.

The fans come on for about 30secs then go off again in about 2 minute intervals. Does this sound about right?

Heater is working fine.

I am going to do some trouble shooting once the car has cooled.

Thermostat maybe?

check that the thermostat is fully opening

how do I do that?

here you go

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/24/awedwdwfwe.jpg (http://img3.imageshack.us/my.php?image=awedwdwfwe.jpg)

I'm thinking I may as well just replace the thermostat. Do I need a torque wrench? I don't have one of these.
If any1 isn't doing much tomorro and would like to lend a hand send me a pm.

Edit: how much coolant will I need?

replaced the thermostat today. now the car is back to her oldself :) thanks guys

good to here

Good to hear as well!

Fans at speeds over about 50 make no difference as the airflow will take care of the cooling

Thremostat is usually the first port of call

awesome, now we're set for our cruise/photos on Sunday then! better get mine good :happy: