wrong radiator

[sibok]

Hi, a few weeks ago i had to change the radiator (saxo 16v), the spares store gave me a different radiator but they told me that on the catalogue tey only had a single model for all saxo models. The radiator has th exact measures but it looks worst than the one i had. that's not the problem, the problem is that i have usedthe car about 3 times since the radiator was installed, and i didn't apreciate nthing, sure cause i wasn't looking the car. But yesterday it started to come out lot water vapor and a bit of water from the radiator screw cap, with the cap fitted. I've checked everything and there are no leaks. But today after filling the missing antifreeze i started the car and after 10 minuts (with the car stoped) the needle got to the highest temperature and when stoping the car the fans didn't started as it used to happend after everytime i stop the car. I'm not sure at all what could be happening, it is probably that the radiator is for another model (mine is 16v), what do you think guys? Radiator wha fitted by a professional and he told me that all radiators were equal and i didn't had to worry about it.
Now i don't knwo if they gave me a radiator for another car, a non aIR CONDITIONING radiator or if there is something broken.
what do you think? thanks a lot

These is the radiator i use to have (the old one, the one that came with the car)
http://i14.ebayimg.com/01/i/000/ae/40/71a6_1.JPG

that's the new radiator
http://i12.ebayimg.com/02/i/05/bf/ag/5c_1_b.JPG
Both have the same lenght

[lavo-vts]

i think that is a vtr radiator. im sure my vts rad is wider than that.
well you defo losing water there mate. if its not the rad a fault check that all the hoses are connected good and have no holes in them

[sibok]

The are no leaks anywhere, all is well connected.How can i know if the water is flowing? And why the fans hasn't started when stoping the car? Thanks a lot, probably i will have to change the radiator

[Streetdragster]

i fitted the same Valeo radiator to my VTS last week and i have no problems with it at all.
From what you have said (overheating, loosing water, fans not kicking in) i would do the following-

Check the fan switch, on the back of the radiator, passenger side, is installed and plugged in.

Drain the coolant, and refill, bleeding the air off, as described in this (http://www.saxperience.com/forum/showthread.php?t=98877&highlight=bleeding) thread.

Start the car and as it warms up keep feeling the top radiator hose, once the temp needle starts to reach about a third the way up the gauge this pipe should get noticably warm/hot.

If this doesn't happen, replace the thermostat (Cheap), and if that doesn't solve it, replace the water pump. (Not so cheap). If it does warm up, read on....

Now i would continue to let the car warm up, until the needle reaches two thirds on the gauge, the fan should be running by this point, if it isn't, replace the fan switch. If it is running, read on.......

Now if the fan is running, and the car is still overheating, this leaves only a few possibilities-
Water pump failure
Head Gasket Failure
Restricted water ways

See how you get on

Cheers

Matt

[VTR_Nick]

yeha i tihnk it's for a lower model e.g. VTR but if your having that much trouble it's more likley a 1.1 or 1.4 radiator i would have thought.

[Streetdragster]

The rad looks like the right one for the car, a similar one was fitted to my car (Phase 1 VTS) last week with zero problems

Thanks

Matt

[sibok]

Thank you very much for all the replies, i will check the fans connector and do everything streetdraster mentioned.
I will tell tomorrow what has happened, but just one question, do the fans such cold air that when they're not working the cargets so warm? i didn't whought they had so much power to generate such cold air

[sibok]

Hi, i the 3 relays that are plugged into the fans. One of them was broken, the problem comes when plug the new one right fan start spinning and only stops when unpluggin the battery connector ( and that's not the relay fault cause i have two pairs of them). Another thing i noticed is that the left fan (with the thermostat wire unplugged) only starts when when i hit the left relay but it also tops when hiting again, i first thought it could be a wire but it's very strange that it always stops/starts at first hit,i never have to hit twice.
So i should dismantle the fans to check the wires, but it also is very strange whats happening with right fan, that is always running and left one starts/stop when i hit.
I bought the car 5 years ago, when it was 3 years old and 26.000 km so it was very new, but i think that someone's repair shop could have done a shoddy piece of work, and leave the right relay broken cause it has no cap and it is very visible that is broken, and i repaired something related to the fans a few years ago after being hitted by a car.
But anyway i don't know what's happening, first gonna check the wires to see what's happening with left fan, it only works when i hit it (and thermostat wire unplugged),then would try to see why right fan is always spining, but if someone knows what could be happening, please tell me. (i think it is something related to the fans wires or relays, cause when unplugging the thermostat wire fans doesn't start spining unless hiting left relay).

Help would be very apreciated, thanks to all :)

[maynard]

there are a few differnt types of rad for saxo and definatly not all the same, my guess is your using a smaller model rad and therefore need a bigger one. which part shop did you ring?

[Mark51]

i fitted the same Valeo radiator to my VTS last week and i have no problems with it at all.
From what you have said (overheating, loosing water, fans not kicking in) i would do the following-

Check the fan switch, on the back of the radiator, passenger side, is installed and plugged in.

Drain the coolant, and refill, bleeding the air off, as described in this (http://www.saxperience.com/forum/showthread.php?t=98877&highlight=bleeding) thread.

Start the car and as it warms up keep feeling the top radiator hose, once the temp needle starts to reach about a third the way up the gauge this pipe should get noticably warm/hot.

If this doesn't happen, replace the thermostat (Cheap), and if that doesn't solve it, replace the water pump. (Not so cheap). If it does warm up, read on....

Now i would continue to let the car warm up, until the needle reaches two thirds on the gauge, the fan should be running by this point, if it isn't, replace the fan switch. If it is running, read on.......

Now if the fan is running, and the car is still overheating, this leaves only a few possibilities-
Water pump failure
Head Gasket Failure
Restricted water ways

See how you get on

Cheers

Matt

some good advice, the only thing i would add is to re-bleed it before you start andything else and see if that helps

[sibok]

I'm from spain, but i also don't understand why with the car stopped the right fan starts spinning when connecting the battery, i don't think it has anything to do with the radiator model/size.

[sibok]

Finally it had nothing that matter to the radiator, stupid citroen guys sold me a wrong relay and also there was a bad conenction with another relay.
Thanks to all for the help :)