Quote:
Originally Posted by Othen
The Royal Barge does seem to warm up a bit slowly. I’ve just driven the short way in to the Wetherspoons for breakfast (about 2 miles) and it still needed the fast idle at the end, the temperature gauge had not budged.
.
|
It should warm up much faster than that. I judge mine by the landmarks I pass on the route into the nearest village.
1/2 mile, gauge registering about a quarter.
2 miles, gauge registering half. In the next few hundred yards it then rises a further 1/8, but drops rapidly back to half as the thermostat opens.
The gauge is very sensitive - it dips briefly when I slide the heater control ON as a new slug of cold water circulates, but by 2 miles the gauge registers a rock steady half and the heater will blow hot air.
I've had all the fan options on 240s over the years - fixed fan, viscous coupling, and electric, and concluded the viscous coupling works the best.
The whooshing noise you either love or hate - I used to hate it but have come to like it as part of that authentic 240 sound. Mine works extremely effectively, and together with a clean radiator, good thermostat, and 2-yearly flush and coolant change the temperature stays solidly on the half-way mark regardless of air temperature.
An electric fan is not maintenance-free, as you need to be constantly aware that it is still working. After a scare once when the temperature climbed alarmingly because a wire had corroded at the motor, and another because leaves had stopped the fan, I removed it and refitted the viscous coupling.
Part of this arises because an electric fan cuts in so rarely, but when it does you really need it to work.