Engine bay

[jon202]

Has anyone got pictures of thrre engine bay with a 2.8 v6 fitted.
The cabrio I've just bought suffers with overheating and it has the smallest expansion tank I've ever seen the size of a babys bottle. I'm sure such a big engine would need at least a 2lt expansion tank but where would you fit it.
The engine has been rebuilt by previous owner it has electric fan on a switch.
The previous owner said you must turn the fan on at the first time of traffic build up and you must check the water very regularly.
So to me this says it needs maybe a fan re fitted the the pulley side and a larger expansion tank received_968187467020916.jpeg20201026_192741.jpg

[Ye Ol Ripper]

Re: Engine bay

Hi Jon
Welcome along to the club.

I have a Roadster so my advice is biased towards my experience of that car which is famous for overheating Problems. Nevertheless, I would approach tackling the problem and include the following:

The Heater valve to the matrix needs to be kept open at all times to help dissipate the heat from the engine.

In a Roadsters case the electric fan will be required within a few minutes after getting caught in traffic as well.

Drain down your coolant into a large diameter bucket (empty large emulsion tubs work well for this).

This makes it a lot easier to catch most of it and then allow to settle for 1/2hr.

If brown rust coloured stuff settles at the bottom , then proceed to flush the coolant system approximately 8 times. That will probably the required amount so that your settled bucket now shows clear water.
The flushing is required to the heater matrix also , ideally in both directions unless you can establish as it warms up which hose going to /from it gets hot first . In that case reverse flush it.

On the last flush use some dish washer cleaner eg from Aldi 1 of the 2 blue bottles in the pack.

That will remove further corrosion from the block that normal flushing wont shift.


There is no harm either checking the thermostat temperature opening stamped on it eg 82 deg c and selecting a thermostat that opens earlier eg 74-76 deg , that will help a little especially whilst you are on the move.

Check your Radiator caps seal and its pressure rating and then research if the Taunus Block can be safely run at a slightly higher pressure rating . If so that will help bring the temperature down.

Then refill your coolant with the correct antifreeze concentration.

I would expect you to always need to have the electric fan kick in a few minutes after stopping in traffic however the above should improve matters significantly whilst the car is moving from 30 mph upwards.

I also recall that the ignition timing had to be retarded by approx 4 degrees on the Taunus 2.8 V6 because of the introduction of unleaded petrol with its lower octane rating . So check that your ignition timing isn't currently too far advanced and listen out for Pinking.

[dogoncrazy]

Re: Engine bay

Hi Jon
I have a Cabrio which I purchased a few months ago with the 3 litre essex V6 installed . It came with a custom alloy rad /electric fan and what I believe is the expansion tank from a Rover Metro so nothing fancy. I have not experienced any problems whatsoever with cooling, and its all controlled by thermo switch ,no manual over ride. Will take a few photos and post on here hopefully

[dogoncrazy]

Re: Engine bay

I notice that the V6 has only two exhaust pipes per side! Didn't realize that some of the Cologne V6 engines had siamesed ports. You learn something new every day!

[dogoncrazy]

Re: Engine bay

V6 essex photos attached

[getafix]

Re: Engine bay

Is your baby’s bottle definitely an expansion tank and not an overflow tank? How does it function if you remove the cap from the tank and keep the cap on the radiator?

[dogoncrazy]

Re: Engine bay

Hi Jon
Looking again at your photos - have you got pressure caps on both the rad and the expansion. My understanding is the radiator cap should be of the plain type and the pressure cap on the expansion bottle only. That's how mine is set up.

[stevejgreen]

Re: Engine bay

I notice that the V6 has only two exhaust pipes per side! Didn't realize that some of the Cologne V6 engines had siamesed ports. You learn something new every day!

I thought that!

[b_caswell]

Re: Engine bay

I notice that the V6 has only two exhaust pipes per side! Didn't realize that some of the Cologne V6 engines had siamesed ports. You learn something new every day!

Second set of pictures had me scratching my head then realised different engine

[Ye Ol Ripper]

Re: Engine bay

The other engine is the earlier Essex engine commonly in 3.0 variant, although they were also produced as 2.5 ,3.1 & 3.4 Capacities. The Distributor was fitted at the front on the Essex engines. The weak point on those engines was the plastic teeth on the camshaft sprocket would strip its teeth. There were uprated steel gears available for that engine.
The Cologne V6 had Siamese ports up to 2.8 l variants , with the improved 2.9 reverting back to 3 exhaust ports per side.

[dogoncrazy]

Re: Engine bay

This ones got the steel gears, sounds like a supercharger !

[jon202]

Re: Engine bay

Thank you all I have a few things to go on now and hopefully change a few things I will put a bigger expansion tank on and check the thermostat maybe replace.
I was also told by previous owner that the fuel tank sender unit the arm needs shortening as the fuel guage reads wrong 1/4 of tank on guage means empty