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In line thermostat

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2018 8:30 am
by ranald
Hello, I’m back to thinking about fitting a thermostat into the cooling system of my Lanchester 15/18. Does anyone know where i can buy a housing / thermostat suitable for fitting if i were to cut a section out from the top hose?
This looks like the sort of thing but unfortunately is not a UK seller:
https://www.meziere.com/Products/Coolin ... -Hose.aspx
Thanks for reading

Re: In line thermostat

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2018 12:07 pm
by A.N.Other
I think Burton do them for fords but can be used on anything. Kenlow and other electric fan suppliers also do kits with all the bits included.

Re: In line thermostat

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2018 12:28 pm
by Vortex O'Plinth
The Meziere fitting is available (quite expensively) from Amazon UK and from H-Tune, also in the UK.

There's a much cheaper Land Rover option available here, although it looks as if the actual 'stat is sealed in.

Re: In line thermostat

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2018 6:34 pm
by ranald
Thanks both for your input. I've looked further and come up with another one.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/323322014598 ... Track=true

Seems a reasonable price and is manufactured in the UK. They give a 74 and 88 degree c choice. 74 degrees would seem to be a sensible setting.

Re: In line thermostat

Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2018 2:11 pm
by ranald
Maybe this is a daft question. If i was to fit a thermostat in the top hose and had to drain the system, how would i refill as of course the thermostat would be closed. i know water would enter through the bottom hose but the top hose wouldn’t be allowing water through or air out.

Re: In line thermostat

Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2018 3:06 pm
by John-B
Run the engine with the coolant cap off and listen to the gurgling! There may be trapped air in the heater circuit so loosen a pipe there until coolant comes out. Generally, there's no need to do anything as running the engine clears air and coolant as it comes up through the radiator. Check the coolant level after the first few runs as air is got rid of because, as you say, some air will be trapped behind the thermostat but this will get cleared when the thermostat opens..

Some people recommend parking the car on a hill or on stands with the front up the hill so that the expansion tank is higher than the pipes at the back of the engine and air goes forward to the tank, but I've never needed to do that.

Re: In line thermostat

Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2018 3:13 pm
by Vortex O'Plinth
Fit a thermostat with an air bleed hole - or 'jiggle valve' as Ford calls it. This allows any air trapped in the engine cooling system to bleed through to the rad. If a bleed hole type is not available you can easily drill a small hole in the 'stat yourself.

Re: In line thermostat

Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2018 4:05 pm
by ranald
Ah, I see. Thanks.
John, No need to worry about air trapped in a heater circuit as the 15/18 doesn't have such luxuries! I was out yesterday and resorted to a blanket and gloves. All the best, Ranald

Re: In line thermostat

Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 3:09 pm
by ranald
I thought i'd give an update. Not a good result i'm afraid! I bought a universal aluminium thermostat housing and 74 degree thermostat. A local firm welded it into an aluminium pipe for me to fit between the water pump housing and radiator. It also incorporates an outlet which I connected with a rubber hose (smaller diameter) to the water pipe at the bottom of the engine. The idea being that when the thermostat is closed, water can still move around the engine. Well!! I tested it this morning. OK at first but then all of a sudden, water came gushing through the overflow pipe from the top of the radiator. I think it lost about 3 or 4 litres out of a total 13 litres in the system. I'm wondering if rather than circulating in the block, water was being pumped back into the radiator from the bottom. Either that or when the thermostat opened, water was pushed into the top of the radiator faster than it could pass through it. Whatever, I think i'll have to scrap the idea and revert to a system without a thermostat!

I'd be interested to hear any thoughts on the possible cause.

Re: In line thermostat

Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 9:34 pm
by bop
Hi Ranald,
Not sure if your system is the same as my Daimler 15. But on my "to do" list is removing the guts from the thermostat housing (arrow) and machining a pocket to accept a regular thermostat
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The theory behind your system sounds fine and I would have assumed it would have worked nicely!!
One thought I had was if your thermostat (sealed shut) didn't allow any heated water to the radiator until it reached operating temperature. Maybe when it opened (I assume the volume of flow would increase) this hot water hit the cold water and didn't have time to establish a flow through radiator before the radiator over flowed.

Bob