Hi Guys, I am looking at a 2004 Copen for my friend, which is overheating. I initially thought it was the thermostat, but after removing it and testing it I found that it was fine. One thing that does strike me as being odd though is the hose from the thermostat is going to the bottom of the radiator and the suction is connected to the top of the radiator. This does not make sense to me and in all my years of being a mechanic I have never seen a system set up like this. I tried connecting the top hose to the thermostat housing, but it just will not reach. There are a couple of things wrong with this picture.... 1. The hot water will be at the top of the radiator, so the engine will always be sucking in hot water instead of the cooler water at the bottom of the radiator. 2. If there is a leak, only a very small amount of water will need to be lost before the water pump is unable to pump water from the radiator to the engine. So I have 2 theory's. First being the mechanic shop she has been taking the car to has stuffed up and possibly damaged the top hose, cut it shorter(hence why it does not reach to where it should reach to) and then had the bright idea to swap it over. Or some brainy engineer at Daihatsu woke up one day and thought it would be cool to run the radiator in reverse!!!!! The later being most unlikely! I have looked for pictures on the web and most don't show the area of interest in much detail, so could some of you please take a look at yours and take some piccys so I can get an idea on what it is supposed to be set up like. I need to get a clear picture of how it is meant to be as somebody needs to pay for the blown head gasket Cheers Mick
Hi Mick, Check out this old ebay auction for a pair of uprated radiator hoses. The picture in the description bit might help you out. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150700087656 To me it looks like the smaller of the two pipes that come in the kit goes to the top of the radiator. I'll take a picture for you tonight if it didn't help.
Thanks Adam, That is exactly how it is plumbed up! So it was the engineer who had the hair brain idea!!!! I will call Daihatsu today and try and find out if there is a reason they have plumbed it up this way.... I will also download the workshop manual when the download links becomes active for me later today. At least it was not the fault of the workshop she has been taking it to. I will let you guys know how I get on with this "problem". I still need to find the cause of its overheating, which is difficult now that the headgasket is leaking. The cooling fan comes on(not sure on the exact temperature yet), the thermostat opens at <100C the water pump appears to pump with good flow(perhaps the impeller is loose?) Cheers Mick
