My new to me Superformance S-1 problems.

[Off Road SHO]

As some may know from Don's thread about his trip from SoCal to Texas, the S-1's have a heat problem. Mine has the same symptoms as Don's; higher readings on the temp gauge but not boiling over, quits after so long but restarts after it cools down.

 

What I've done so far:

 

Replaced the thermostatic fan switch with one that will turn the fan on at a lower, temp, hopefully keeping what coolant is in the radiator at a lower temp so that when the thermostat does open, it will pass cooler coolant into the engine. Fan comes on much more often and stays on for a few minutes after shutting her down.

 

Replaced the 160* thermostat with a new 160* thermostat.

 

Blocked the path of air around the radiator with aluminum tape and foam, so now any air that enters the nose cone can only escape through the radiator and oil cooler.

 

BTW, I don't see a plate welded in the middle of my radiator's driver's side end tanks. Since both the in and out of this radiator is in the same driver's side end tank, there must be a plate separating the top half from the bottom half on that same side; otherwise the coolant will just circulate through that end tank rather than the fins.

 

Maybe it is just welded internally and not visible from the outside.

 

I'm still seeing high temps, 220-240 indicated, but my infrared thermometer says about 172 at the thermostat housing, so this leads me to believe that either my gauge sending unit or the gauge itself is faulty. Do any S-1 owners know what resistance the sending unit should create at different temperatures?

 

Note to self: the thermostat water neck is poorly designed and aimed for this car. Makes it very difficult to get the rubber hose on and off.

 

Also cleaned the K&N air filter; another chore.

 

Tom

[dhubbard422]

Tom,

 

Have you tried contacting Webcon? The manual indicates that it is a "Alpha Temp sensor".

 

I found these links for a quick search on Webcon Water Temperature Sensor:

http://www.webcon.co.uk/Downloads/K40016%20Ford%20Zetec%20(Black%20Top)%20Eng%20Temp%20Sensor.pdf

 

http://www.webcon.co.uk/Downloads/K97018%20(FL0406)%20Ver2.pdf

Water Temperature Sensor WTS005 ???

 

If you get some good info, please share.

 

Don

[mrmustang]

On the sites I listed on your wanted thread there is a link to not only the build/assembly manual, but to the recall/upgrade manuals for the S1

 

 

 

Bill S.

[dhubbard422]

http://www.secondstrike.com/Technical/ServiceBulletins.htm

[Off Road SHO]

Don,

 

It's not the Webcon's coolant temp sensor (the one with two wires) that is bad, it's the temp gauge's sender, the single wire one. Sending units have to matched to the corresponding gauge. I think I might have a Focus gauge sending unit; not sure. My car just passed our emissions inspection here with flying colors so I think the Webcon is happy with its sensor.

 

Bill, I've done the Service Tip 0201 ST already but it still climbs to over 220-230, but doesn't boil over and is about 30-60 hotter than my infrared temp probe reads at the sensor's base.

 

Tom

[speedwagon]

Sounds like it is not the temp. that is high but your gauge, check the thermistor (sending unit) with a digital ohm meter and compare to thermistor tables. most sensors are the same resistance so any chart should work. And ten feed your gauge a resistor in that range and see what you get. Also check your wiring connections carefully (including all ground connections} and as a last resort install an old mechanical gauge to check.

[Off Road SHO]

Fixed the gasoline odor problem and maybe the intermittent fuel pump whine. To get at the wiring for the tail lights (another problem all together), you have to remove the back floor pan, trunk shell and trunk lid. When I did that I found that the hose from the fuel pump to the steel line that runs through the tunnel wasn't clamped together very tightly. When I ran my fingers under that connection, they came back wet with gas. That hose and the one on the other side of the fuel pump were both dry cracked so I replaced them both. I'm also thinking that the cracking was allowing air to get sucked in the hose before the fuel pump which would cause the pump to cavitate, making that noise every once in a while.

 

The pre-filter was a cleanable type (Golan) with a 10 micron secondary filter so I cleaned that also and put new silencer foam rings around the edges of the filter so it wouldn't rattle between the frame and trunk shell.

 

Also found the differential vent to be too short to reach the hole in the floor pan so I put a new longer piece in. This will keep the top side of the floor pan a little cleaner.

 

More as I find them and fix them.

 

Tom

[xcarguy]

Tom,

 

Sounds like the tail light issue may have been 'saving grace' for what could have been a more serious fuel leak issue. :blueangel:

[Off Road SHO]

Tom,

 

Sounds like the tail light issue may have been 'saving grace' for what could have been a more serious fuel leak issue. :blueangel:

 

X,

 

Yes, without a doubt. We would smell fumes sometimes after we came to a stop, but I attributed it to a poor gas cap seal. We were very lucky.

 

Oh yeah, another thing I found: The ground wire to the fuel level sending unit was disconnected. Plugged it back on and voila' I have a working gas gauge. WooHoo!

 

Tom

[dhubbard422]

Nice catches, the fuel leak especially. And you've given me more items to put on my list of things to check! I'm almost ready to start in on my list...

 

Don

[G2sound]

My water temp gauge reads about 100 degrees hot as well. Ever since I dropped in a new engine, when I turn on the ignition switch oil temp shows a reflection of outside air temp, but water temp is about 100 degrees hotter. I just gauge it in my mind appropriately. Have you found a fix?