What's the procedure for testing the electrical connections to the thermotime?

[Redsquall]

My car is difficult to start when it has not been started in several days. The cold start does not fire unless I connect the wire to the (other thing I can't think of at the moment) - then it works fine. I have also done the multi meter testing on the Thermo time switch itself and that checked out. I have a new thermal time switch in hand but before I go changing it I am wondering if there is a bad electrical connection to the existing one on the car. What is the procedure for checking that out? Thank you

[Bitsyncmaster]

My car when I got it had a bad connection on a bulkhead pin that caused the CSV not to work. You would have to start with the schematic, first checking if the 12 volts is at the CSV when the starter is cranking and checking there is ground on the other pin. You can check the ground side first with a cold engine.

[David T]

My car when I got it had a bad connection on a bulkhead pin that caused the CSV not to work. You would have to start with the schematic, first checking if the 12 volts is at the CSV when the starter is cranking and checking there is ground on the other pin. You can check the ground side first with a cold engine.

Reference the schematic on D:04:06 and the description of the circuit on D:01:09-10. Difficult to properly test the TT switch except in the circuit. Make sure the plug to the TT switch is connected correctly. It is keyed but can be forced into it improperly and the polarity to that switch is VERY important. So important that if hooked up incorrectly you will burn the TT switch up. If the CSV fires when you do the plug swap, that means either the TT switch is bad, not properly grounded, a wiring problem or no 12 volts during cranking from the starter. Make sure there is nothing plugged into the hot start relay plug by the fuse block. You cannot use any teflon tape or sealant on the TT switch when threading it into the water pump. It MUST be electrically grounded to work.

[Redsquall]

Reference the schematic on D:04:06 and the description of the circuit on D:01:09-10. Difficult to properly test the TT switch except in the circuit. Make sure the plug to the TT switch is connected correctly. It is keyed but can be forced into it improperly and the polarity to that switch is VERY important. So important that if hooked up incorrectly you will burn the TT switch up. If the CSV fires when you do the plug swap, that means either the TT switch is bad, not properly grounded, a wiring problem or no 12 volts during cranking from the starter. Make sure there is nothing plugged into the hot start relay plug by the fuse block. You cannot use any teflon tape or sealant on the TT switch when threading it into the water pump. It MUST be electrically grounded to work.

Thanks guys. I will try that out. I do have Bitsyncmaster's hot start relay in there. What is the reason for unplugging it? Does it prevent thermal time switch from working? I have only had the hot start relay in there for the past couple weeks. The car has behave the same before this too if that helps. Dave mentioned that he never has his Thermo time switch plugged in. Would it just be simple to unplug it to make the CSV always fire? Thanks

[Redsquall]

I think I found the reason the Thermo time was not triggering the coldstart. The ground was fine but there was a wire touching the exhaust the burnt out the outer rubber. This was one of the wires coming off of the starter but I believe his feeding power when the starter is cranking. I think it was shorting out. After moving away the wire and the car started right up after not being started for at least a week. I bent the wires so they would kind of stay away from the pipe but it's not really a sure thing. Does anyone have a trick for getting these wires away from the wire or putting some kind of protective sleeve over them?

54728

[jerrysony]

Hello everyone. I'm having a weird situation with the
Thermo time:
The car runs always at low temp. The needle doesn't even reach the first mark. I've noticed that the cooler fans start too soon and they keep running 10 or 15 minutes after the car has been shut down. (Draining my battery) . The car is carb converted and cold weather is not an issue. I 've unplugged the wires to the otterstart and still the fans behave the way described above.
Why is the TT messing with the cooling fans? Since the car is carb in warm weather should I get rid of it?

Enviado desde mi SM-G950F mediante Tapatalk

[Bitsyncmaster]

The thermal time switch has nothing to do with the cooling fans. If your engine has a carb, you would not need the TTS since it only affects the cold start valve which you also do not need with a carb.

Post a photo of your relay compartment and we may see why your fans are running.

[jerrysony]

The thermal time switch has nothing to do with the cooling fans. If your engine has a carb, you would not need the TTS since it only affects the cold start valve which you also do not need with a carb.

Post a photo of your relay compartment and we may see why your fans are running.

here are some photos from the relay compartment and also from the thermotime socket and wiring close to the resistor. I´m guessing that maybe during the carb swap ther mixed some of the wiring? Also, I´ve noticed that on other carb cars the resistor is not so crowed with therminals. Should I disconect some of them?

[Bitsyncmaster]

Looks like someone has done some wiring changes. I see a standard relay in the fan relay socket but no fan fail socket. I also think the cooling fan circuit breaker has been moved. Your fans may be working OK but my guess is your gauge is not reading correctly. I would guess the PO replaced the gauge sensor with a wrong part and that makes your gauge always show low readings.

The otterstat was normally in the coolant pipe on the drivers side near the engine. That is the device that turns the fans on when the coolant temp gets hot.

The TTS is located on the water pump. That device just turned the CSV on when the engine is started cold.

[jerrysony]

So, I guess the next steps would be:
1- Locate the cooling fan circuit breaker and place it on the right place on the relay box. If not found, try to figure out the work done by the PO.
2- (optional) wire jump the fan fail relay.
3- Unplug the TT (for good since the car is carb and not needed anymore) and jump the wires to the otterstat to check if the fans starts.
a) if they do, check the gauge sensor and verify that the fans turn on at the proper temperature.
b) If they don´t, maybe do a rewire job until the otterstat circuit the fans.
Is that correct?
Thanks in advance.

[David T]

Between your engine swap and the wiring changes it is clear that nothing is "stock" so any advice we can give is only speculative because there is no way to know what modifications have been done. Even some pictures can't give anyone enough information to help you. The Cold Start System should have no interconnection with the Cooling Fan System except that they both have the engine and electrical system in common. The only way you are going to get this sorted out is to have someone who can touch the car figure out what is going on. Because the Cold Start System is no longer necessary maybe it should just be dissected out. The Cooling Fan system is fairly simple, when the O switch closes it turns on the fans through a relay if you ignore the portion of it that runs the fans with the A/C.

[Ron]

I don't see anything actually showing that the TTS is what is messing with your fans??

I would permanently disconnect the TTS first.
Then address the circuit breaker while chasing the wires from the fans back (looking for any mods).
If you get their wiring back to stock, I'd guess several of the other problems will be gone (battery drain, "low" gauge,...)

Schematic from Resources Section HERE
(http://dmctalk.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=106&d=1306264555)

And ignore the wires going to the resistors for now (unless you find someone tied them into the fan circuit...)

[jerrysony]

I know the TT is acting as otterstart because even with the otterstart wires disconnected the fans would start early. They kept on even with the car turned off and they would shut down if I unplug the TT socket. So the TT is ruling them [emoji20]
Thank you booth for your assistance and will keep in mind your suggestions.
Will keep you informed.

[David T]

I know the TT is acting as otterstart because even with the otterstart wires disconnected the fans would start early. They kept on even with the car turned off and they would shut down if I unplug the TT socket. So the TT is ruling them [emoji20]
Thank you booth for your assistance and will keep in mind your suggestions.
Will keep you informed.

Based on that just take the wires off the TTS and hook them to the O switch and things should work correctly. But there is a problem if the fans continue to run with the key off.