Richard S

Pull the rubber cover off the flap motor, the crank is under the cover.

Rich

NickT

Once removed you also then have some room to install some aluminum fly screen to stop all the leaves rocks and small churches from ending up on the air filter. I have two small pieces covering the ends of the intake tube, but I would really like to have one where the flaps are to prevend anything from getting in there. The area between the condensor and the radiator can fill with rotting leaves and small children if not careful.
Might just use this new info to remove mine..

Colin Emerson

Okay so that is the crank, I did find it this morning but wasn't too sure what it was. Kind of laughed when I saw it with it's "condom" on to protect it. So I have cranked it right open, do I still keep fuse 23 pulled(my car is an 89)? Could this be something else as well? Could fully closed flaps at highway speeds, on a cool morning cause the car to over heat? I am thinking there is something else as well......Thanks for your help on getting the flaps open, will take her out and keep an eye on temp, it really caught me off guard this morning

Richard S

It should stay open now. I have seen some people use zip-ties to ensure that the flaps stay open. If your car still overheats, check to see if fans are operating correctly. If you disconnect the fan temp switch at the lower right corner of radiator (as seen from the front) the fans should run continuous. Faulty t-stat could also cause problems. I have read in the archives that S4's tend to run near the 2nd white line most of the time.

Rich

Colin Emerson

Well with flaps open, fuse out, the car did run at a lower temp than usual. Most times the needle is hovering either just under or on the 2nd white line. My car has celsius instead of F and I am guessing almost 10 degrees cooler. I think the fans are operating properly, that is I hear them coming off and on, running for a short period after I shut it down. The two electric fans are actually quite powerful, when I get home on a half mile of gravel, when I slowly pull into the driveway the fans actually blow up a whole bunch of dust.
Do you think she could overheat from having all the flaps shut? Or is thermostat an issue? If it is the Thermostat I might just rear it's ugly head again and shut me down on the highway leaving me to do the dreaded "walk of shame"!

Richard S

I would assume that with the flaps shut there isn't mcuh room for air to be pulled through by the fans. Not much heat transfer if not enough air is moved. So yes, it probably will overheat quickly with flaps closed. They were deleted alltogether by 1991. As far as t-stat is concerned, it is an in-expensive item that can easily be replaced. It MUST go in correctly, and there is a special seal that goes in behind it that also must be changed at the time. Drain fluid, change t-stat and seal, refill with correct coolant and distilled water, see if there is any difference. Understand that other things may cause a problem, such as bad rad cap, clogged cooling fins (dust, bugs, etc) in radiator and condenser (as well as leaves and crap between them). Do one step at a time and monitor for any improvements.

Rich

the flyin' scotsman

Colin..........perhaps your issue is related to your rad prob. Come on down and we'll fix her up.

Colin Emerson

Hey Malcolm,

No mechanic around here really wants to work on that rad for me so I just dropped the magic stop leak tablets, problem gone. I thought well next step is new rad so what harm could the sealant do? None so far. I am pretty sure it is just the flaps closed tight like a vault. I think if I went and sealed off the front off my trucks intake with cardboard she would get hot real fast and be barfing green stuff all over the ground in no time. I like the offer of coming down and figuring this thing out problem now is that I am paranoid about taking her too far from home just in case something stupid like this happens again. Makes no sense to me, Flaps that open and close, bound too fail sooner or later and upon failure you will have massive overheating, seems like bad engineering too me. I don't need no stinking flaps!

the flyin' scotsman

Pull the fuse when they're in the open position and we'll yank the whole system.

Did you check out the rads at the 928Int site?

Kevin Michael

I think the main function of the flaps is high speed stability ,rather than cooling.