blown 87

Wally, are you talking about the front pan?
I thought there were just two pans, the big front one and the small rear one.

Greg

Hilton

The S4-onwards has the two-pan setup. Earlier cars have a different belly pan - just a slimmer front one.

That was one of the big changes to improve the drag coefficient for the S4.

blown 87

I really need to remember they made more model years than the one I have, duhhh.

Thanks.

Rosesbabe

Thanks to one and all for the help - I am convinced this was all caused from a crapped out relay - I think it was randomly turning the fan off and on which only manifested itself when I sat for a long time idling in traffic. I am guessing the trigger for the fail was probably, as was suggested, due to high heat from being in close proximity to the rad and not in any air flow. Re-jigged and placed a new in-line relay to be infront and to the side of the heat. All "seems" to be OK after a number of short trips to test it out. New relay - $12. Feeling like I am not about to overheat again and blow the engine - priceless! Any merit in breaking open the old relay to see if and how it failed? What would I look for?

heinrich

My thoughts as well, had the same thing on my earlier cars.

Mrmerlin

open the relay and smell it .
Does it smell burned??
Are there any solder joints that look freshly soldered? ( indicated hi heat to reflow the solder). clean off the contacts in the relay see if it works

WallyP

The overheating that you had is almost always airflow related. I never saw an answer on the belly pan and air sealing around the radiator.

That being said, you also need to reconsider the high antifreeze percentage. There is a considerable difference in cooling capacity of ethylene glycol and water. Even in your area, I wouldn't go much past 60/40.

fraggle

I agree with Wally on the mix. Both cooling and freezing propeties improve with a mix rather than 100% of either.

Drop in some water wetter while you're at it.