Re: Working Milano

[Chris Piepers <chris@xxxxxxxxx>]

Kit wrote:

>Thanks to ALL of you who sent helpful advice about my Verde w/the
zapped
>battery.  From talking to 1 or 2 of you, I think we determined that the

>problem stemmed from the way I was letting the car warm up.  Since it's

>been cold, I usually let the car sit for 10-15 minutes to warm up
fully.
>I have noticed that when I crank the car, usually the battery warning
>light will come on and stay on until the RPMs reach a certain level.
>Looking back, I would say that probably every time I got in the car
>after the warm up period, the battery light was still on until I drove
>away.  I believe that  this process slowly drained it.  I got a jump
>last nite and drove around to do several errands and everytime it
>re-started just fine.  Cross your fingers for me...

>Kit

Hi there,

Shows all the more that before blaming alternators, batteries, belts
etc.
to first look for the obvious :))

I just wanted to remark, that "warming" up your car by letting it
running at
idle speed for 10 minutes or so, is very bad practice!
Not only is it bad for the environment (the catalyst(?)) won't get
heated to working
temp etc. But there's one thing even worse! Your engine oil won't get
warm enough
to totaly evaporate any water and fuel(-vapors) which are dissolved in
it.
We all know what water does to steel, and fuel-rests are like HCL; they
bite!
So there go your bearings . . . :(
To make matters a little worse.... your exhaust system won't get warm
enough,
at most it'll get lukewarm. You probably know, that when burning fuel,
H20 (water) is
formed (vapororized, ok) but when this water meets your luke-warm
exhaust, it'll
condense... and there we are again . .  water, steel, some warmth to
help the process...
ergo: bye, bye exhaust, it rusts from inside out.

The best way to warm up your engine, is to immediately drive off when
started.
Be polite to the revs (ie don't go over 3000rpm) and don't let the
engine do any hard
work, also shift gears early. After 8 to 10 miles your engine will be
properly warmed up,
as will the cat. and the exhaust system, now put the pedal down :))

(btw I learned this the hard way, I had an Alfasud SV in which I had to
replace the engine
2 times because the connecting rods bearings where gone, all because of
not warming
the engine in a "correct" manner)

Will you let me know when to uncross my fingers? :))

Cheers,

Chris Piepers
The Netherlands

'81 Alfasud Sprint Veloce (for nostalgic reasons)
'83 Alfetta Q'Oro (daily driver, since the Milano is waiting for it's
new heart)
'86 75 2.5V6 (Milano)
(I just LOVE those transaxles)

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