Cooling system work, and The Naming of Cars

[Scott Fisher <sefisher@domain.elided>]

The saga of my '74 Spider has a new chapter as of last night.  On the
way home, in 100+ degree (F, thank heavens it wasn't C!) weather, the
temperature gauge was just under the 220 mark (interpolated) on the
100-180-260 gauge.

So I popped the hood to let it cool more quickly, went indoors to assist
with getting dinner out onto the patio, and after the meal I checked the
oil.  Oil level is maybe 25% down from max, which after more than 800
miles is acceptable consumption.  It's still clear, only a little darker
than it was when I picked the car up at which point it appeared to have
brand new oil in it.

Opening the radiator cap was a little less happy.  I blame myself: when
I checked coolant level after picking up the car, I noticed that it
looked *very* green, almost as though the coolant was undiluted.  Now, a
50-50 mix of coolant and water is the recommended setting, but those of
us who live where the temperature puts extreme loads on a car's radiator
know that increasing the amount of water in the system increases its
efficiency.  Simply put: the coolant raises the boiling point of the
solution, but water has a higher specific heat, which determines how
quickly it can transfer heat out of the radiator.  So to keep a car
running cooler (assuming there are no problems in the system, of
course), running more water than coolant helps.  

And... I didn't just drain the coolant (or siphon some off and replace
it with distilled water) right then and there.  I was planning some time
soon to put an electric fan in the car, which is much easier to do with
the radiator out, and that implies draining the system, so I put it off.

When I pulled the radiator cap last night, brown scum was floating on
the top of the coolant.

Immediately I checked the oil filler cap and the dipstick again.  No,
thank goodness, there's no scum in the oil -- the sign of a blown head
gasket.  This is just light contamination of the coolant -- not good,
but not an immediate sign to pull the head, if I recall.  (And if I
recall incorrectly, I'm sure that the usual suspects will inform me...)

So at first I tried siphoning out some of the coolant, thinking to
replace it with distilled water (which my thoughtful wife had already
purchased).  We got half a gallon out and there was still some of the
brown gunk in the coolant, so I decided the right thing to do was to
flush the radiator out.

Now, one of the things I've always taken a disproportionate amount of
pleasure from, in my '67 1300 GT Junior, is the little draincock at the
back of the engine.  For the uninitiated, there's what looks like a
little brass faucet at the rear of the engine, on the exhaust side;
turning it releases a stream of whatever coolant you've got in the car,
and when used with the similar draincock at the bottom of the radiator,
you can drain your cooling system easily and without mess.  

Well, someone decided these were unnecessary on the 2-liter.  There
appears to be a bolt-head where the engine drain would be located, but I
didn't feel like removing it without consulting the manual.  That left
the radiator; I crawled under the front of the car and tried to get
access to the clamp where the lower hose goes into the radiator.

It's not available, at least not by my hands.  Fortunately, the upper
end of that hose is right there next to the fan.  It was a matter of
seconds to loosen it and then pull the hose.  Coolant gushed out of
engine block as well as radiator, and in a few minutes the gush had
subsided.  I placed the garden hose in the top of the radiator and had
my wife turn it on, and we let it run for several minutes.  When the
water came out clear, I repositioned the hose clamp on the hose, tried
to align the hose on the outlet of the water pump, and promptly sliced a
3/8" gash in the ball of my left thumb on a razor-sharp hose clamp end. 
A bead of blood, visible through the thick layer of grease, welled up at
the tip; I rinsed my hand as best I could in the stream from the hose,
while my wife went indoors for a bandage.

Bandage in place, I easily slipped both hose and clamp over the water
pump outlet and tightened the clamp.  "That's obviously what she
wanted," I said to my wife.  "Maybe she needs a different name...
Lamia?  Countess Bathory?  Lilith?  Or maybe simply Strega?  'Nevermind
this owner's sweat nonsense, you can keep your nassssty sweat, what I
want is your blood...'"  (This refers to a comment I've made often, that
in spite of reasonable skepticism over various snake-oils and cure-alls,
I've found that there really is one simple substance that is good for
all parts of a car, from the paint to the engine to the interior to the
transmission and suspension: the owner's sweat.  Liberally applied, it
can transform literally every portion of any vehicle.)

I refilled with the distilled water, then started the engine and checked
for leaks.  I left the cap off so that any trapped air could bubble out
(didn't check the bleed valve at the rear of the tube that goes above
the induction -- is there such a valve on Spica cars?), then eventually
capped it and shut it off, leak free and right on 180 degrees after
about 15 minutes.

This morning, while outlining the rest of my plan to my wife, I
commented that we now knew what the car needs for my work to go smoothly
on her.  "Maybe I should just pull off her oil filler cap, prick a
finger, and squeeze a couple of drops in at the beginning of every job,
since that seems to be what satisfies her."

And then Kim's eyes went wide, and she said "Audrey."

I got chills.  The Spider has a name.  (And some pretty good songs,
too.)

I've already posted about the results of this little exercise in
vampirism, but for the sake of localized completeness: engine temps
about 190 on the way to work this morning, same commute, same weather
conditions (weather reports said it's hotter but I wasn't measuring),
compared to 220 or so yesterday.  We'll check it again after I get home
tonight; Kim's acquiring some cooling system flush which I'll add
tonight, run for a day or so, then drain.  The final step will be
distilled water and Redline Water Wetter.  I'm also going to keep an
eagle eye on the oil *and* coolant for the rest of the summer; with luck
I've dodged a bullet.  

- --Scott "Just a mean green mother from outer space" Fisher

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End of alfa-digest V7 #883
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