Re: Oil capacity

[bearbvd@domain.elided (Greg Hermann)]

 However, my GTV6 ran for about 30 miles
>with very little coolant in the engine due to failure of the water
>pump/alternator belt. I remain convinced that the engine remained unharmed
>and continued to run smoothly without seizing primarily due to the enormous
>oil capacity and secondarily to its aluminum construction.
>
>Cheers
>
>Michael
>
I can't speak for the Alfa V-6 in the same detail as the fours, but I
suspect another factor in your engine's survival is that Alfa tends to lay
out their water jackets in a manner that is conducive to what is called
"ebullient cooling". Basically, convection combined with circulation
induced by small bubbles of vapor created on the hottest parts of the head
casting(s) creates enough coolant circulation to keep things within safe
limits (particularly if you are going easy on the engine).

This approach WORKS--there are some _very_ large stationary industrial
engines which rely completely on ebullient cooling (they have no water
pump).

Greg

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