RE: Spider Temp

[C2slayman@domain.elided]

Doug,
       Overheating is death to an all aluminum wet deck engine!  Don't drive 
it too long until you determine the problem.  First check if the temp gauge 
is really accurate.  If you believe it is really overheating and the 
thermostat is new, check the tension on the alternator/fanbelt.  Make sure 
you have the flow restrictor in the small water pump hose.  Is the ignition 
timing right?  Not runing lean?  These will cause the engine to run hotter 
than normal - but if the radiator is in good shape, it should be able to 
handle these conditions anyway.
       Larry Dickman Jr of APE taught me a neat trick.  Get the engine hot 
and feel the front of the radiator (not the fan side if you value your 
fingers!)  The top of the radiator fins should be hot and the bottom fins 
should be slightly cooler but not cold.  If it's cold, then the radiator core 
is clogged. 
       When the cooling system is in good shape, it is more than enough to 
handle the heat output of the motor.  The failure mode I've experienced is 
crud depositing on the radiator core blocks its efficiency.  Flushing with a 
radiator cleaner isn't real effective.  Take the radiator out and have a 
radiator shop "rod" it out - they take the top and bottom tanks off and run a 
brush cleaner through the tubes.  It's cheap - should run < $90 and really 
does the job.  If the core is bad and needs replacing, then ask the shop to 
put in a new 3 row core (the stock one is a 2 row core).  This will really do 
the job but run ~$300 for the entire job.

Good Luck,
Charlie
'89 Spider

In a message dated 04/04/2002 7:37:37 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
owner-alfa-digest@domain.elided writes:


> Date: Wed, 03 Apr 2002 21:36:46 -0500
> From: "Douglas R. and Julia R. Harris" <dharris@domain.elided>
> Subject: Spider Temp
> 
>     Thanks to several of you guys, I've set up the CraneCams ignition
> module in my Spider and it's running well.  No more "up and dying."
> Well, my local Alfa guru, Aren, helped.  If any of you are ever in this
> area and need Alfa work he's the guy  (Business name:  European Classics
> and Sports Cars on Wickham Street).
>     Today was a warm day -- close to 80 degrees -- here in Richmond and
> I decided to take my weekend toy to work around noon.  Since the
> Interstate was packed, I drove it over a secondary route and regular
> surface roads.  The drive is about eight miles and has many stoplights,
> so there was a good deal of idling.  The temperature gauge in cool
> weather usually reads just over 180 to about 190 degrees -- I put in a
> 180 degree thermostat and replaced the coolant soon after buying it last
> Summer.
>     Today I was disturbed to see the gauge edge up very close to 212
> degrees.  Is this normal?  I even opened the heater valve to cool things
> down a bit -- not sure it helped but it sure blasted my eyelids dry.  I
> noticed this tendency back in the Fall, so I bought a bottle of Redline
> WaterWetter from IAP but have yet to put it in.  I'm hoping this will
> cool things down.
>     How vulnerable is my aluminum musical instrument to these
> temperatures?
> 
> Doug
> 77 Spider
> Richmond, Virginia

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