Re: drip drip drip

[C2slayman@domain.elided]

Taylor,
       First thing - DON'T OVERHEAT YOUR ENGINE.  High temperatures are death 
to all aluminum wet deck engines!  Otherwise, the Alfa 2000cc will last 
forever (with a valve job or two!)
       Next thing is to clean the engine compartment so you can see the 
source of the leak.  It could be the water pump, the head gasket or a loose 
hose fitting.  You won't know until you phsically isolate it.
       Regarding the cap, it serves two purposes - 1) relieve pressure and 
allow coolant to flow into the expansion tank and 2) allow coolant to be 
sucked back into the radiator when it cools down (that's the smaller spring 
loaded button inside the large rubber seal).  Fill the radiator cold and then 
watch coolant flow into the expansion tank when the engine gets hot.  That 
will verify the first function.  Let the engine cool down and listen for the 
sucking sound of flow of coolant from the expansion tank back into the 
radiator.  Thay will verify the second function.  Replace the cap if either 
test fails.  But your cap is not the cause of your leak.  Even if it blowing 
off at at higher pressure than it should (say 14psi instead of 7psi), all the 
seals and hoses should hold.  You can also have a radiator or mechanics shop 
do a pressure test on cap if you suspect a problem.

Cheers,
Charlie


In a message dated 07/16/2002 8:38:31 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
owner-alfa-digest@domain.elided writes:


> Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2002 15:14:27 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Taylor Clark <taylor@domain.elided>
> Subject: drip drip drip
> 
> My 1974 Spider is exhibiting an interesting symptom in the cooling system.  
> When it gets hot, water seems to drip out from somewhere under the front 
> center of the engine.  When it cools down it stops dripping.  It does not 
> take long for the dripping to stop, maybe an hour or two. 
> 
> But even if I fill the radiator to the top, nothing much ever seems to flow 
> to the expansion tank.  The inlet hole is exposed at the bottom.  
> 
> If I drive for a couple of days, I end up a quart or more down on 
> antifreeze, and the car starts to run way to hot.  It usually runs under 
> 180F, with low water, it runs to almost 212F. 
> 
> My theory is that some seal is letting water out at a lower preasure than 
> the preasure cap opens at and lets things into the expansion tank.  The cap 
> mechanism seems to move ok, but my queston is - do I simply have a cap 
> problem, or a water pump seal problem or what?
> 
> - -Taylor Clark
> 74 Spider Iniezione (can't be a Veloce, no carbs)
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