Re: more hot V6s

[George Graves <gmgraves@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

My 3.0 Liter GTV-6 normally runs just a hair below the center mark on 
the gauge -even with aircon working. On really warm days, when driven 
REALLY hard (red lining at 7000 RPMs, constantly, for instance), 
sometimes it gets up to almost the 3/4 mark. But get going again at 
more reasonable shift points at freeway speeds and the needle falls 
quickly back to the just under the half-way mark. In real hot weather, 
in heavy traffic, It goes to just a hair above the center mark. My old 
2.5 liter engine ran much hotter in heavy traffic than the car does 
now. When I had the car apart to replace the engine, I had the housings 
on the cooling fans media blasted and I repainted them (on my car, the 
motor housing and the fan housing are one part. You can only take the 
motor off of the housing by disassembling it). Upon reassembly, I found 
the following: both the upper shaft sleeve bearing and the bottom shaft 
thrust bearings on both motors were as dry as the bones of a T-Rex. The 
piece of paper in the thrust bearings was also as dry as grandpa's 
skin. So I re-lubed them all using a graphite impregnated electric 
motor lube bought from NAPA auto suppliers. I re-assembled the motors 
(not easy) and while one of them ran much faster than before, the other 
other (which I had never seen running) was drawing lots of current and 
turning very slowly. I replaced those two motors with a fan from a 
Milano. Apparently they are much better than the stock GTV-6 fans, as 
the person from whom I bought the Milano fan said that they couldn't 
keep good, used GTV-6 fans in stock, but never sold any Milano fans. 
This tells me that the Milano fan is a better unit (maybe). Anyway, the 
car runs dead cool now (unless I drive like a maniac) and even when it 
does run very hot, it's not THAT hot.

So I have to ask you, have you checked BOTH fans to make sure that they 
are running and running at the proper speed? If not, that may be your 
culprit. I find the Milano fan works MUCH better anyway as it is more 
powerful than the two GTV-6 fans and pulls a LOT more air.

OTOH, on to your other problem with the "phantom steaming leak." 
Occasionally, I find a trickle of coolant on the floor of my garage 
(which is angled slightly back toward the entrance). It looks like it's 
coming from the overflow tube on the neck of the coolant tank. It 
doesn't happen often, but it has happened about three times this 
summer. The volume is probably no more than a couple of ounces, but I 
don't really know what causes it. It's just one of those Italian Car 
things I guess.

Hope this helps.

George Graves
86' GTV-6 3.0'S'


On Thursday, August 28, 2003, at 02:53 PM, alfa-digest wrote:


> Date: Thu, 28 Aug 2003 12:38:47 -0700 (PDT)
> From: ethan schartman <eschartman@domain.elided>
> Subject: more hot V6s
>
> esteemed digesters,
>
> i would appreciate some advice on troubleshooting my
> milano's (2.5L) cooling system. i followed the recent
> thread on the hot V6 and have my suspicions about the
> nature of my problems, but would like a second opinion
> (or many:) before taking action.
>
> the major problem is that the engine runs hot. under
> pretty most conditions it is above the half-way mark -
> where the radiator fan comes on. recently the fan
> switch stopped working, so as temp fix (i was at a gas
> station in baltimore) i bypassed it so that the fan
> runs continuously, and the temps are now at the midway
> mark. today, after some in town driving that got the
> temp up ( but not all the way to 3/4s), i pulled into
> a stop and momentarily found a large quantity of steam
> coming out from the under the passenger's side of the
> hood. after quickly ascertaining that i did not blow a
> hose i limped it home with no problem, and have not
> been able the recreate the steam event. and there is
> no sign of leaking anywhere, except that a small drip
> of coolant had worked past the clamp where the lower
> radiator hose enters the thermostat housing.
>
> my guess about the steam is that i had enough pressure
> built up that it pushed past the coolant cap and got
> on to the exhaust manifold. there are traces on the
> bottle where coolant has leaked this way, though
> everything looked dry (it is pretty warm under the
> hood, so i reckon it might have dried it all out by
> the time i got home).
>
> now, as to possible causes of other problems. the
> water pump is new as of february. so i expect it is
> fine. i did rebuild the engine last year so there is
> always the possibility that i buggered it and have a
> leaking head gasket, but i haven't noticed any steam
> in the exhaust and the coolant level is stable, and
> the coolant and oil are not mixing. so i'm guessing
> it's the radiator, which i got used out of a verde a
> couple years ago (when i got the car a PO had replaced
> the damaged original with whatever POS happened to be
> lying around the shop). so it is old. and could be
> starting to block (this is my person guess). over the
> winter, it did have a pinhole leak, but i haven't seen
> any evidence for it since march. a blocking radiator
> might in turn explain why my fan switch has stopped
> working (if the flow is too low, maybe there isn't a
> high enough heat load to get the switch to close?),
> though i'm not sure about this.
>
> does this all sound reasonable, or is there a
> potential problem i am missing? furthermore, is a new
> radiator the only option (should i even bother getting
> it flushed)? can i get it re-cored? and if so, does
> any one have any experience with a re-cored unit (i.e.
> did it last)?
>
> thanks (glad i donated to richard this week!),
> - -ethan schartman
> - -'87 milano gold
> - -princeton, NJ
--
to be removed from alfa, see /bin/digest-subs.cgi
or email "unsubscribe alfa" to majordomo@domain.elided