Date: Sun, 2 Jun 2013 17:56:40 -0400
From: Joseph Jacob<[email protected]>
Subject: [alfa] Spider Overheating
Learned Alfisti,
I bought my 1989 Spider Veloce in 2000 with around 80K miles. It currently
has 107K on the odometer. Since the day I acquired it it has always run
hot. Shortly after I got it I had the radiator re-cored, which helped
considerably; a couple of years ago I had the radiator boiled out and had
some minor leaks fixed. This helped as well. However, in the 13 years
I've owned it, a three-hour trip was about its maximum cruising range
before the temperature gauge approached the red zone. Then it would
gradually get worse. This morning a 20-mile trip had the coolant boiling.
It does not lose coolant, and I see no evidence of the coolant mixing with
the oil. The fan on the engine side of the radiator is fine, though the
one in front of the AC radiator doesn't work. As far as I know the water
pump has never been replaced.
I would love to able to drive her for a couple of hours without having to
worry about the temperature. Any suggestions on how to proceed?
Barring a non-operating cooling fan or shredded water-pump belt, I have
never had any Alfa run hot, much less overheat. The commonest problem is
getting them UP to temperature; all of my four-cylinder cars have run
right at 178: or so, no matter what the condition. Since you have
addressed everything outside the engine, I'm going to have to assume
that there's some blockage in the engine's coolant passages somewhere.
It could be a stray glob of silicone sealant, it could be silt buildup
if the PO used plain tap water in a hard-water area, all of which I've
heard of happening on cars in general, so we can assume they can happen
to an Alfa. Now, it does strike me as odd that the water pump seems
never to have been replaced in over 100K miles! The one on my Berlina
got loose in the bearings at around 40K, which seems about par for the
fours. It should at least be removed and looked at. If it just isn't
doing its job by some weird quirk your cure will probably be relatively
cheap and easy, but if it's working just fine I'd talk to a good
mechanic (since I am not one) about trying to determine if there's an
internal obstruction.
Will Owen
'91 164S
'87 Milano Gold
'76 Alfetta GT
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