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Re: Cooling System Mystery - please help

To: triumphs@Autox.Team.Net, spitfires@Autox.Team.Net
Subject: Re: Cooling System Mystery - please help
From: "John T. Blair" <jblair1948@cox.net>
Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2004 17:16:47 -0500
At 08:29 PM 12/31/2004 +0000, Michael Hargreave Mawson wrote:

>I've been very quiet of late, since all the things that have gone wrong 
>with my cars over the past few months have been things that I have been 
>able to diagnose and fix myself.   This is no longer the case.   I would 
>be grateful for any suggestions that you guys might be able to come up 
>with - I'm stumped...
>
>Symptoms
>I drove Carly (the Spit) up to London yesterday, with the heater on, and 
>just as I neared my destination, the heater started blowing cold air, 
>and the engine temperature began to rise - fast.   Normally, the 
>temperature gauge in my car reads about 1/4, but it rapidly went up to 
>3/4.....

Mike,

I'll bet the problem was you radiator was clogged.  Either from age, or 
because of the crud you pulled out of the heater control valve.  If that
stuff was there, what are the chances that it is every where?  It doesn't
take much to block of the tubes in the radiator.

I'd suggest that you take the radiator to a radiator shop and have them try
a flow test and see how much water can flow through it.  They should be able
to tell you if it is clogged or not.

With that said, you've hit on just about everything else that could cause 
the heating problem.  The cooling system is very simple - not too many 
parts.

The only 2 things that can cause overheating that aren't really part of the
cooling system are a blown head gasket - which you've eliminated, and an
ignition timing problem.  

So my guess is either a clogged radiator or somehow your timing is way off.

John




John T. Blair  WA4OHZ     email:  jblair1948@cox.net
Va. Beach, Va             (eBay id: zebra48-1)
Phone:  (757) 495-8229

          48 TR1800    48 #4 Midget    65 Morgan 4/4 Series V (B1109)
     75 Bricklin SV1 (#0887)    77 Spitfire    71 Saab Sonett III
                       65 Rambler Classic

Morgan:    www.team.net/www/morgan
Bricklin:  www.bricklin.org





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