1982 12a

Can I get some help on this please.

As I was warming up the car I noticed that the car
started to over heat ..some. The temp gage on the car
never passed more than 1/4 before ..just out of nowhere
my temp gage was going up..However I stopped the
motor before she even passed half way on the temp gage.
Even on very hot days..the temp gage never never went past 1/4.

We changed the thermostate..
I noticed that while we had rad cap off ..while
we where letting trapped air/or air bubbles out,
that the coolant wasn't circulating in the rad..
Only once it bubbled and that's when the and air bubble came out..
then after that...the coolant is "still" it's not circulating !!
Shouldn't the collant be circulating in the rad..if not "it must be the
water pump" ??

Notes:
a) The water pump is not leeking.

b) Two days before we had the rats nest removed
but I think it has nothing to do with this
(just a coincidence).

c) The O rings needs to be changed
because recently we noticed some small amount
of coolant on top of the engine (beside the intake manifold)
but from what I read..this shouldn't cause to over heat the car
since it's only loosing a very small amount of coolant per week.

Any suggestions would help..

Regards
Xtreise

 

You wont see the coolant circulating till the engine warms enough for the t stat to open. Although even then its a bit hard to tell.

The leak you describe sounds more like the intake manifold o rings than engine o rings, and yes that wouldnt cause the overheating.

You removed the emissions, do you still have the cats? You should have removed them or hollowed them out.

The water pump is turning right? Without the airpump you need that second belt to keep it from slipping on the pulley. Just as an experiment, put the airpump back on and hook up the belt (dont worry about connecting anything to the pump) and see if the overheating stops. If not that, then possibly the pump is indeed bad. HTH

 

Hi RxCarl..
Forgot to mention...
Cat has been removed..it has RB exhaust it has system.
we have a double pulley..

Therefore you think it's the O Rings in the intake ??
I thought that wouldn't cause over heating as such..if it was only
leaking a bit..say a tea spoon per day..also we always check the rad before
drive her..and it's rare she needs collant..

Xtreise

 

When the rad was ready to go out on my SA, the car started to run warm and then the core sprung about a million pinhole leaks, so you may just be at the point were you need a new rad. I'd take the sucker out and have a rad shop look it over. It might just need to be rodded out. They can plug up and reduce cooling efficiency.

Another thing to consider (this is silly, I know, but it happened to me) is to ensure that the front side of the rad is clear of any debris. When I first bought my SA, the front of the rad was so encrusted with dead bugs, leaves and other junk that it barely cooled the engine at all. Once it was cleaned off, the car ran much cooler, until the rad went anyhow.

Good luck.

 

a quick way to test the t-stat is to compare the temp on the lower vs the upper radiator hoses.

 

Thanks wackyracer...but if the hoses were "collapsed hose"...wouldn't they leak...?? If not what does a collapsed hose look like..(dumb question huh)

 

The rad on the 85 went out a couple days ago. Suddenly. The 83 went out the same way 3 years ago.

B

 

A lot of the engine cooling takes place through the oil cooler too. Make sure your oil is at the proper level, good pressure, and no blockages in the line or in front of the cooler.

To tell if the thermostat is working correctly, let the engine warm up to operating temperature then see if you can feel the water flowing through the upper hose. You can do this by "pinching" the hose a little. If the water is flowing you should be able to feel it.

Good luck!

 

Very good point.