What a day!... I started out this morning by getting my Harrington
LeMans out to ready it for tomorrow's Brit car show in Cincinnati. I
drove the car around a bit and pulled it back into my driveway and went
into the house. When I came back outside, there was a huge puddle of
water on the ground underneath! I began tinkering around, fired up the
engine, but no water was spraying out from the pump. I shut the car off
and tried to wiggle the fan to see if the bearings were loose. It felt a
little loose, but not as bad as others I've seen in the past. So, I took
the car out for a spin around the block, this time i let it get hot
before bringing it back to the house. As soon as I shut the car off,
coolant began pouring onto the ground! I decided to remove the pump.
After removing the pump, I discovered the source of the problem. Only
those of you familiar with Series II Alpine will know about the "T" hose
that between the water pump and the overflow tank. This is a specially
formed hose that looks more like a capital "J" than a "T". It connects
in three places and mine was cracked right at the "T" connection. No
wonder coolant came gushing out when I shut the car off. The overflow
tank was draining down that tube and right out the crack. Luckily, I had
a new one on my parts shelf or I would have been out of luck for driving
that car to the show. I spent the afternoon putting that back together
and I also replaced the water pump. The one on the LeMans was the
original cast iron type and it sounded as if it would be letting go soon
too. It made a grinding noise when I spun the shaft.
After getting the car all back together, I took it for another drive and
gave it a bath. The car sounds so much better with that new pump. I
didn't realize how noisy the other one was until I replaced it. Goes to
show you how those types of problems can sneak up on you.
--
Ian Spencer <www.sunbeamalpine.org>
'61 Series II Alpine B9104704 LRX
'61 Harrington Alpine B9104782 OD HRO
'62 Harrington Le Mans BH9115930 OD LRX
'62 Harrington Le Mans BH9116754 OD LRX
'62 Harrington Le Mans BH9117497 OD LRX
'64 Series IV Automatic B9401426 BW LRX
'67 Series V Alpine B395016967 LRX
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