Rob Taylor wrote:
> Alpiners,
>
> My wife and I would like to go the Invasion II - but I can't get my '66 SV
> to be cool.
>
> Currently, I'm having some overheating problems.
> No previous overheating problems, of course, till I did a little
> preventative maintenance - new water pump, thermo, had the radiator flushed
> and put on an electric fan. I swear, I had no problems for 9 years until I
> tried to get ahead of it. I've been told it could be a blown head gasket -
> but, I don't know, seems a bit coincidental to me.
>
> symptoms:
> Runs great for a while (30-45 minutes) and then losses coolant - but no
> overflow that I can see.
>
> Can anyone share some advise that might put us on the road to Ohio?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Rob (Alpiner formerly known as "Oaxacarob")
Rob:
Your new electric fan could, by itself, be causing a problem under some
circumstances. (might not, but check it out) If you run the fan at highway
speeds, the fan is probably blocking more air than it's pushing into the
radiator. You shouldn't have to use the electric fan for other than stop & go
driving. Also, if it has too many blades, the same may be true even if the fan
is off. Those blades could block some air across the radiator. On my Tiger I
use a Summit 4 blade fan that pushes a lot of air, but is a pretty open design
so it doesn't block air when it's off. Tiger Tom had recommended this to me as
one of the better fans and it has worked out well and keeps the Tiger from
loosing coolant in stop & go traffic, even with my air conditioning running..
Another improvement you should consider is an overflow tank ($5-10 at any auto
parts store). This allows you to run your radiator completely filled to the
top, which is more efficient. Also, block off the space around the horns.
Tigers do this all the time for good effect and it helped my previous Alpine
run a bit cooler at speed too.
Finally, though, if you are loosing coolant and can't see it coming out
anywhere, the head gasket could be suspect. Before you come to that conclusion,
though, even if you don't think you have a leak, you might and not know it.
Have you checked your heater core lately? There could be a very small drip from
one of the hoses there, or the core itself could have a small leak. A tell tale
sign of this is if you can occassionally smell coolant in the passenger
compartment, and the heater core would be the usual source of that. I've had
that happen and Tigers and Alpines are identical in that respect. There could
be a very small pinhole leak somewhere in the radiator (these can develop from
corrosion of the radiator in or out tubes, or in the filler cap area, among
others. Every time you put the cap on or off, you're putting a load on that
filler tube and if it's corroded, there could be a very small leak there. The
Tiger wasn't cooling properly a few months ago and I discovered just a small
hint of moisture from a tube leading to the factory header tank. I dried it off
but sure enough, the coolant re-appeared after a good drive. I had it repaired
and my overheating problem went away. That small leak was keeping the system
from being fully pressurized and doing its job.
By "flushing" the radiator, what did the shop do? Just rinsing it out will not
usually do the job. That flushing might have just pushed some sediment further
into the tubes. You may want to get the radiator "rodded" out, where they put a
wire, or rod, through the tubes and physically push out all that "gunk".
Finally, once you figure out what's causing the problem and cure it, you might
consider adding a Gano radiator filter to keep your radiator clean permanently.
Good Luck
Steve Sage
Tiger MK1A + at least 15 Alpines through the years.
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