cooling system question
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- Posts: 28
- Joined: Fri Nov 13, 2020 10:09 pm
- Your car is a: 1979 fiat 124 spider
- Location: Apache Junction AZ
cooling system question
ON my 79 spider there is a fitting/plug at the top of the top hose housing that I assume is for bleeding air out of the cooling system. Does that mean this is a sealed cooling system like the Renaults used. I thought the Renaults used those bleeders because some of the cooling system like the heater etc was above the radiator and all that space had to be bled so the water circulated right
Cheers, Warren
79 124 spider
18 Dodge Charger R/T
20 Vespa 300 GTS HPE
79 124 spider
18 Dodge Charger R/T
20 Vespa 300 GTS HPE
- RRoller123
- Patron 2020
- Posts: 8179
- Joined: Sun Nov 13, 2011 2:04 pm
- Your car is a: 1980 FI SPIDER 2000
- Location: SAGAMORE BEACH, MA USA
Re: cooling system question
It is a slightly pressurized system, controlled by the radiator cap. 7 or 9 or something like that psi, but just going from memory here. That T plug is for bleeding air, yes, and it sort of works, but it works well only if you jack up the front end, or add a coolant flush fitting back on the heater hose near the firewall, which is higher up, and effectively becomes the highest point in the system. Lots if useless arguments over getting the air out of the system, but whatever works is a good solution. Jacking the front end up fairly high always works, get that T as high above everything else as possible. So I do that. Massage the hoses, to get the air out. It gets trapped around the T-stat and also in the head.
'80 FI Spider 2000
'74 and '79 X1/9 (past)
'75 BMW R75/6
2011 Chevy Malibu (daily driver)
2010 Chevy Silverado 2500HD Ext Cab 4WD/STD BED
2002 Edgewater 175CC 80HP 4-Stroke Yamaha
2003 Jaguar XK8
2003 Jaguar XKR
2021 Jayco 22RB
2019 Bianchi Torino Bicycle
'74 and '79 X1/9 (past)
'75 BMW R75/6
2011 Chevy Malibu (daily driver)
2010 Chevy Silverado 2500HD Ext Cab 4WD/STD BED
2002 Edgewater 175CC 80HP 4-Stroke Yamaha
2003 Jaguar XK8
2003 Jaguar XKR
2021 Jayco 22RB
2019 Bianchi Torino Bicycle
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- Posts: 3798
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- Your car is a: 1969 and 1971 124 spiders
- Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Re: cooling system question
In addition to RRoller's good advice, I'll add the suggestion to make sure your coolant expansion tank is connected and filled at least halfway. In theory, when a hot engine cools back down, the vacuum created in the cooling system will draw coolant from that expansion tank and help to refill the system. In practice, this sometimes works but not always.
-Bryan
-Bryan
- RRoller123
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- Joined: Sun Nov 13, 2011 2:04 pm
- Your car is a: 1980 FI SPIDER 2000
- Location: SAGAMORE BEACH, MA USA
Re: cooling system question
Yes, exactly! Good advice. If the level is low, air will get sucked back up into the system when it cools. You can see the top of the tube, suspended roughly in the center, of the bottle, when you look down inside the bottle. The coolant level should be above the top of the tube when the system is cold.
'80 FI Spider 2000
'74 and '79 X1/9 (past)
'75 BMW R75/6
2011 Chevy Malibu (daily driver)
2010 Chevy Silverado 2500HD Ext Cab 4WD/STD BED
2002 Edgewater 175CC 80HP 4-Stroke Yamaha
2003 Jaguar XK8
2003 Jaguar XKR
2021 Jayco 22RB
2019 Bianchi Torino Bicycle
'74 and '79 X1/9 (past)
'75 BMW R75/6
2011 Chevy Malibu (daily driver)
2010 Chevy Silverado 2500HD Ext Cab 4WD/STD BED
2002 Edgewater 175CC 80HP 4-Stroke Yamaha
2003 Jaguar XK8
2003 Jaguar XKR
2021 Jayco 22RB
2019 Bianchi Torino Bicycle
- RRoller123
- Patron 2020
- Posts: 8179
- Joined: Sun Nov 13, 2011 2:04 pm
- Your car is a: 1980 FI SPIDER 2000
- Location: SAGAMORE BEACH, MA USA
Re: cooling system question
'80 FI Spider 2000
'74 and '79 X1/9 (past)
'75 BMW R75/6
2011 Chevy Malibu (daily driver)
2010 Chevy Silverado 2500HD Ext Cab 4WD/STD BED
2002 Edgewater 175CC 80HP 4-Stroke Yamaha
2003 Jaguar XK8
2003 Jaguar XKR
2021 Jayco 22RB
2019 Bianchi Torino Bicycle
'74 and '79 X1/9 (past)
'75 BMW R75/6
2011 Chevy Malibu (daily driver)
2010 Chevy Silverado 2500HD Ext Cab 4WD/STD BED
2002 Edgewater 175CC 80HP 4-Stroke Yamaha
2003 Jaguar XK8
2003 Jaguar XKR
2021 Jayco 22RB
2019 Bianchi Torino Bicycle
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- Posts: 3798
- Joined: Fri Mar 15, 2019 11:23 pm
- Your car is a: 1969 and 1971 124 spiders
- Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Re: cooling system question
Thanks Pete, I forgot to mention that. I've seen some spiders that got air in the cooling system simply because the expansion tank was almost empty and so air was being sucked back into the radiator when the engine cooled down.RRoller123 wrote:The coolant level should be above the top of the tube when the system is cold.
-Bryan
- RRoller123
- Patron 2020
- Posts: 8179
- Joined: Sun Nov 13, 2011 2:04 pm
- Your car is a: 1980 FI SPIDER 2000
- Location: SAGAMORE BEACH, MA USA
Re: cooling system question
including mine!
'80 FI Spider 2000
'74 and '79 X1/9 (past)
'75 BMW R75/6
2011 Chevy Malibu (daily driver)
2010 Chevy Silverado 2500HD Ext Cab 4WD/STD BED
2002 Edgewater 175CC 80HP 4-Stroke Yamaha
2003 Jaguar XK8
2003 Jaguar XKR
2021 Jayco 22RB
2019 Bianchi Torino Bicycle
'74 and '79 X1/9 (past)
'75 BMW R75/6
2011 Chevy Malibu (daily driver)
2010 Chevy Silverado 2500HD Ext Cab 4WD/STD BED
2002 Edgewater 175CC 80HP 4-Stroke Yamaha
2003 Jaguar XK8
2003 Jaguar XKR
2021 Jayco 22RB
2019 Bianchi Torino Bicycle
-
- Posts: 28
- Joined: Fri Nov 13, 2020 10:09 pm
- Your car is a: 1979 fiat 124 spider
- Location: Apache Junction AZ
Re: cooling system question
I guess the more foolproof way, at least for initial start up would be like I used to do with my Renaults would be to hold the expansion bottle above the engine until the system is full and devoid of air. IT only takes a minute that. I may make some sort of basket tpe thingy to hold the ex bottle in place so it's easy to remove and replace.....and keep the water level above half way when cold. Thanks
Cheers, Warren
79 124 spider
18 Dodge Charger R/T
20 Vespa 300 GTS HPE
79 124 spider
18 Dodge Charger R/T
20 Vespa 300 GTS HPE
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- Posts: 1000
- Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2019 9:31 pm
- Your car is a: 1978 124 Spider 1800
Re: cooling system question
Y'all love to turn this into rocket science.
Get one of these:
https://www.mishimoto.com/mishimoto-coo ... aHEALw_wcB
Makes filling any coolant system a matter of seconds. You have to ask yourself how do the guys on the assembly line do this? They don't have the time to fiddle around with bleeder valves, holding bottles etc etc.
Get one of these:
https://www.mishimoto.com/mishimoto-coo ... aHEALw_wcB
Makes filling any coolant system a matter of seconds. You have to ask yourself how do the guys on the assembly line do this? They don't have the time to fiddle around with bleeder valves, holding bottles etc etc.