Hello everyone!

oresto · Post by **oresto** » Sat Jun 10, 2006 8:55 pm

Nice to see a web site for us fiat enthusiasts...I have a questions, sure that one of you has an answer. My 1981 Fiat spider has been sitting in the garage for 2 years.. decided to get it out and have some fun this summer. I have never had any problems with the fiat, although I noticed today after some clean up, the water temp goes into the red. The radiator is fine, no leaks, the fluid levels are fine, I know the thermostat opens. when I'm letting it idle with the cap off it will run a little over 190, once I put the cap on it climbs to the red in about 5 minutes....I have positioned the car so the front end is elevated higher than the back so the radiator is higher than the head when adding fluid....

I'm stumped..

Hawke187 · Post by **Hawke187** » Sun Jun 11, 2006 12:30 am

Well if you find out I have the exact same problem, I am still unsure what the actual temp is the gauge reads high ( with 2 diff gauges) but with a infra red thermometer the head reads about 200f at the sending unit.
Awaiting new sending unit and thermostat, for further ts.

And Welcome to the insanity...

Hawke

So Cal Mark · Post by **So Cal Mark** » Sun Jun 11, 2006 2:58 am

the fan should cycle on when the temp gauge shows 195, if the fan doesn't come on the temp will climb rapidly.

racydave · Post by **racydave** » Sun Jun 11, 2006 10:29 am

On different cars I have had trouble with air in cooling system, newer cars had a bleeder to purge air since rad is lower than part of cooling jacket. I will take and drive car on short trip and accelorate very hard to get good coolant flow, turn off eng and let cool 30 mins with plenty of fluid in resivour. when it cools and pressure goes down, it will draw from res. next run eng and monitor cooling fan going on and off, hopefully this will work? There are many posts on this subject, try others ideas.

Jim DeShon · Post by **Jim DeShon** » Sun Jun 11, 2006 5:36 pm

Yes, these engines are hard to purge all the air out of the cooling system. The radiator is lower than the cylinder head. Make sure the fan works first. On customer's cars, I would raise the front of the car as high as possible, then let it run at idle with the radiator cap off, and the heater valve fully on until the fan cycles at least a couple of times (slow process). I then would top off the radiator and coolant recovery tank and put the radiator cap on. Shut down the engine and lower the car to the ground. After the engine fully cools, recheck the recovery tank level. On my own car I added a backflush tee in the heater hose above the cylinder head to facilitate purging the system. ...J.D.