Finally home

[simonandjuliet]

I know it's an obvious question, but are you running with the correct coolant concentration ? It makes a big difference if you are just running with pure water.

[davidwheeler]

Rather than fiddling with the thermostat (and it is easy to check the thermostat in a bucket of hot water)   and flushing, if she is really overheating go the whole hog and get the radiator recored.  It is not too expensive and really makes a huge difference to cooling.  I did both my Fulvias and could then drive flat out (!) without worrying about overheating.  It seems to be a standard core, my local Easypart sent it away and it was back in a week.

[kernow]

OK, more miles under the belt, managed an hour run down the coast. Picture of temp reading below. This seems to operating temp most of the time.

Bought a thermometer from Maplins as recommended and took some readings after returning. Reversing onto the drive the fan kicked in and the readings were: top of radiator 200f, pipe bottom of rad 140f, pipe top of rad 160f and 210f next to thermostat / sender. This was with dashboard gauge reading 200f. Brian, you mentioned "within normal limits"? Can you remember what these should be?

Hi David, the radiator was refurbished and pressure tested about six months ago so I'm assuming this is OK.

Cheers

Chris

[davidwheeler]

It is a while since I had a Fulvia on the road (Nearly there though!) but that looks just a little high to me and confirmed by the IR thermometer readings.  As I remember, a blast down the motorway for a good few miles and the temp did not get much above half way on the gauge.   I would have thought 85C/185F would be quite high enough.  Interesting that the highest temperature was by the thermostat with such a considerable drop from there to the top of the rad.- what was the temperature of the head I wonder?  You can always try taking out the thermostat, even fully open it offers a considerable obstruction to flow and you don't really need one in the summer.
Incidentally, by "refurbished" do you mean re-cored or just cleaned?  I have never had any benefit from "radiator cleaners".

[fay66]

OK, more miles under the belt, managed an hour run down the coast. Picture of temp reading below. This seems to operating temp most of the time.

Bought a thermometer from Maplins as recommended and took some readings after returning. Reversing onto the drive the fan kicked in and the readings were: top of radiator 200f, pipe bottom of rad 140f, pipe top of rad 160f and 210f next to thermostat / sender. This was with dashboard gauge reading 200f. Brian, you mentioned "within normal limits"? Can you remember what these should be?

Hi David, the radiator was refurbished and pressure tested about six months ago so I'm assuming this is OK.

Cheers

Chris

Hello Chris, I would expect the gauge to sit around the midway mark, and as David says about 180-185 F, anything beyond that I would consider too High, once again I'm with David in that I think 210f  behind the thermostat is too high, I'm wondering if in fact you have one of the suspect thermostats as I'm sure I had, I'd also go along with taking the thermostat out as I've done, my temperature gauge with the thermostat out reads around 160f to about 170-180f, during the winter I fitted a rad muff and kept the two sliding flaps shut and she would warm up reasonably quickly then run at about 160f.
Have you had a leak test on the cylinders and a hydrocarbons test of the coolant? as I said before my sender unit wasn't reading correctly either, so I bought one from Omicron and the readings are now in keeping what the digital infrared unit is reading.

brian
8227

[stanley sweet]

The reading in the photo looks too high for comfort for me. Took my 1300 out the other day - temperature outside was 30. Did a 20 minute run and it sat at a smidgen over half. On a cooler day it sits at half. If I saw the needle that high on mine while running I would pull over to investigate. The only time I've seen mine getting a bit high was on a hot low-gear climb up Mont Ventoux......

[lancialulu]

Seems a bit high to me too although Jaeger temp meters are always higher than veglia in my limited experience. That reading is about when the fan should come on. Looking at the speedo is should not need the fan and read lower. Also seems oil pressure is too low. What does it read at 4500 in 4th when hot? Have you checked the ign timing as of too retarded could cause hot running.

[chriswgawne]

IMHO water temperature is too high and needs addressing.
The oil pressure is on the low side but may simply be the timing chain nozzle broken off - have you checked this yet? I cant see that the low oil pressure is connected to the high water temperature so I suggest you concentrate on the latter.
If it were me, with the information you have gathered so far from your engine I would look at the easier, simpler, cheaper  things first. I would remove the thermostat and check. Then if no change I would get the radiator recored, preferably in aluminium for enhanced cooling. At the same time as having the radiator out I would either change or at least disassemble the water pump (I recall some of the replacement pumps were v difficult to disassemble and refurbish).
Then there is little else left on the water cooling side unless you have a huge amount of sludge in your block and heater. However you could rig up some method of checking flow with the engine running by disconnecting the top hose and rerouting the water flow through a visible reservoir.
Hope this helps and dont despair.

[ColinMarr]

Not to be left out of this – I agree the temp gauge reading looks too high and the oil pressure a bit too low. Rather than butcher the thermostat, it may be that someone has a spare empty housing for you to try? I am sure I used to have one, but sadly can’t find it.

I also notice that you have a 140 MPH speedo, which is similar to the one fitted to my car. I had thought these were only fitted to 1600 Fulvias, with all others having 120 MPH units. I am happy to be wrong about this - it would make finding a replacement easier if and when it might be needed.

Colin

[HF_Dave]

I have been following this thred as my Fulvia is suffering a similar problem. I haven't driven my Fulvia yet as I have been restoring it for the past six years. I bought a Fulvia1300 with 25,000 miles on the clock with a rotten body and removed the engine, I drove the rotten car about 150 miles with no problems, that was four years ago. The engine is now in my car. I started it for the first time last week and it was pushing water out through the over flow pipe. I let it run for a while then turned it off and carefully removed the cap! Wow what a geezer!! water everywhere Where do I start. I removed the stat and dropped it into a pot of boiling water and it opened ok. I then removed  the small hose between the water pump and the stat housing. while messing about with all this my brother in law came for a visit and noticed a blob of solder on the lip of the filler neck on top of the rad, I have removed this  but meanwhile I ordered a new cap from Omicron.  I haven't started the engine yet as I have to replace the small pipe as it was gone quite hard. I am now  waiting for a delivery from Omicron I'll Keep you all posted as to what happens when I get back to it . Thanks. David. P.s while I am here does anyone know what the best oil filter to use , has anyone got a part number for one. Thanks again.

[lancialulu]

P.s while I am here does anyone know what the best oil filter to use , has anyone got a part number for one. Thanks again.

Fram PH8A is good I find and has the non return valve. Cheap too.

Tim

[kernow]

Thanks for the advice guys. The next good weekend we get I'll try and work through the possible solutions one at a time and feed back.

Cheers

Chris

[fay66]

I have been following this thred as my Fulvia is suffering a similar problem. I haven't driven my Fulvia yet as I have been restoring it for the past six years. I bought a Fulvia1300 with 25,000 miles on the clock with a rotten body and removed the engine, I drove the rotten car about 150 miles with no problems, that was four years ago. The engine is now in my car. I started it for the first time last week and it was pushing water out through the over flow pipe. I let it run for a while then turned it off and carefully removed the cap! Wow what a geezer!! water everywhere Where do I start. I removed the stat and dropped it into a pot of boiling water and it opened ok. I then removed  the small hose between the water pump and the stat housing. while messing about with all this my brother in law came for a visit and noticed a blob of solder on the lip of the filler neck on top of the rad, I have removed this  but meanwhile I ordered a new cap from Omicron.  I haven't started the engine yet as I have to replace the small pipe as it was gone quite hard. I am now  waiting for a delivery from Omicron I'll Keep you all posted as to what happens when I get back to it . Thanks. David. P.s while I am here does anyone know what the best oil filter to use , has anyone got a part number for one. Thanks again.

Dave,
We've had this discussion before regarding oil filters, here's the link http://www.lancia.myzen.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=3898.msg27935#msg27935 and we can get a discount on them.
Brian
8227

[kernow]

Still raining here in Cornwall. Any hint of decent weather seems to have coincided with being busy, but I'm hoping there will be progress soon.

Arrgghh!

Chris