I hear a lot about overheating in the hot weather, several members in the
local club have been fighting this problem with extra rows, extra fans,
water wetter, etc. to no avail.
It's ironic that I have the opposite problem. The only time the gauge on my
'71 runs on the "N" is when it's hot outside. Even in a heat wave the gauge
stays glued on "N". But if it's cool, it won't reach "N". In fact if it's
below 50 deg F, I have to either cover part of the radiator with cardboard
to get the temp up or run with the choke out. (I think the fact that the
engine needs choke just to keep from dying, proves that the engine really is
too cold.)
Everything on my engine is stock, and I'm running a new thermostat.
(Although with the poor quality of reproduction parts these days, new
doesn't mean much.)
I can't explain why so many people have trouble with overheating, but I
think my car proves that the original design does have adequate cooling
capacity.
I suppose an engine running with less than normal efficiency might run hot,
like if the ignition timing is off. One might try premium gas. (I still
maintain that the HC engine must be run on premium.) I once had a Chevy
Sprint that ran just fine on the recommended 82 octane, that is until you
tried to take it up a mountain range. Uphill it would overheat and get weak
as a kitten. With premium it stayed cool. Anyway, trying a tank of premium
won't cost much and can't hurt anything.
Bob Donahue (Still stuck in the '50s)
Email - bobmgtd@insightbb.com
52 MGTD - NEMGTR #11470
71 MGB - NAMGBR #7-3336
/// or try http://www.team.net/cgi-bin/majorcool
/// Archives at http://www.team.net/archive
|