Overheated by William R Blankley

more by William Blankley

So if the people get hot, so do the cars. MK had a telephone call from somebody about this and he gave them my telephone number. Not that I received a call, but as I am usually desperately wracking my brains for something to write about, there are only so many things that can happen to a car surely? It seems quite a useful subject especially as the poor Bronze Dragon has been a little hot under the bonnet of late. My particular trouble was the engine timing, it had ended up a little retarded. Apart from running hot the beast did not pull below fifteen hundred RPM. It felt a little like having a fast road cam without that thump in the back at three thousand or so.

This was the time that the water pump chose to quit on me. As I try and carry one spare of everything, just in case, it became just another irritation. point to note :- that the timing had been reset before the water pump had been changed. Doing the timing decreased the temperature, then replacing the leaking pump reduced it still further, don't ask me why, I just work here guv.

Another Bitch, why do the water pumps last but some ten thousand miles? They just don't make them like they used to, even if they were knocking them out cheap, the original pattern could last twenty years. these replacements don't last, the bearings rattle from new and the fan belt ends up misaligned. Fortunately, GM is not yet a Japanese corporation otherwise some poor soul would have to commit Honourable Sepuku. (This might be thought of as taking a proactive stance in the area of Quality Control.)

Persons interested in contemporary Japanese man-management are commended to read and inwardly digest the book "Shogun" by James Clavell. Please note that there is a subtle difference between being invited to commit Honourable Sepuku and hara-kiri, the latter being the vulgar form.

Overheating does have some more traditional causes of course, there is the thermostat. All the decent AC Delco or GM devices used to fail open, no problem. All the dodgy British versions failed closed, causing the engine to do a Chernobyl impression. I always use GM parts if I can obtain them, but there are some people who don't. Mind you those Expletive Deleted Water pumps.......

Then there are problems with the primary heat exchanger (radiator, you know, the dead fly trap at the front of yer motor) these do clog up over the years if there is a small leak and the water used to top up is at all hard. If the tubes are obstructed then no amount of flushing will clear them. Cure is usually a replacement, however, it is possible to remove the header tank and clear the tubes using 1.2 mm diameter welding rod if, most unlightly, the component is otherwise in good condition. I tried it once and it worked as I had nothing to lose. Fortunately the diagnosis had been confirmed with a quick look with a thermal imaging camera.

Do not expect to cruise flat out down the motorway for an hour at a time. I would think that a sustained 90mph is enough for a Manta A. It is not the high speed runs that cause the problem, it is the slow bit afterwards. Dropping into traffic is misery after a fast run, all the 1900 SR models we have driven did this to us, cooking and stalling.

William R Blankley

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