Alfasud Sprint 1.7QV water pump leakage

> My first car, a 33, was the same so I assumed it was normal.

Try to clean radiator with compressed water long enough. Sometimes there is
also a need of hand job to make the radiator "leafs" straight with flat
screwdriver. Be sure that spare cooling container is closed (cup tightened
enough), the cooling system is a pressure one - if the pressure exist the
liquid has higher boiling temp. It can be that the ventilator cannot produce
proper air flow on radiator, or even the temp sensor in the radiator doesn't
turn ventilator on at the proper temp. To check where is the problem you can
unplug the wires from sensor located afair on the passenger side of the
radiator and join them both together (if there are two) or to join it to the
negative (chassis) (if there is only one wire) - that should turn on
ventilator permanently. Now, if you don't drive the car the vent should
properly cool the radiator. Sometimes it will even not let the engine reach
90C. If it's will be stil too hot it means that possibly there is a need of
cooling system cleaning - 17 years you say ? Use some products available
on your local store, but be sure that they are not dangarous for aluminum.
All should be possible without involving high service cost

I found all pre-Fiat Alfas to be rather "cool". I drove over the years many
of them, staring from '60 straight-4, threw boxers and finally V6 - they are
all working in ~ 80 C degrees (more in traffic). That's why those engines
last so long, when treated properly. I personally own also 164 TB which has
over 300k km now and still working nice (proove of Alfa durability for my
BMW'friends).

All the best
Szymon

"Catman" > wrote in message
...
> Regan wrote:
>> The
> > only thing that worries me slightly is the description in the Hayne's
> > manual, "It is not easy to remove"! Sounds ominous to me.
>
> It's not. It's an utter pig.

It's probably one of the hardest jobs you can do on a car... I've done it at
least once. I may have blanked out any subsequent times from my memory. I
did it with the engine in situ. Access is poor. OTOH if you take the engine
out you'll be rolling it around the garage floor with the forces needed to
get the pump out and you still won't do it. I ended up chiselling off the
pump, bit by bit. As the block is iron, and pump alloy, this works OK.

Unfortunately it's one job I need to do on my 'Sud before I put it back on
the road. Do I still count as an Alfista if it's in the garage, SORNed? :-)

Mark

The radiator seems in quite good condition, with a slight bit of
corrosion in one corner but nothing serious. After I'd flushed it out
(very little dirt) and brushed the flies off the fins were very
straight, except where I'd made a few knuckle shaped dents on the inner
face.
I flushed the whole system out with a hose pipe before replacing the
drain plugs and refilling but it wasn't really noticeably dirty, just
slightly opaque. The thermostat is fine, as is the electric fan and
temperature switch, all opening/closing, switching on and off as
expected. Apart from the fact that I can't unscrew the thermostat
cover, it turns ~5° then blocks and as usual, looks nothing like the
illustrations in the workshop manuals!

Pic of ex water pump with heavily damaged castings:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...SprintPump.jpg
I can heartily recommend the lump hammer and cold chisel technique, the
Hayne's manual suggested 'a piece of wood' but I went through 8 chunks
of oak trying that.

It would be the perfect car if only it didn't rust !

"Regan" > wrote in message
oups.com...

>Pic of ex water pump with heavily damaged castings:
>http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...SprintPump.jpg

I seem to remember mine was in many more pieces :-)

Mark

Regan wrote:
<snip>
>
> It would be the perfect car if only it didn't rust !

Absolutely my favourite.
--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
Alfa 116 Giulietta 3.0l (Really) Sprint 1.7 75 TS 156 TS S2
Triumph Speed Triple: Black with extra black bits
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

I found a picture of the same model of thermostat on this page :
http://www.alfa-restoration.co.uk/th...thermostat.htm
Which explains why I couldn't unscrew the housing, it's a sealed unit!

Regan wrote:

> I found a picture of the same model of thermostat on this page :
> http://www.alfa-restoration.co.uk/th...thermostat.htm
> Which explains why I couldn't unscrew the housing, it's a sealed unit!

Coolant drain plugs? Does *anyone* use them, *ever*?
--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
Alfa 116 Giulietta 3.0l (Really) Sprint 1.7 75 TS 156 TS S2
Triumph Speed Triple: Black with extra black bits
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

>Coolant drain plugs? Does *anyone* use them, *ever*?

I did, but only because they came out easily, unlike 99.9% of the other
bolts on the car !

Regan wrote:

>>Coolant drain plugs? Does *anyone* use them, *ever*?
>
> I did, but only because they came out easily, unlike 99.9% of the other
> bolts on the car !

Blimey. I always use the bottom hose
--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
Alfa 116 Giulietta 3.0l (Really) Sprint 1.7 75 TS 156 TS S2
Triumph Speed Triple: Black with extra black bits
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk