I cant remember when last I had a build thread, so heres my Swagon build.
Things will start to pick up in the next three months as Im attending the annual show in Kimberley.
I bought Adrien's wagon, while the color is not my favorite I wanted a good base to start off with. So far Ive bought GT Toora's(jetfins), GTA style headlights, black leather interior from a sedan(rear backrest dont fit), side skirts and some stickers.
Coilies in the form of Maxtracs are on their way.
Mechanically Ive only replaced two tyres(might be three soon as I have a leak somewhere) and Speenvark helped me replace a wrongfully diagnosed slave cylinder, my master cylinder is acting up, oh and a very expensive batery. The car is smooth and drives well...slow compared to my previous cars but I like its character...it will be low and slow.
Plans for the coming months are:
Split GTV wheels
Coilies
Bodywork
Fit the rest of the interior
Fit GTA headlights
Fit side skirts
Source a Cupra front lip
Louder backbox
Roof racks and roof box or bike carrier
I'm not sure if this is the case for your car but in my VAG appliance, a (high) pressure switch/sensor sends a signal to both the compressor and rad fan control module. If the AC refrigerant pressure is high, the sensor sends a signal to the rad fan control module to run fans at high speed. Too high refrigerant pressure (30 bar plus) will switch the compressor off. In short, it could be a duff AC pressure sensor or wiring which sends the wrong signal.
Bad radiator or oil temp sensors could possibly also confuse your rad fans and temp gauges. A scan would help point you in the right direction.
Drove to JHB today...same syory...but...on the way back in hot weather...boom, temps go to the limit and overheat light is on. Pull off, water boils, fans are screaming.
No leaks.
Temp goes down when stationary, up to limit at speeds of 80-120(didnt go over that)
I was helped by highway patrol...they assisted me in removing the thermostat and it was stuck closed.
I was happy and removed it from the housing thinking it would allow the car to run cool...
Nope.
Same story...at speed hits the temp limit.
I called my bro in law to coke fetch my fam and he and I drove back in the Wagon stopping everytime the temp kreeps to the limit.
We opened the water bottle...water steamed out, we then topped with cold water and it worked.
Then wed drive to 100 or 80 and free/coast downhill and the temps would drop and then wed put in 6th again and go uphill and temps would climb, coast, temps drop, back into drive, temps rise.
We manage to do this all the eay without the engine ever going into the red, the last stretch of about 37km it never went over 3/4 due to the coast/drive combo.
Currently:
No leaks.
No thermo
Fans kick in just after 90
What else can it be? Please dont say waterpump.
How much is a waterpump?
What kind of job is involved?
I dont suppose it will be done by Friday in order for me to drive down to KBY to attend the show I have been building the car for...im beat.
My friend it's easy to check water pump. See if the water is flowing. However, if the pump is just worn. Its not gonna show. You can see by looking in the water bottle. The water should move.
But in all honesty it sounds like the head or one of them has gone.
I'd get it checked out asap.
Water pump job is the same as a cam belt.
But IIRC the belt was done and pump replaced not so?
Air lock can be bled via the bleeder on the pipe going to the heater. Or if that's too much effort, loosen pipe by the thermo coming from radiator. As Angie pours water in by bottle you should see water and bubbles flowing out. Stop when only water flows out.
My gtv and 147 blew the head gaskets and blew from combustion chamber to water jacket. All it did was heat up and push water out.
Also pump does not HAVE to be done. If it's metal and correct anti freeze was used it should last about 200'000km. I've heard Ian say that the plastic ones melt if water gets used and metal ones corrode away (latter was the result of my 147's head failure).
If it's just a pump then yes you can have the pump replaced by Tuesday never mind Wednesday (stock dependent)
Testing for head gasket leak is also easy. Take it to a radiator place and they can test if there are gasses in the water. Its like a 10 minute test. Quick quick
GTA was sold because it was sold, dont see what it has to do with this post Avi?
I cant exactly drive the car anywhere...but why would it be heads though? As explained there is no water loss.
I see numerous threads on here where its definately waterpump and the symptoms are the same...at speed the temps rise, one thread explained how the belt aparently slips on the impeller...
I still dont know what to do, will get my head clear and think in the week, think its a foregone conclusion that its not going anywhere to Kimberley lol.
Ill buy a waterpump and replace that ONLY...lets move forward by telling me what I need? Ill be doing it jyself hopefully wuth a little guidance and help.
In short it is a cam belt off job. You will need locks as the cans will jump out of place. In a perfect world you can do JUST the pump. But remember there are tensioners and idlers, they SHOULD be replaced. But then again this is meant to be a complete cam belt service when doing a pump. But since you're saying everything else was done. Just the pump will suffice.
Lance that car is stunning! Well done! Now back to ur issue. First question...are you sure both your fans are working? I had an issue with my 156 whereby the heat gauge used to climb to the 3/4 mark and continue if the car was driven hard however I never allowed it to exceed I always stopped the car. When I looked under the hood with the fans on I noticed only 1 fan running. At that time I wasnt sure if both fans needed to come on together or just 1 and then the next and so on. I had 2 call my dad 2 run the GT to temp and c if both do come on. Eventually while my 1 fan was running I held the wiring and noticed that the 2nd fan did start running. After fiddling with the wiring I found the connector (if you stand facing the car its the bottom left connector) had a loose connection. I bent the pin and reinserted the plug and ever since the car is 100s. My fans come on at around 93-94degC and on the open it sits around 70degC. So just ensure both are running. I use an ELM 327 BT adapter and Alfa OBD to switch my fans on now and again just to makesure both work as well as low n hi speed
MES activates both fans ar both speeds. I idled car again...car revs freely and fans kick in kist past 90 but temps rise esp when keeping engine rev constant.
The thermo was replaced last year...check the invoice pic posted. This thermo was stuck closed when I removed it yesterday after the car went into redline.
So no thermo now, car should not heat up but it does...as said I cant drive the closest rad shop is about 29km from me.
We know the Thermo stuck closed, but I removed it so the water should flow and the car should NOT heat up at speed but take forever to heat up due to the water constantly running through the system.
If your water circulates too fast, it is just as bad as circulating too slow... Too slow and the water heats up too high temp before it gets to the radiator.. Too fast and the water has no time to loose temperature before going back into the motor, thus heat soaking the whole water system
I would rather fix the problem now. If a project drags on too long with unexpected mini projects inbetween then it becomes an irritation. Rather get it working. Have a taste of #stancedlife and enjoy you SWAGon for a while. Then when you start to get bored you feed the powerhungry busso.
Lance, here is a similar incident on 156.net on a 2.5 V6 but not quite identical to yours. What bothers me is that the engine heats up under load and cools when decelerating, as if the pump is working but the impeller is slipping. A non functioning pump would just overheat the engine and stay there: Alfa Romeo forum: Alfa 156 v6 2.5 engine temperature high
While replacing pump and stat, now is also a good time for a flush and refill of coolant. Add some Aqua Clear to the water. It acts as a "water wetter" to lubricate things like the water pump bearings, keep temperature sensors and thermostat shaft clean and free of calcification. Also good at rust prevention and will keep your coolant looking brand new for at least a year.
I suspect a physical issue on your car, either the stat or pump or both. Put the stat in boiling water to see if it opens at all. The bad thing about these thermostats is that they fail open, and with time start closing until they cause overheating. The closing event happens within 2 or 3 trips and if you don't notice it then your engine is easily destroyed. Luckily this hasn't happened to you. You know your stat has failed open when your car either takes longer than 7 mins to warm up (or longer than 7km) or if your temp drops below 70 or as in this case goes beyond 95 degrees.
These thermostats usually only last 2 years but it is not unusual for them to fail prematurely.
The cooling fans on the 156 are, as previously mentioned, operated by temperature switches in the radiator as well as on the 4-way AC pressure switch. They also come on when oil starts overheating but this is when the oil is WAY too hot. Like 125 degrees or something.
In the 156:
Interior temp display comes from cylinder hear temperature.
ECU temp display comes from engine block near stat
Fan trigger switches com from radiator.
Each of these will read differently as they serve different purposes. A good check is to drop a thermometer into the coolant reservoir when the water is below 80 degrees so that you don't scald yourself, and verify this with the gauge. This will give you an idea of what your gauge error is.
On your AC:
There is a dodgy AC +ve wire on some 156's that sometimes shorts or has a very poor connection. this is the wire that connects to the green wire on the AC compressor that activates the clutch. If you can directly short from battery +ve to this wire and your ac turns on and cools then you have this dodgy connection. This is of course assuming that your gas pressure is correct. This wire runs to a relay in a black box at the battery. If the relay is working then you should hear it click when you turn on the AC. To correct this dodgy wire, you need to basically replace the wire from the relay to the compressor and hey, the compressor now kicks in.
Thanks Ian, I have read this thread and it basicaly points to my problem, at speed the belt slips.
Im going to cruise it to Silverton radiators this morning as they will do all the tests but Ill point them to rhe ones I know is NOT the issue.
We know the Thermo stuck closed, but I removed it so the water should flow and the car should NOT heat up at speed but take forever to heat up due to the water constantly running through the system.
Lets hear what thwy say so that I can KNOW whats wrong and start ordering part(s).
Im thinking of doing the whole belts and tensioners since In going to be there in the vicinity...it will probably help the pending sale of the car round about Dec/Jan if anyones interested.
as I understand it, the busso set up is a 3 way sort of set up. it isint just open and closed. when 'closed' the water is pumped around in the block to ensure even heating, then when it 'opens' all the flow is directed to the rad. so if you have no stat you only get partial flow to the rad with most of the water circulating in the block and not being cooled.
yup, something like that, in fact i queried it with Gerhard last week, i looked at my stat & although it was "closed" (cold) water could still flow. Gerhard explained it to me & that's the way it's designed.
I haven't put the thermo in boiling water yet, will do later.
The thermo was replaced last year june...maybe the closed state it was in at the time was 'normal'?
Sent from my HUAWEI GRA-UL00 using Tapatalk
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Alfa Romeo Forum
7.1M posts
216.5K members
Since 2001
The friendly Alfa Romeo Club - If you are looking to buy or you are already an Alfa Romeo owner, join alfaowner.com today to get the most from your ownership