[Unkle Munkle]

Hi all,

As expected with any new (second-hand) Alfa purchase, a few questions and quirks!

The temperature gauge doesn't seem to go up hardly at all when going along. I know it's been very cold recently and the heater is also on so maybe not much of an issue.

When stationery with the engine idling, the temperature gauge goes up and the fan kicks in as it should. The air con also works fine and the fan kicks in as it should.

Does this sound like an obvious issue like the thermostat? I believe the coolant was changed just before I got it so could it have some air in the system - guess I could take the lid off the expansion tank and run it? Are there any other sensors/switches than can be checked. It all runs fine and doesn't use any coolant so don't think it's anything serious. I'm just curious if this is normal or if the temp gauge should be reading higher when driving along.

Loving the car though!

Cheers!

 

[AussieAlex]

The temp gauge should be sitting on, or VERY close to, 90 once the car is up to temperature. Even in free flowing, motorway driving. So I would advise to change the thermostat

 

[Davffc]

Sounds like the common thermostat issue. Get a genuine stat if you can but if going aftermarket avoid Circoli, been issues with them recently.

 

[John C.]

Very good people to deal with.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Alfa-Rome...at-60653946-/181495309452?hash=item2a41f6a48c

 

[Unkle Munkle]

Thought so, thanks chaps. Easy enough to change over.

 

[ratko]

hi, it can be from two reasons, first the thermostat is not closing the block so the water circulates all the time, so when idling the water gets hot and the temp rises but as soon as you get it for a drive the cold air hits the radiator, the temperature drops and with that the gauge. or the thermocouple has wrong readout and it needs to be replaced. But the problem sounds like you have a thermostat issue.

 

[Unkle Munkle]

Ask a stupid question but, when changing the thermostat, are you likely to lose all the antifreeze or is it likely to lose a lot of it?

It's recently been changed (before I bought the car).

 

[kandlbarrett]

You can catch it and re-use. You will loose some as you won't catch it all.If it is red top up with red if it is blue top up with blue.

Some good photos here on how it's done. You must destroy some of the hose clamps to get them off so have some appropriate sized jubilee clips as spare and also get a set of the special hose pliers as that makes it much quicker and easier job to do.

http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/engi...ow-to-change-a-thermostat-on-a-twinspark.html