So on our way back from the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, Angela and I stopped in to visit Derrick and Sarah...and the Lancia brood. They were wonderful. And Derrick and Sarah were OK too. :-)
While not an official 'working' visit, Derrick and I managed to get a bit of diagnostic work done. Ange jumped into the Black '76 and fired her right up. For this cold-start, we had Ange pump the gas pedal once completely before starting the engine. I think this activates the choke, but that might be just a bunch of thought fragments smashing into one another to create an idea.
Anyhow, the car ran really well. Previously the idle seemed to climb over time, but with this running, it seemed to hold at about 2k rpm. However, it never dropped to what I would consider a normal warm idle. There didn't appear to be any burn-off of coolant, though there's maybe a bit of oil burning on-throttle.
Noted:
- Coolant hoses seemed to all be getting hot
- Passenger side coolant hose to the radiator got hot (we stupidly didn't check the driver side)
- Minor seeping from the radiator
- Radiator fans failed to come on at the standard 87 degrees Celsius
- Fascinating array of switches with unknown uses below the driver's side dash
- Brakes have no pressure whatsoever
I ordered a pile of stuff from Vicks and The Monte Hospital. Hopefully that stuff should be ready for our next work session. At which point, we should (fingers crossed) be able to get the car registered, insured, and road-tested! WOOO!
I did happen to check the driver side radiator hose - it was "about as hot" as the other side. I didn't hit it with the pyro but that's what I was doing when I was laying down on the ground between the silver and black. Did you check the coolant "return" line in the engine bay? Is there such a thing?
ReplyDeleteI would say that if the coolant line to the radiator got hot then its flowing coolant fine and the thermostat and pump are working fine. Although conduction will flow heat, the engine to the front is a long way and it wouldn't be fast.
ReplyDeleteWhat did you mean by there is some seeping from the radiator? like there is puffs of mist or there are drops to the ground?
Did you check the voltage from the sensor to kick on the fans? did you check the voltage to the fans to see if its the fan motor?
I remebered that you said it wasn't a "working visit" so my question can now be taken as "it might be good to check..."
does the engine stay at 2k idle? There should be a hose going from one side of the throttle plates to the other with some sort of adjustable air valve, this is used to adjust the throttle.
Well, I guess I just thought you were taking a rest down between Silver and Black. Actually, I don't remember seeing you get down there. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteThat's good news though, as combining that with Bob's thoughts on conduction (which I agree with), we're probably getting good flow.
As for a coolant 'return' line: There certainly is one, and it should circulate back into the engine at a reduced temperature. I haven't seen a diagram of the system though, so I'm not 100% certain which line it is.
Bob, your voltage thoughts were exactly as mine. Unfortunately I didn't have my multimeter, so we'll have to attempt them another time. Unless you want to buy one and play around, Derrick. Probably a bit of a moot point though, as I ordered the sensors and corresponding relays.
The engine does seem to hold the 2k idle. And I'm certain that the carb has a idle jet. I just don't know where. It seems to be a Weber carb, possibly a 32/36 DGV. However the 32/36 "DGV" line has three options: DGV (manual choke), DGEV (electric choke), and DGAV (coolant choke). I'm not sure which is on Black at the moment.
Don't know if it matters, or if you guys already knew this, but for the 1st minute or 2 after I turned on the car, I was keeping my foot on the gas a slight bit because every time I took it off the RPMs went down and I thought it would stall. After the 2 mins or so, I tried taking my foot off and the RPMs stayed up. That's when I got out of the car.
ReplyDeleteIf all that doesn't matter, then great, but I wanted to be able to contribute a little to the blog! :)
Ooooh, interesting tidbit, Ange. I wonder if that slight bit of throttle had some effect on the choke disengaging...or if it would have stalled and thus the choke isn't quite working as designed. Interesting indeed.
ReplyDelete