<VV> Reading the dang manual ...NO CORVAIR (unless yours has a radiator)

[Lonny Clark]

I used to have a Camaro with a leaky water pump. I used the temperature
gauge to determine when it needed more water. If I had been driving long
enough to warm the car up, and the temp gauge read under 200, I knew I
needed to put more water in it. So yes, it didn't show that the car is
overheating, it showed the opposite. If there were an idiot light instead of
a temp gauge, I would never have known. A couple of years later, I had an
Audi Fox that lost water to god-knows-where. I never did figure out where
the water went, must have been a bad head gasket, but the exhaust smelled
OK, and there were no visible leaks. With no temperature gauge, I knew that
when the heater stopped blowing warm air, I needed more water in the
radiator.

Good thing I got better-paying jobs as I grew older. Now I can afford to
actually maintain my cars. As a bonus, I can buy cars that cost more than
$1,000 (both of the cars above cost half of that).

Lonny

On 2/7/07, Charles Lee at Proper Pro Per <chaz at properproper.com> wrote:
>
> This is a good point, reading the manual and all ... Wish I had thought of
> that ...
>
> I think I may have fallen victim to a high ph level in my coolant causing
> the head gasket to blow.
>
> The ZX-2 that  I mentioned a few threads back (re eBay) went from 80+ mph,
> running beautifully (like it had for 130,000 miles before that (with zero
> repairs, except timing belt) died in a bout 10 seconds, without a groan.
> Just coasted to a stop, dead.
>
> One diagnosis was the coolant, and apparently somewhere in the manual (I
> haven't found it yet) it says to change the water ?
> What ?  Who in the world would change that ?  Oil OK, but water ?
>
> Apparently, the ph corrodes the gasket, which starts thing boiling (this
> confounded thing uses water to cool it !)
> Can you believe that ? Water ? Why ?  Air is free, and you don't have to
> change it (do you ?)
>
> Here's another thing I heard about this : the water temp gauge actually
> measures the temperature of the water.
> OK, that seems reasonable, until you think, "Hey, what if the water leaks
> out ?  Then what ?  There's no water to measure its temp, right ?"
> Well, what I have heard is that that is the reason my temp gauge did not
> register "hot" - because when the water decides to be somewhere else, the
> temp sensor has nothing to measure and doesn't say "hot" - it just says
> "all's well."
>
> Is this true ?
>
> Wouldn't it make more sense to measure the temp of the head ?
> Anyone know if this is true ?
>
> I need to get a shop manual for this thing to find out the truth.
>
> Later,
> Chaz
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <AeroNed at aol.com>
> To: <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2007 9:01 PM
> Subject: Re: <VV> Electric Fuel Pump...
>
>
> >
> > In a message dated 2/7/2007 10:34:43 P.M. Central Standard Time,
> > FrankCB at aol.com writes:
> >
> > This is  another good reason to at least skim  through the owner's
> manual
> > when  you buy a new car.  I'm the only person I  know (besides son Jim)
> > who
> > does that.
> >
> >
> > Add me to your list, but I read it intently. Must be an
> engineer  thing...
> >
> > BTW My electric fuel pump has the hot side wired through a relay that
> > closes
> > with ignition. The ground side goes through a Vega oil pressure switch.
> > The
> > reason for the Vega switch is that it has both open with pressure and
> > closed
> > with pressure. The closed with pressure goes to the pump and open with
> > pressure  goes to the dash light. I want to also install a inertia
> switch
> > someday.
> >
> > Ned
> > _______________________________________________
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