Re: 156 Engine Temperature

On Sat, 15 Dec 2007 00:54:04 +0100, "Tony De Palma"
<tdepalma[remove]@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

>
>"Paul Mosley" <paul@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> ha scritto nel messaggio 
>news:13lr9iq6603jg48@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> Hi I've just bought a 156 JTS S****twagon and the temperature gauge
hardly 
>> moves unless I run the engine while stationary.  I imagine that the 
>> thermostat is stuck open.  Is this a comon problem and is it easy to 
>> replace?
>
>
>Hi.... excude the question, but what are you worried about ?
>The temperature value is quite normal because you must take into account
>that  the water/cooling liquid pump is on the cylinder head and therefore
>the cooling circuit has a higher efficiency in terms of sending round low

>temperature
>water. In normal running conditions, 50° is normal, but if it doesn't
seem 
>right
>to you for some reason, get it checked.
>Although I have a tweaked up 1.9jtd (diesel) 156 (1999) with 216000km
>my water temp is stuck at 50° ever since I bought it and the car is still
>going with fantastic accelerations and great performance.

There are two matters here:

1. 50C is not the correct normal water temperature for a car engine.
That's cool enough to put your hand in without scalding.

2. If the car is run with a cool engine, I'd expect it to wear quicker
than an engine running at the correct temperature. Metal parts will
not be run at designed temperatures so tolerances will not be optimal,
oil will not reach the optimal temperature so will be thicker than it
should. By-products of combustion (acids and water) will be more
likely to remain in cooler oil.

However, I'd expect any negative effects to be very slow acting due to
the nature of this particular fault and they will still depend on the
driving conditions of the car. For example, it will have no effect on
a car that just does very short distances and would not normally fully
warm up anyway. 

The wear may not even be noticeable until you'd expect a car engine to
wear out but it's still not a situation I'd tolerate in any car I own.
I'd also add that I'd be *vastly* more paranoid of the effects on an
Alfa petrol engine than the effects on an Alfa diesel engine.

-- 
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email without 'Alfa' in subject will be auto-deleted..sorry!)