A/C, running temp, other myths

[Pottree@domain.elided]

In a message dated 7/3/2002 4:45:41 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
owner-alfa-digest@domain.elided writes:


> Now I've got a lower temp fan switch in, a new radiator that's 6-8 months 
> old and a 60/40 (distilled water/coolant) mix.  Everyone's told me that 
> with the AC on in traffic they're between 175F-200F.  I have never 
> experienced this temp range in either of my Verdes!  Am I doing something 
> wrong?

See previous post on A/C (quick take: a well maintained stock 87 Milano Gold 
never ran hot even w/ A/C in hot weather).  

What would the difference be on a Verde?  Engine produces more heat?  I could 
not even guess.  I think it should be the same if everything is working 
right.

BUT (<a big word), I would never believe a particular figure reading, such as 
degrees of temp, from any Alfa dash gauge unless I had a second opinion from 
an impartial instrument.  I just don't believe they are designed to have any 
consistent relationship to reality.  Now if YOUR car always seems to run at 
an indicated 175 and all of a sudden it is reading 250, there is something 
going on to pay attention to.  But I would not be so sure the increase is 
truly from 175 to 250, just that it is from the usual, lower temp, to one 
that is higher by an unknown amount.

I am not complaining; this is part of their charm.  It is the difference from 
the standard, or the trend, that you need to be mindful of in an Alfa, IMHO.  
I would never bet that a car indicating, say, a temp of 175 was actually at 
that temp, just that is was someplace on the continuum between freezing and 
boiling.  In this regard I am not sure if this is different from in any other 
make, but everyone who has seen a miraculous improvement in something like 
oil pressure result from nothing more than changing out a sender for the 
idiot light knows what I mean.

Perhaps I am "from Missouri" - which is an American expression for a 
dyed-in-the-wool skeptic or a real cynic -  but I just don't believe what a 
machine says just because it says it.  On a trip to Las Vegas (yech) last 
weekend in the GTV6, on one stretch the speedo, which previously seemed 
reasonably accurate, indicated 60 mph.  We passed one of those electronic 
radar readouts of Your Speed, and the Nevada State Police had me pegged at 
58.  AFAIK, either one could be right, they are close enough for government 
work to me, but I see no more reason to believe one (or either) is dead on 
right than the other.

BTW, the marginal GTV6 A/C did a slightly better than OK job of it, even 
though the daytime temp in Vegas was 115F the days I was there (cooling to 
maybe 85 or 90 at night), and although in the worst combo of conditions 
(stop-and-go driving, daylight, heat) the temp did show a bit of an increase 
above the usual +/-175 reading, it never seemed to get truly hot and I never 
had to shut off the A/C to keep from overheating.

Had one little bit of car trouble, which has now been fixed for a parts total 
of 19 cents and a contribution of time of about one minute. (The intense heat 
was the final death knell for one of the plastic connectors holding on the 
front air dam; a field fix of the dangling dam got us home - I used a spring 
steel paper clip (usually used to moderate the tug of the shoulder belt) to 
clip the dam to the fender until more permanent repairs could be affected.

See you at the Convention!

Charlie
LA, CA, USA
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