1981 Fiat Spider 2000 - What am I doing!? LOL!!

[jimmycakes401]

Do you think I can use a 90 degree elbow to bypass my heater core or should I make a 180 pipe? I'm just going to solder up some .75" copper for now until I save up enough for a core. Maybe in a month or two. I have a birthday coming up. : )

[124JOE]

i never bypassed a core
but if you can make a 180 go for it

[jimmycakes401]

I'm only bypassing for now because mine is leaking and I can't afford a new one. I want to get my spider on the road. If I didn't want to get this thing running so soon I'd wait for the core. Hopefully in the next two months I'll install a new one.

[jimmycakes401]

Just started it again. The house on top of my throttle body started leaking coolant. It was not doing that the other day. Any ideas?

[RRoller123]

Throttle plate heater. You can bypass it.

[jimmycakes401]

LOL! Cut it out! I'm not going to bypass everything! HA!

[jimmycakes401]

Is there a gasket in there that can fail?

[jimmycakes401]

Looks like I'm idling half way between 10 and 15 on the tach. That sound about right? Or do I need some adjustment?

[jimmycakes401]

I just realized. I don't think my radiator fan kicked on.... Hmmm.... I should test it some how. I did need to rewire it because the PO broke off one of the tabs. Could I have wired it backwards? Prettys sure I went by the existing tab.

[124JOE]

yes theres a gasket up there
do you have a volt tester?
test for pos at the fan if yes then run a ground and it should start
just be carefull it can chop a finger

[jimmycakes401]

Run a ground?

[124JOE]

its a neg switch
when it sences heat it connects a ground
it should have positive all the time
i think

yes run a ground wire to test

i have a snap on tester that tells me pos or neg
but a test light "hooked uo to ground" will light when on a positive.

[jimmycakes401]

Okay. I think I get it. Will do.

[jimmycakes401]

Here's my engine running yesterday. I need to buy more coolant. It didn't fill all the way. I also have to burp it properly. I think I'm going to drain the system back out and drill a hole in the thermostat. I forgot to do that. Still heating up between 190 and red. I'll test out the fan and everything this week. Clean the grounds, fuses, etc...

[RRoller123]

Yes, the fan itself has constant power through the light blue wire (from fuse 10), even when the ignition is off. The black fan wire goes to the switch at the bottom of the radiator, which closes the circuit to ground when the radiator gets hot enough (like around 195F on my car) and allows the fan to run until it cools. Out of that switch, the other black wire goes to an intermediate connector and then up to the ground pod on the drivers side fender. The intermediate connector and the ground pod are where the problem probably lies. Mine were well corroded. But this is odd: Even after fixing it all, the fan wouldn't come on without the overide (mine had one wired in by PO) until I properly burped the cooling system. It seems that there can be an air pocket trapped down there that keeps the switch from seeing actual temperature. Its not intuitive, but that is what the evidence points to.