The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

See where it says R7 on the hose ? This needs to be be R9. Good for modern unleaded with a hint of ethanol, which is getting more common. Anything else will crack like yours.

Tony

Thanks Tony, R9's ordered,

Managed to make a start on some work this evening,
The old radiator should have been changed same time as the water pump,

Looks like an 1850 rad to me, Sprint ones have much denser fins...

The iridium plugs are good but not very forgiving on older engines which are much less lean burn than newer ones, unless you're running a race engine. The net result is they often soot up. The only real advantage is that they never really wear down!

Thanks Mark, I'll keep an eye on them, but they do seem to work well at the moment, you
can actually feel the difference.

Alun, the radiator was changed at the same time as the engine, back in 1990'ish,
its marked Woolaston 901.

Looks like a bin job, unless its worth recycling or recore.

Mahesh wrote: Looks like a bin job, unless its worth recycling or recore.

Don't scrap it. The side tanks can be reused!

Is that an old pic or have you pulled the manifold and pump again?

Jonners

Jonners, yep I've pulled out the water pump again, there is a small leak when the engine
is started, admittedly it has stopped lately but a change of O rings won't hurt whilst I change
the radiator, the O rings are slightly kinked.

Another reason is the inlet manifold has an air leak around the carb mounts, its easier to
have a good look on the workbench.

Time permitting, a coat of paint may go on.

Tried some Hammerite gold on the engine, but it's too pale,
On the plus side, the new radiator is in, not much else yet,

That gold paint is annoying....especially on the alloy head.

I think I'd go for black engine enamel on the block and bare alloy on the head. I painted my block recently but it was black to start with
after I did my pump.

Jonners

Managed to put the car back together yesterday, filled up coolant and oil, only to
have a airlock, the temp gague went up to 3/4 very quickly and stayed there.

On the plus side, the idle has improved in the sense that it is now stable.

This morning after some hose squeezing the airlock has gone, and the temp gague
goes up slowly (11 mins) to 1/2 mark and the thermostat kicks in.

But as per previous posts sod never leaves me, there is a small trickle from the
engine slot beneath the water pump cover, damn, this happened last time as
well, it did stop on its own after a while, but this does not inspire confidence before
a long trip on Wednesday.

Sorry to say that if your top seal is doing the job you should be trickle free...

On my last attempt the "trickler" had been standing a good while between starts and I found some corroded gunge on the impellor base
that was clearly to blame even though the seal was new.

New top seal and cleaned up impellor sorted it.

Jonners

Removed the pump yesterday, I will admit that I cheated, by only undoing the hoses from the
radiator and return pipe, and moving the inlet manifold with carbs to get access, so much for
doing a nice job previously.

Checked the seal and bottom of the impellor, and all is smooth and flat, no debris, there was a
smear of copper grease, which I have cleaned off.

Refitted yesterday, tested this morning, still weeps now and again but a lot less, I may have to
try a different version of the seal.

Tuesday morning as per previous post, the water pump was still dribbling a bit.

Had to know before Wednesday morning, took the car for a short 2 mile drive to fuel up. At the petrol station there was no leakage on the forecourt.

Upon returing? I left the car idling for 20 mins, still no leak, job done

Wednesday morning 5am, took the car on a 180 mile run, watching the temp gague more than the road, the car made it.
Temp gague stayed a fraction over half and the heater was blowing out the same amount of heat all the time without change, 50 mph max just in case.

Luckily I had gone to see Steve (Carledo) who took off the radiator cap, and said there is no pressure, upon loosening the thermostat housing filler, pressure was apparently there, but just none to the expansion bottle.

Seems like the cover is blocked (ultrasonic time tomorrow) we did not go further with this, as it was working after a fashion, and I still had to get back home. The other two top hoses were pressurised and would not squeeze much.

Suffice to say I reached home, at let's just say 70 mph, and the temp did not waiver from just over half.

Seems like the thermostat and viscous coupling are working, and not to forget the radiator.

I have to add a bit to this. Mahesh arrived at my house in Shropshire and pulled the bonnet after a (very) long run, he switched the engine off and I, VERY gingerly and carefully, released the rad cap on the expansion bottle. Not only was there NO pressure whatsoever under the cap, but on closer investigation, the bottle and the water in it were relatively cold. HOWEVER the 2 top hoses appeared to be under pressure, even with the rad cap removed. From here I started to loosen the brass filler on the stat housing, after a couple of threads there was a quite loud PSSSSSHT and water started coming out. So my theory is that the little expansion hose neck on the stat housing is blocked solid. Time will tell! But this may account for his persistent erratic water pump leak since there was nowhere else for the excess pressure to go but out past the water pump seals.

Steve