Excess heat

[michel richard]

Looking for a little help,

I reassemble d my engine some time ago and now, when I run for only a short distance say 5 miles, all is fine. After that it starts running rough, especially at idle: my oil pressure light comes on and it starts to smoke and because difficult to restart, if I turn it off.

I get the iompression that it overheats and I wonder if my thermostat and fresh air flaps are working properly.

The little lever on which the thermostat wire hooks appears to be all the way back: it is almost horizontal and pointing towards the back of the car. Are the flaps open in this position ? If I just unhook the thermostat will the flaps come to rest open or closed ?

The temp gauge in the cockpit does'nt move much but, somehow, I never really trusted it and am not sure it works at all, I have never seen it much above the left line, let alone anywhere near the red zone.

Any thoughts would be appreciated !

[michel richard]

Correction:

at the end of first paragraph: "becomes" dificult to start, not "because" difficult.

Still learning to type !

[john rogers]

I think the flaps are OPEN with spring tension. The thermostat pulls them shut and they open as the thermostat expands. If the cable is unhooked, as ours is, the engine will run a little cools and take slightly longet to warm up, but this is So Cal. The other problems sound like oil pump related or maybe there is a blockage in the oil system. I would drain and filter the oil and check the filters very carefully.