[urq] Cooling System Again ...

[urq]

I hooked up the compression gauge the other day ... readings were
117-117-110-112-130 ... all completely within the spec per Bentley, but that
reading from #5 seems to be an outlier to me.  I shone a flashlight down the
spark plug holes and didn't see anything that might be causing the higher
reading.  As noted earlier regarding the plugs, the piston crowns look to me
as they should ... if any were different than the others it was #4, which
looked a bit more oily than the others.  

I'm running the car with the lower shroud out, and only with pure distilled
H2O ... was planning to add the anti-freeze, but since things remain sketchy
I haven't reinstalled it.  I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't button
everything back up the way it should be and seeing how it behaves.  I am
trading that against installing the spare radiator to see if it makes a
difference.  

Steve B
San Jose, CA (USA)

-----Original Message-----

Thanks to all for the suggestions!  I too was considering some sort of head
gasket problem ... just not the sort of thing I was hoping to have to do so
soon after having the engine installed.  A compression check is going to be
a lot simpler than swapping out the radiator.  Last night I pulled the spark
plugs ... all looked to be in normal condition, in fact the ground electrode
color was the best and most consistent I had seen in quite some time ... no
signs of steam cleaning or oil fouling ... but of course the compression
check will tell the tale ... 

Steve B
San Jose, CA (USA)

-----Original Message-----

Well, it seems to me that the MC-2 is warming up too quickly.  I have
flushed the cooling system and replaced the thermostat.  Some had suggested
that the radiator was clogged . the infrared thermometer shows a fairly
consistent temperature profile.  I'm thinking that the fact the radiators
are heating tells me the water pump is working OK.  This situation seems to
have developed suddenly (I have a VDO water temp gauge in the console).  I
have a spare radiator I can install fairly quickly for a test . and I'm
thinking that I'll do that test while I am still running distilled H2O.
Other than a water pump, what problem might cause the engine to warm up so
quickly?