cold blooded 128 coupe1100

[ghostdancing]

since a month or so my car doesnt rich the normal water temp: the guage remains e well before the middle of the scale, also after an hill or with the car idling stopped in traffic.

have to say that i drive the car for distances limited to 3 - 15 km (i live in a small island)

it's winter here, but a mediterranean winter, so not very cold at all (never below 10°C this year)

have to say also that before the thing worked as supposed to be: gauge in the middle, fan that kick in when it's needed..all regular

so i suspect a locked-open thermostatic valve.. (i exclude gauge failure as opening the trunk, it's rather evident that the engine\water hoses are not so hot)

question is: is that so bad for the motor? probably it will burn a bit more oil due more clearance rings\cilynder.. or more serious problems can occur running the engine at 60 - 70 °C?

 

[kmead]

It can be bad if the car doesn’t get close to boiling get the oil up to temp to get rid of water in the oil. Water isn’t a great lubricant.

You could also be running very rich which means the oil could be washing off the cylinders. Have you checked your oil level lately? If it smells of gasoline versus just oil that could be your problem.

Is your timing correct? Didn’t you recently change points to an igniter solution? Is it running retarded timing and there for not getting to temperature? Meaning poor combustion.

 

[ghostdancing]

kmead, thanks for your inputs; when i fitted the transistor ignition, the car was yet running cold; have to say that some weeks before this i fitted a set of bosch platinum spark plugs (following an advise found in the tech wiki pages here in the forum); i noticed that the old champion s.plugs that i removed where marked N9YC, while the bosch are WR7DP.. so different temp grade..probably the cold running started there.. but i can hardly figure a so different water temp change can be motivated by the new s.plugs..

i check oil level often (did not checked for gasoline smell: will do ASAP)..the car otherwise goes well.. crispy acceleration, smooth and quick rpms progression..so it doesnt really make me think to a retarded ignition\overrich mixture.. note also that before fitting the transistor ignition, it had the tendence to tickover (i mean pre-ignition..not sure tickover it's the correct english word..), for example when shifting from second to third on a (fast) hill.

anyway i do know that my particular use of the car (short distance driving) requires frequent oil change..i'm planning to change it on 3500km intervals