DeTomaso Mailing List: June 99, Message #81

First of all, thanks to everyone who replied giving suggestions for finding
the source of my "overheating" after replacing the fans. I left work a little
early yesterday to pass by the garage and see for myself. While we let
the car warm up I asked him the usual questions - including the somewhat
embarassing "are you sure you hooked the thing up correctly and have
the fans turning the right way"?. I covered with the mechanic all the 
suggestions that came from the list of what possible causes and 
remedies are, and prepared a plan of attack once I saw firsthand
what was going on.

I mentally prepared myself for pulling the seats (again), pulling the bulkhead
and checking the thermostat, timing, etc. Turns out I had no need to do so.
Since my car is a '72, my temp gauge goes to 230F. At normal operating
temps, my needle is way over to the right, which is maybe 200F, perfectly
normal with a 192 degree thermostat. The mechanic simply saw the 
needle way over to the right, didn't know how much 200 degrees is in 
celcius, so decided that it must be overheating so he shut it down and 
called me. A perfect example of why DeTomaso switched to the 260 
degree temp gauges in later years... So in actuality, my car was not
running hot at all. It was right where it ought to be.

So when I got there, I let it get good and warm and idle for about a half
hour. Granted it was a pretty cool day, but the temp gauge didn't move from
just a shade over the thin line about 3/4 the way up, which is about
190-200 degrees, I think. The downside is that once it reached 
temperature, the fans don't cycle on and off, but stay on full time
to keep everything cool. That doesn't bother me all that much I guess,
as long as my engine isn't too hot. They do come on in series like
planned. The only remaining thing is to see how it does in "real life"
use. I would expect the harshest conditions to be first gear, maybe
at 2000 rpm. At that speed you would have no added airflow through the
radiator to help cool, but would be putting some stress on the motor
nonetheless. 

So it sounds like my cooling problems in traffic may have been licked. 
Thanks again everyone! 

Charles McCall
1972 Pre-L #3847
"Raising Pantera Awareness in France"