Lack of hot air in 3.0L GTV.

[agent86]

Just a question regarding the heater in my 1998 GTV 3.0L. I have owned it for four years and have had no dramas with it, it only gets very light use, 71k so far. I drive a lot at freeway speeds 110kph and at this speed the temp gauge barely moves. The result of this is very poor heating at speed. It works fine around town and the A/C is perfect. Does this happen to anyone else? If not do I have a problem? I have just had the timing belt and water pump changed but that has made no difference. Any hints would be great.
Cheers Agent 86. (Mark)

[colcol]

Agent 86 it sounds like you have a dud thermostat that is stuck open and you are getting full flow of coolant when the engine is cold, this is not good for your engine as most of the wear takes place when its cold and the fuel injection senses that the engine is cold, so it riches up the mixture causing excessive fuel consumption, get the thermostat tested, but it sounds like you need a new one, and your heater will work in the winter, BONUS, Colin.

[Anthony Miller]

My 75 runs cool at highway speeds too, and my heater is sometimes not the greatest which leads we to flush the heater core two or three times every winter. You may have a partial blockage which doesn't allow adequate flow through the heater core therefore when you push alot of air past the heater it is only warm for little while and then blows cool. Be gentle at first when you flush the heater, and flush in both directions.
Good luck

[bix]

The 156 at least has a known issue with the thermostat sticking, so I would put that at the top of the list.

[colcol]

The temperature hardly moving is a giveaway to a stuck thermostat, the twin sparks and JTS's were prone to this,  maybe the V-6 as well, get it fixed for winter, but be prepared for a shock, thermostats no longer cost $20 at Repco, the one for my JTS cost $150 to purchase, but it was easy enough to replace, and the car was better for it, Colin.

[wankski]

$150 huh? must be local rip off pricing...

85 bux landed from UK. usually w/i the week.

[DDALFA]

Agent 86, i have a 156 JTS and had similar problem the temperature just wouldnt rise on freeways. got thermostat changed ...the immidiate benefit was milage ....so the $$$ pays for itself quickly. with 156 its pain in the butt to replace as coolent needs to be flushed. (thats wat i was told)

With temperature not showing correctly ....the ECU thinks that the engine is still cold and tends to pump more fuel into the system ....but not the equivalent amount of air ....thus waste of fuel and bad throttle responce. in the long run it teds to ruin the engine as you will have lots of improperly burned fuel going through your exhaust valves. thus more shit on the valve seats.

get it fixed ....and your alfa would be breeze to drive.

 

[alfagtv58]

I was going to say, Lack of hot air in 3.0L GTV.  Inserting a choderboy should fix that problem.  But then he goes and says something sensible like this

Sometimes it is nice to buy local and support your local businesses.

Instead of forcing them to put up their prices due to everyone sourcing parts that are readily available here from O/S.

Whatever hey.....

And I almost felt guilty about thinking that.

[agent86]

Thanks for the info on my lack of heating problem. I will get my man to check the thermostat. But I am still recovering from the cost of the timing belt replacement which included the water pump. It just seems strange that while this work was being done the thermostat wasn't checked but then preventative maintenence seems to be a thing of the past.
Cheers Agent86.

[wankski]

you've got to be kidding... no mech makes margin on rip off stealer pricing of parts... that's why most are happy to use parts brought in...

they make money on their labour, feel free to tip em for their troubles...



no one benefits from ateco pricing in aus, the only way to depress the pricing is competitors.... if you're bung up over it being from o/s, support a local like aresespares, usually a lot more reasonable...

but then i guess he sources his parts from o/s suppliers, so its not that different..

take it a step further, all parts for alfas are sourced from italy 

but hey, feel free to be a martyr and pay $300 for a top wishbone, $1700 for a q2 kit, $450 for a coil and $400 for a v6 water pump when that costs ~ $80, $800, $120 and $110 respectively delivered from UK. 

[colcol]

Yes paying $150 for a thermostat in Australia, i was ripped off!, but that was before i found out about buying spares from overseas, BUT do your homework first and get many quotes first, and if possible support your locals if they are good on price and if they are not, tell them how much you can get it for, hell, the amount of spares these guys import, they must get it much cheaper than us, and don't you love when the spares come from overseas within 2 weeks, and sometimes it takes a week to arrive from the next suburb, the reason the thermostat is dear is because its not just a thermostat, but its in a housing with pipes and sensors, i will have to come up with a method of just replacing the thermostat in the housing and not the whole lot, like i did with my 33, Colin.

[NeroGTV]

I have a 2000 model GTV 3.0 V.  I had exactly the same issue and replaced my thermostat 2 weeks ago and the heater works fine now.  Not only that, Also the engine temp remains constant at about 80c meaning it works more efficiently on fuel.  Highly recommend you change it.  I bought mine from the alfaworkshop UK for about $75 delivered.  I can recommend the mechanic who did it for me (in melb SE suburbs).  Send me a PM if you would like the details.

[bix]

Well after all this talk on thermostats, today i replaced mine in the 156 Twin Spark after noticing the temp gauge not registering on the freeway these cold wintery MElbourne mornings. It cost me GBP36.50 from EB Spares and took around 2 hours to replace. My lily white office hands are feeling worse off for doing the change over but afterwards, the car is keeping a much more consistent temperature even at highway speeds - so it's all good!

[colcol]

As previously posted, i replaced the thermostat in the JTS, and it cost me $150+ purchased in Australia, i noticed on the 156 ebay site there is a spare parts place in Box Hill in Victoria selling twin spark thermostats for about $60, they are Quinton Hazelton brand, i have dealt with them before and they seem good, note the JTS and twin sparks have different thermostats, Colin.