Triumph Repair: engine over heating, water temp guage, dashboard panel

Question
It's a 1974 Spitfire 1500 in Seattle Wa.    I recently had the tranny rebilt and she started over heating shortly after that. It always ran cool before (just above the first mark on the temp gauge).  Being the backyard mechanic sort I can check the hoses and thermostat and fluid.  What else should I look at to get my car running cooler?
Thanks

Answer
Larry,

Is the car overheating while driving?  Sitting and idling?  Both?

On your Spitfire the water temp guage is electrically controlled, and the wiring is behind the dashboard panel just above the transmission.

So the first question is:  are you sure all the wires are still properly connected?  No wires have "come loose", either disconnected or rubbing against any of the sheetmetal/brackets up in the dashboard?

And is it just the guage reading?  Or are there other signs (overflow in the catch bottle, poor running, etc)?

When the trans was rebuilt was the engine pulled also?  It's not necessary in the Spitfire but some shops are so used to having to pull the engine/trans as a unit that they'll do it automatically.. without thinking.

A simple test is to get a mechanical thermometer with the metal probe tip and gently place the tip in the radiator fins, well away from the fan blade!  Start the car and get it up to temp.  The temp in the radiator should be cooler than the temp sender, but once the thermostat is open the radiator should be close to engine temp.

If the radiator system was opened up during the rebuild process it'd be a good idea to turn the heater on to get all of those hoses full of water again.

Cheers,


Jim