i have a 351m in my 1989 f350. ever since i got it which is about 6months ago. wen i take her out she runs hot. i start her up go play around in the mudd and cruise and stuff and then about 10 - 15 mins later shes hot. i changed the thermostat to a 180 degree but still ran hot. i believe the water pump work because i have watched the water in the radiator being pumped. i rly want to get this fixed so i can ran her more than just 10 mintues if anyone can help i would greatly apperciate it!

 

Put the stock thermostat back in.

Fan clutch good?

 

stock thermostat had all the guts taken out of it. i was thinkin maybe the fan cltuch but how would u knw if it was bad or good?

 

A plugged radiator can cause over heating too. Is the coolant over flow bubbling when its over heating?

 

What Eddiec1564 said,if it's plugged a Radiator shop can rod it out for you to improve the flow. also you can normally hear a fan running when the fan clutch is engaged mine sounds like an airplane taking off,hard to miss.

 

Is the fan shroud on?

Its a 351M or a 351W?


I had a 390 in a 76 F100 years ago. Without the fan shroud it would over heat not matter what you tried to do.

 

Is it boiling over or just the gauge reading high? The gauge could be wrong.

 

Is it smoking? Head gasket possibility?

 

no smoke. it does bubble when it get hot. fan shroud does look a lil little but how do i tell? how do i tell if the fan clutch is bad? and yes it is a 351m it does have a engine swap

 

Regarding fan clutch operation a symptom I get when it's not working is overheating especially when towing,and as stated above the fan can be heard when it is engaged it moves a lot of air.in my experiance they don't seem to last long either.

 

i dont think its good then so i think i may start there with repairs. do u knw where i can find parts for my old engine though?

 

Rockauto.com is good and I've tried off brands before in the intrest of saving a buck but nothing functions as well as the Motorcraft brand.