I put never-seize on senders (rather than teflon tape) to help keep down corrosion. I imagine liquid pipe sealer is fine, since new senders from Ford have a (dry) red thread sealant factory applied.

 

hey Hooler, i don't mean to hijack your thread, but i'm having a somewhat similar problem with my truck. i'm running a 302 in my 80' f100 and i just took her out on the maiden voyage today, ran her for an hour fine, but stalled and had a nasty time staring her back up and when i did i ran it for a bit and then it ran on the VERY hottest side of normal. last month i swapped out intake manifolds and obviously lost a ton of coolant, but i replaced it and ran the engine quite a bit before i took it on the road. any suggestions guys?

 

80 Ford man:

Possibly there was a large air pocket in the cooling system, allowing the engine to overheat. This is common when refilling a completely drained engine, as it gets air locked, preventing the full amount of coolant from getting in.

Check your coolant level.

 

In case anyone is interested, here's an update:

1. I bought a infra-red laser temp measuring gun. After a 15 minute road run it shows around 200 degress. The electric temp guage is showing me 240 degrees. So it looks like a bad temp gauge or sender...right?

2. I ordered a new temp gauge (electric again) from AutoMeter. Also I ordered from Summit an 14 "electric fan and shroud kit to fit my 22.5" X 18" radiator core. Since I hate draining coolant (because no matter how hard I try, I always spill and make a mess!) I decided to installed both at the same time. Pulled the radiator so I could do a good install job on the fan schroud, and had to remount the radiator about 1.5" higher due to the back of the new electric fan was going to rub on the water pump pulley. After I got the fan schroud, electric fan, and new electric temp gauge installed. I filled the radiator while leaving the temp gauge sender out to hopefully "burp" air fromthe system. I fired up the engine,verified no leaks, verified the electric fan was running, verified the thermostat opened, and watching coolant flowingin the radiator, I put the cap back on and took it for a ride, and got a temp reading,on the new AutoMeter gauge of about 240!!! But once again, I shot a temp reading at the water neck of about 200! So let's see, one electric gauge reads about 240, I saw with the temp gun about 200. I add an electric fan and schroud, and a new temp gauge, still reading 240 at the gauge, and about 200 on the temp gun. So why am I reading higher with the electric gauges? I double checked the temp gun on other vehicles, and it seems to track the temp gauges of those engines. But I am still wonder why two electric gauge are showing me higher readings? I double checked the voltages to the gauges,senders, etc and found no high resitance connections or problematic voltage drops. Another interesting fact. If you shut the engine off, and watch it cool down, there is a point where the temp gun and gauge will start to agree as the block cools down. So it seems the problem starts while the engine is on the road, running at about 55 mph or so. You can just watch the temp gauge creep up to around 240. Once again I can pull over, pop the hood and measure about 200 to 210 at the water neck at this point. You can measure the radiator hoses and see about 30 degrees difference between the upper an lower hoses while it appears to the electric gauges to run hot, but about right with the temp gun. Could anyone guess what might be causing this.....two seperate gauges to show the same condition? I am really stumped on this. Am I really over heating or am I just being annal? I would love to try a mechanical gauge, but I do not have the correct fitting on the intake manifold for 1/2 NPT fitting. What would be your next step?

 

After all the messing around, with themostats, electric fans and shrouds, different water pumps,timing adjustments,carb re-calibrations, I have finally got it fixed! You guess it....I replaced the radiator. I wanted to eliminarte all the cheap stuff first, but that took a lot of time! I replaced the old radiator with a new 4 row from Mid-50's. It is made for 53-56 Fords. The radiator is tall, and those trucks, if they are using the original radiator valance, has an air duct that hits about the top 1/4 of the core and the expansion tank. They say in the catalog that it "cools like an Indiana winter". It certainly does! This little 302 was hot and angry at 230 to 240 degrees after only 4 miles! With this new radiator, it runs a little too cool, at around 155 to 160! and that's after about 20 miles! I wish I would of just changed it earlier!!!! Thanks to all for your input!

 

Well that's good that you fixed it. As for running too cool, that isn't good, as it increases engine wear and deposits.

What temperature thermostat are you using? Probably a 195 would be correct.

 

Right now I'm using a 160. I am planning on trying a 180. That's only because I have one sitting around I was trying earlier. I do not have a schroud on this thing, at least yet. The one I ordered, wouldn't fit the radiator, so getting a schroud will be the next challenge now.I notice in stop and go traffic it will warm up another 10 to 15 degrees or so. So I'll see where the 180 takes me. I am thinking that could be around right as another 10 to 15 degrees will still be in a comfortable range for engine operating temp. If it still follows this pattern. If it should still be too cool, I'll try the 195! Thanks!

 

Sounds like it may not be getting enough air flow when you're in slow traffic. A shroud will definitely help. I forgot, do you have a clutch on the fan? If so, is it working properly?

 

Right now all I have is the new 4 row radiator, and an 18" flex blade fan with no fan clutch. I have an 8 cylinder drop style ABS schroud I bought from Mid 50. But it doesn't fit the radiator they sold me, and there is another issue trying to use the bottom of the radiator, transmission cooler fittings with that schroud so it's going back. Just today I did what Beanscoot suggested, went to a hotter stat.Installed a 180. Now it runs warmer in town, 185 to 195, but still cools way down to around 160 on the open road. I guess I really need a schroud. Because I can see it helping cool better in stop and go traffic. But on the open road, will a schroud help restrict thru radiator air flow, so the engine will run somewhat warmer?