so i have an '85 E350 Diesel that is new to me. Drove it the other day and after the first half hour the gauge said it was overheating. Brought it home and replaced the thermostat (OEM) and flushed the system. Detergent and MANY MANY flushes. The radiator is visibly rusty on the inside and I never got the water to run clear, but I got it much clearer. I had to make a trip today so I hoped that would be good enough for now.

An hour into my trip and I'm cooling out at a rest stop. Gauge was reading Hot but light never came on. Upper hose is hot but I can definately keep my hand on it comfortably. Nothing in the overflow tank but there is a little coolant sprayed out on top of the radiator with the slightest bit of steam. Smell of burning...dont' know if its brakes (calipers were done recently by PO and car sat for a long time before I got it) or if its just coolant (I don't have a great sense of smell nor am I sure I'd know the difference).

I am an hour from home if I turn around or two hours from my destination if I push forward, so I"m just going to stop and cool down and limp foward. Hope thats not a dumb idea!?!

The fact that the upper hose isn't scorching and the overflow tank isn't active makes me think I"m not really overheating, but the fact that I see some coolant on the top of the rad proves otherwise....right?? FYI I had the coolant system checked for leaks and its good.

What is my next move?? New radiator? Is there a way to test my gauge? Anything else I should be inspecting? Thanks for any help!!

 

You say you replaced your thermostat with (OEM)...I thought I did to when I replaced mine. At least that's what the parts store told me. Found out it says oem, but it wasn't. It was an oem impostor...

So, I finally found out I actually needed MotorCraft E5TZ-8575C or Navistar 1807974C94 thermostat. These actually have the bypass hole in them that we need.

Anyway, my truck acted very similar to yours and after finally getting the right thermostat...I also had to install a new water pump. After that I had no more probs. In fact, my gauge now almost always shows much cooler than it used to.

Man I checked my fan clutch, made sure my lower hose wasn't collapsing, put on a new radiator cap....drove me crazy...

I hope this gives you some ideas...

 

I got my thermostat at the Ford dealership. Guess I didn't check anything past that...could they have sold me anything beside the Motocraft or Navistar!?! I will have to dig through the trash and see if I can find the box...or pull it again.

I was wondering if the fact that the rad is visibly rusty/chunky on the inside was pointing towards radiator and not water pump. Is there a way to troubleshoot my water pump rather than just replace it and see if that solves ti?

 

Yeah it might be possible they gave you an "oem" impostor replacement. Maybe not tho...I do know my ford house tried to give me an impostor. I had to specifically ask for the MotorCraft and they didn't have it. So, I turned down the impostor and had Orielly's order me one.

The only ways I know to check a waterpump is to check and see if the weep hole is leaking and check for bearing slop. There should be none when moving the shaft up and down or side to side. I have seen water pump impellars snap off the shaft on the inside and not circulate water while leaving the weep hole dry...not sure how to check that other than taking the hose off (the small one) going to heater core and check to see if water is being pumped...Kinda dangerous to do that tho...

Radiator...I have had real good success cleaning out the rad with CLR (Calcium, Lime, and Rust Remover). What I did was take radiator out of the truck and blocked off the inlet and outlet and poured a full bottle of CLR in ( I think I put in 32oz) and a gallon of water and sloshed it around for about 2 hours off and on. It can be a PITA, and tiring, but it worked!

Afterwords, I flushed the rad with clean water for a long time...All kinds of junk came out, but she was clean...Also, I was willing to do that even tho it might expose all the weak spots and I would have to buy a new one.

Hope this gives you some more ideas.

BeerCan500

 

i'd get an aftermarket temp guage if you don't have one and check for flow.

does you upper rad hose enter by the fill port?

also does you heater get hot?

 

yes upper hose is by the fill port and heater definately gets hot. am out of town for work (with the van) but haven't had time to do much more investigating. i guess the next thing sounds like a second round of cleaning the rad..

 

First off, if your not able to see clean water flushing through the rad, someone has not maintained the cooling system, and usually when I get a vehicle like that, I replace everything, needed or not, witch includes - Radiator, Fan clutch, hoses, thermostat, and water pump. And if you plan on keeping that van for a long time, might be worth doing all that, piece of mind for long trips!

Second thing, you really need a REAL temp gauge, the gauges in the dash of these older Ford vans are totally useless.

In my '87 E350 motorhome 6.9 I taught it was running to hot also, I replaced everything before installing a real gauge, and my real gauge sits around 180*-190* cruising, while the dash gauge reads around M of NORMAL.

In my '85 E350 van, the dash gauges reads on O and my real gauges reads 190-192*.


And a real gauge is sooooooo easy to install on these things!



Next, did you notice any white crap forming in the tubes looking into the rad cap hole? If so, that stuff restricts flow alot, and can also cause overheating.


And depending how heavy your hauling around, and the outside temp in your area, you'll need a good working fan clutch. And a working fan clutch, you WILL clearly hear it in the van.



Oh, and as for the thermostat, only MOTORCRAFT or IH, and Stant makes the correct one. It has a rubber sleeve around it. If the one you installed did not have a rubber sleeve around it, it is NOT the right one.


Heres the gauge in my 85 E350




And finally, random question, what kinda van is yours? Work/play DD etc? and what kind of body is it, normal or extended, panel or window van?

I'm known as the van man here, and I need to know these things

 

well i do plan on keeping the van for a while but i'm also operating on a budget right now so its a fuzzy line i'm walking...

i think replacing the gauge sounds like a great idea. any particular brand? i'll look in previous posts for info on how to replace it..

i didn't notice any white stuff in the tubes but will look again. you mean in the hoses or in the rad itself?

as for the thermostat, i called ford and he said 'it would have been an IH tat we sold you'. that being said, it did not have a rubber sleave around it. as a matter of fact, i thought i had read somewhere that if you got a stant you were supposed to pull that rubber sleave off, so when i saw mine didn't have one i thought it was a good sign!?! its a pain cause i'm away from home right now, and NYC is a hard spot to find a comfortable place to wrench on your car, but maybe i need to pull that stat again and double check??

and glad to meet some van folks. i'm new to working on cars and new to forums, but my 'other car' is a diesel mercedes and finding help is insanely easy on that one becausve there are so so many fanatics on their forums..the ford van seems harder to find info on, but this forum seems like a good starting point!

p.s. my van is for light work and also an 'rv' for out of town jobs. this winter i plan on traveling in it.

 

In my motorhome i'm using the autozone cheap brand, Equis or something like that, and it's been working great for the past 3 years now.

And I have my nice chrome Sunpro gauge in my van witch is like better, easier to read, and it's nicer but it's only 5 months old so can't tell how good it is.

And yes, the thin tubes in the rad it self.

Heres some pic to help out with the thermostat.








And if you have any van body related question, on the forum main page, there is a van only forum, but for any driveline/mechanical questions, here is the best place to get complete and quicker answers.


And nice, so it's like a workmens camper kind of thing? All in one

Mine was a company plumbing van all it's life till I bought it almost a year ago, and i'm slowly transforming it to a ******* wagon, but I can still use it to haul stuff.

 

Does the bottom of the radiator ever get hot to the touch?

If not, it may be a clogged rad. That wouldn't be a surprise if the PO ran straight water in it.

 

sunpro temp gauge i had in my truck was 2 years old and worked great till i accidently melted a hole in it by a pos. wire touching it.

 

Ada welcome to fte