The first thing to do is get new coolant, and mix it 70/30 coolant to water. That is for maximum cooling ability. Put your 160 thermostat back in, and drive for a bit. If that doesn't do much for you, then trust me, you need a rad! I have had two trucks in two years decide to give me grief with their original equipped rads (not bad for 23-25 years of service!)
One was replaced with a junkyard donor and works like magic.
The other was hard to find in any other vehicle so had to buy new.
It was the super cooling rad with high capacity, 4 row core. Big bucks for a rad.
Mark



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Thanks Mark.

But before I do that, I have a aftermarket (It was installed later anyway) air conditioner. The coils for it are mounted right in front of the radiator and there wasn't much space in between them, maybe a half inch. So I put a spacer in yesterday to seperate the radiator from the AC coils. I'm hoping that this will allow more air to get to the radiator without creating another problem. What do you think?

Rich

 

I did the same thing with my trans cooler. It was mounted in front of the rad, in behind the bumper. I figured it couldn't get much cooling effect being blocked by the bumper, and it had to be moved anyway because I went with a new Modine rad with 4 rows instead of 3, and there was no longer anyroom between it and the grille for the cooler. I mounted the cooler below the bumper, at an angle so as to not be in direct range of any road debris which could cause it damage.
I think it definately won't hurt to have it spaced from your rad, but I have seen other a/c condensers right in front of the rad, completely blocking the rad, but I am sure air should still flow right through it still... I never took notice of the space between the two units...
Mark


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A few things to consider...

Boilover protection and coolant heat carrying capacity are two different things. Pure water carries heat more efficiently than an Ethylene Glycol mix, but it is more sensitive to cavitation and heat soak related problems. We can't use pure water for several other reasons. The general automotive books I have recommend a minimum 44% (-20F) mixture in order to provide corrosion protection, lubrication, and boilover/cavitation protection. For us non-mathmaticians it is easier to run a 50% solution. Anything higher is reducing your heat transfer chacteristics (this is not good) of the coolant and is not required.

I use my left over pure antifreeze to make a 50/50 mix for adding coolant as required during the year. I keep a jug of pure AF around to add if I had a water-fill on the road. I haven't had to do this for years tho with any of my vehicles. Get a good radiator fluid specific gravity meter and keep your fluid between 44% and 50% unless you see extreme cold in the winter and your vehicle sits for long periods in the cold.

ALWAYS keep a thermostat of at least 180 degrees in your cooling system, or the manufacturer's recomended temp. Temperatures lower than that increase engine wear dramatically! Cylinder wall wear rates quadruple for a 160 degree unit!!! This puts 4 miles of wear on your engine for every mile you drive. This information comes directly from SAE design tests. Fuel consumption increases, and power output decrease as engine temperature goes down. This is why the autmakers have been pushing thermostat temperatures up (CAFE). The materials in the engine and the engine management control system's ability to maintain proper conditions inside the combustion chambers has limited engine temperature.

A slipping tranny produces a lot of heat.

Your idle speed should be increased automatically when the engine temp rises. This is a tradeoff with tranny slippage. Put your tranny in neutral in hot weather.

If your radiator support bulkhead is not sealed properly your engine will overheat at higher speeds.

Your engine fan is only usefull at speeds under about 30 mph. After that the vehicle movement is "supposed" to force air thru the radiator.

A bad fan clutch either slipping or seized can cause all kinds of problems.

An auxiliary transmission cooler should always route the fluid thru the radiator last b4 returning to the tranny. This facilitates transmission warmup in the winter months. While you are in there putting in an auxiliary cooler always install a filter in the return line :-) You can use one of those $17 in line filters or mount a spin on filter.

Your cooling system is designed to dissipate ~35% of your OEM engine heat. The rest goes out thru the exhaust and oil.

 

I had the same problem with my 79 250, running a 460. I spaced the radiator 1 inch and replaced the fan clutch with a fixed flex fan. I've not had a problem with it overheating since. This was after replacing the radiator and installing the preverbial 180 deg thermostat.

 

Thanks for mentioning that. What's a fixed flex fan though?

 

Fixed...As opposed to having a fan clutch on it.

Otherwise known as a "Viscious Fan".


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I have to agree with Torque 1 on the mix. Less is better, meaning less AntiFreeze. I have had success with Water Wetter. One bottle and my temps stayed around the 185-200 mark with the air on and cruising or idling. I have a new 4 row modine,180 stat, fan clutch, and stroud which isn't real good. I have a stock 460 with a C6 that needs a rebuild. Good luck and fall is on the way so maybe think about getting it ready for next summer when the temps get back up in the 90+ range. Hopefully the real hot days are behind us.

 

What style of thermostat are you using? I have noticed that the so called high performance ones flow too much water at 70mph to let the water cool in the radiator. As far as getting hot idling around, I had a 69 Roadrunner that did that. It took me awhile, but it turned out to be a head gasket. It was only blown enough to let some compression into the cooling system, but not enough to loose any coolant. It was hard to detect. You may have to do a cylinder leakdown test to se if you get any compression into the cooling system.
It would run 160-180 driving it , but in traffic, it would go up to 230-250. I replaced the head gaskets and it never got hot again.
Just a suggestion.
Also, if the radiator is old, it may be clogged twards the bottom from years of sediment. Idling and towing heavy loads is where a weak cooling system will show it's ugly head.

Jimmy

 

 

VegasDave, what kinda of waterpump is on this engine ? Some of the partshouse pumps are not as nice as the O.E. ford pump. I would suspect that your waterpump might not be moving enough water. What about the pulleys ? You don't have an underdrive setup, do you ? DF

 

Flex fans don't use a fan clutch therefore they are "fixed" (bolted) to the shaft.

 

My 79 f100 is overheating too. Going down the hwy it does fine at any speed. I get into town, it'll even do alright there but if I've driven it around and it's warmed up real good and then I go sit in a parking lot in park with the engine running, it'll get hot usually within 30 mins.

Since I just bought the truck in February, I'm going to drain the system, flush it, refill it and replace the thermostat again. They had a 195 in it when I bought it and I have since put an EP 180 in it. (The ep was for extra performance I guess.) Changing the thermostat the first time stopped my transmission fluid from burning too. I'm going to put a aux cooler for the transmission on it and see what that will do.

I'm not quite sure the timing is right on it. It doesn't have the response it needs. I have a friend with a light but I don't know where to time it at so we haven't messed with it. It's a 302. Any help there? If it's timing and I get that fixed then that will fix a lot of problems. I think it needs a carb rebuild or replacement becuz it's finicky. Depending on it's mood it'll stick in high idle. It's moody like it's owner. Pefect match.

Thanks ahead of time!
Connie (only Ford luvr in the family!)

'79 f100 "Silver Ghost" (my baby)
'83 f100 "The Ford" (my first)
'85 f150 "Old Blue" (my next project)