hey all,
its been a while since the last time i posted here, lots of work to do on the ole truck. long story short i finally got the beast starting pretty good, but now i have an overheating problem. so i changed the thermostat, and nothin changed. then i drained the coolant cause i thought maybe the radiator was plugged but when i flushed it with the hose the water came out as fast as i put it in so it doesnt seem plugged.
anyways i put some prestone radiator cleaner in the radiator to see if that will unplug anything. i also took the hose and blew a bunch of dirt out of the fins of the radiator, inspected them and they are all mostly straight. still nothing. the radiator seems to be big enough, i dont know the cores, but its about four inches thick, three feet long, and about three and a half feet tall. the fan appears to be in good shape and its got five blades.
the oil is new and full, and i the engine is running rich cause there is a fuel odor/ residue on the spark plugs. its been hot here in colorado about 90's but i dunno it still doesnt seem right to heat up to the "P" on the temp gauge after 10-15 min of city driving. if any of you have any ideas please let me know. also after the engine gets hot the radiator hoses get very firm, is that typical?? please help me cool this bad boy down!!
thanx.

 

Unleaded -
With the engine warmed to operating temperature and the cap off, does the water level get higher and higher and higher, eventually spilling out of the fill nozzle (it should remain at a constant level, once warmed up)?

Your local auto stores carry something called a cooling system pressure checking kit --- it will:

1) check for air leakage into your coolant (head gasket problem)
2) check for coolant leaks external to the engine
3) check for coolant leaks at the radiator
4) check the radiator cap to make sure it is not loosing pressure

Be sure to check your pump belt...what appears to be okay with the engine off might be slipping at high speed...

Harrison runs at about 150 - 160 degrees in Atlanta....it will be close to 97 today; I don't see any reason why your ride shouldn't run as cool.

Hoping this helps...

 

unleaded:
4 things come to mind here. is yr timing too far advanced/retarded? are you running too lean(despite what the plugs look like)? is the fan belt tight enough that it isnt slipping? do you have the wrong rad cap?? try a 16 lb'er and see if it helps any...one other thing, is the fan shroud in place??

Hope this helps
Regards

Ben

 

Did you bench test the new thermostat before you installed it.
have you taken a meat or candy thermometer to check for actual temperature.

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hey fellas after all that it was just the darned t-stat. i pulled it out and ran the engine without one and it runs nice and cool. once again thanx for all the help. i think i am going to stop buying parts from checkers/autozone all their stuff seems to be either defective or the wrong part.
--nick

 

Running an engine without a Thermostat is a Very Big NO NO----not smart at all ----The engine needs a referee to maintain a somewhat stable temperature environment to operate within and you have removed the referee!!!Take the rad'tor to a compentent shop and see if it needs to be "rodded out" and then reinstalled----with a thermostat........fd :-X11

 

wooops,
well i guess you learn something every day!
i was talking with a guy from work that said he would pull his out every summer from his 460. so is there a chance its not the termostat still??
nick.
:-X11

 

to get the most from the money you spend I would follow the advise of laptopgeek and pickup the radiator diagnostic kit and check your system fully and see what the results are---then make a determination as to the cause of your problem and how($$$) "Well" you want to fix it!!!!!!!!!in any event you should always run a thermostat in your engine , post back after you have done the kit thing.........fd :-X11

 

G'day mate
If you run an engine without a t-stat the cylinder wall wear goes waaaaay up as the temp drops below 160-165 derees F. and you end up with a nice smoky motor in hardly any time at all and the bill for a re-bore and all it's attendant goodies. You need at least a 180 deg t-stat in summer to avoid this unfortunate scenario.

Cheers


--Heaven will be inherited by every man who has Ford in his soul--

 

just out of curiosity...

wouldnt a cooler engine keep a more viscous oil thus preventing engine wear???

also last night i warmed up a pot of water and threw the t-stat in and when the water started to boil the t-stat hardly even opened(there wasnt a gap that i could even see through). i dont have a thermometer but water boils at about 212F so shouldn't the t-stat be wide open by then?

 

yep should have been a good gap in it

 

 

Have you considered changing to a differant waterpump that moves more water ? Are the pulleys you have spinning the pump fast enough ? DF