360 Major overheating problem
Freshman User
Joined: Mar 2008
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My overheating problem was IDENTICAL to yours, with every part in my cooling system in seemingly good working stock order. THIS is what solved it for me.
If you're timed at 6btdc, try 12-14. It'll take 10 minutes of your time and zero $$$ if you have a timing light. Worked like a charm, for me anyhoo, and I went into it thinking that couldn't POSSIBLY be the the source of my overheating-at-idle-when-it's-hot-outside problem. I was happily wrong, and now I can sit in traffic in mid August till the cows come home, where before I'd be pegged on hot within 10 minutes!. BTW. There ain't no cows here in L.A. to come home, so that can be quite a spell.
Now, I won't go and make a damn-fool recommendation like going to direct manifold vacuum as I'm not in any mood to argue with those here who disagree. But I do, and it helps me and my set-up for that very same problem we once shared..
If you're timed at 6btdc, try 12-14. It'll take 10 minutes of your time and zero $$$ if you have a timing light. Worked like a charm, for me anyhoo, and I went into it thinking that couldn't POSSIBLY be the the source of my overheating-at-idle-when-it's-hot-outside problem. I was happily wrong, and now I can sit in traffic in mid August till the cows come home, where before I'd be pegged on hot within 10 minutes!. BTW. There ain't no cows here in L.A. to come home, so that can be quite a spell.
Now, I won't go and make a damn-fool recommendation like going to direct manifold vacuum as I'm not in any mood to argue with those here who disagree. But I do, and it helps me and my set-up for that very same problem we once shared..
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Posting Guru
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From: Fl
Well i retimed it.....turns out it to about 12 and let it run for about 30 min at idle. Rose up to about 200 when i kicked on the fan and it stayed right at that. I reved it for a little bit and it got down a little under 200 and stayed there. So maybe its fixed....not sure til I actually take it out and drive for a while. What is the average running temp i should expect on these older motors? Maybe I'm just over reacting a little bit?
Freshman User
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I'm running a 180 thermostat, and on the road the gauge ping-pongs between 185-190. Before, running 6btc and ported vacuum on the advance, it wasn't so uncommon to see the gauge go to 250 sitting in traffic in the summer, but now, 14btdc & manifold vacuum on the advance, the hottest I've seen it on a 98 degree day was just a hair under 200, and that was stuck in about 30 minutes in stop & go traffic. That'll be the test for ya.
Anything up to 220 with 50/50 antifreeze should be fine. 230 and up gets into the excessive range (or so I was told).
Anything up to 220 with 50/50 antifreeze should be fine. 230 and up gets into the excessive range (or so I was told).
Fleet Owner
Joined: Jun 1999
Posts: 24,552
Likes: 74
From: Creedmoor, North Carolina
Well i retimed it.....turns out it to about 12 and let it run for about 30 min at idle. Rose up to about 200 when i kicked on the fan and it stayed right at that. I reved it for a little bit and it got down a little under 200 and stayed there. So maybe its fixed....not sure til I actually take it out and drive for a while. What is the average running temp i should expect on these older motors? Maybe I'm just over reacting a little bit?
Imagine that. We've been trying to tell ya.John
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From: Fl
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Just a short follow-up. Though I was sitting in traffic around town since the timing change to improve on cooling, it was, at best, in the high nineties. This weekend I took the truck with my fully loaded cabover out to El Mirage dry lake bed for the SCTA time trials. It was easily 105+ with lots of grades, and a great test on the cooling system. It was genuine HOT this weekend.
The hottest it got was 220, and that was pulling up a LOOOOONG grade for nearly ten minutes, but that was absolutely the hottest it got. Anything else, including idleing in gear (which I did for extended periods to see what happens), was between 195-210. I guarantee it would have hit 260 within ten mintes of idleing before!
I gotta thank all those who directed me to the timing like Jowilker.I never would have guessed it. In fact, the first time I read people suggesting timing to improve cooling, I thought to myself, "These loons don't know nuthin'! I got a for-realsies overheating problem here, and they're telling me it's the timing!!!"
Thanks!
The hottest it got was 220, and that was pulling up a LOOOOONG grade for nearly ten minutes, but that was absolutely the hottest it got. Anything else, including idleing in gear (which I did for extended periods to see what happens), was between 195-210. I guarantee it would have hit 260 within ten mintes of idleing before!
I gotta thank all those who directed me to the timing like Jowilker.I never would have guessed it. In fact, the first time I read people suggesting timing to improve cooling, I thought to myself, "These loons don't know nuthin'! I got a for-realsies overheating problem here, and they're telling me it's the timing!!!"
Thanks!
Fleet Owner
Joined: Jun 1999
Posts: 24,552
Likes: 74
From: Creedmoor, North Carolina
Alex, Thanks for the flowers. Some of us have been around truck since FEs were first used in trucks. We have learned that in the summertime with a lot of gas in the tank to park it drivers side high to keep it from puking gas, and with air flowing through the huge frontal openings, these trucks don't run hot, as long as there isn't a blockage or timing issues.
We learned this before shrouds, electric fans, huge water pumps, etc. were available.
John
We learned this before shrouds, electric fans, huge water pumps, etc. were available.
John
Elder User
Joined: Mar 2008
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is your truck a auto and if so does it use the radiator as a cooler? If it does use the rad as a cooler it could be heat from your tranny. i had a similar problem with mine when i had a auto and 38 " swampers. Might not be it but it is a thought.
Postmaster
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 2,760
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From: Gadsden Purchase
390428cjt-- Yeaah ,,,I know I shouldnt let that sort thing happen, Thanks for the input,,, sorry alvin.:-X16
Just got done reading about "the fix! :)" being timing and thinking back at my work on the "getting hot at idle" trouble I was having... some of it at least was helped by my idle timing "fiddling".
I guess, at this point, we're back to the idea that "the original wimpy-*** cables" are fine after all? ;)
In other words...
"when ever thing is -right- the original design will work fine"
No need for expensive band-aids.
Alvin in AZ
Cargo Master
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 2,574
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From: Golden, CO
I learned the "oil the cables" trick from my ex father-in-law. He was a depression era farm kid, taught me a lot of ways to squeeze a nickel from two pennies. My battery cables were salvaged from a 48V lift truck, they might say 0 or 00 on them. Hauling off the scrap paid for the gas, and then some. They augment my 105 amp alternator I found at a thrift store for $25. Is that cheap enough?
Some day my electrical needs will grow into that supply. Today I have it to spare. Otherwise, the old 60 amp alternator did fine.