cooling system issues?
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Post Fiend
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 5,338
Likes: 3
From: Grants Pass, Oregon
cooling system issues?
During the last 2 months of hot weather,my 72/75 hybrid is running a little warmer than i like at low rpm's in traffic or sitting at a signal.its got a 390/4spd,radiator tanks are 2-3/4" thick,and core measures 2" thick,5 blade rigid fan,no shroud.it holds 190-200 degrees at a reasonable speed/rpm. at low rpm(600-800) and slow speeds,such as traffic,aftermarket temp guage starts climbing quickly,and reaches 220-240. its never shut off from temp,or been difficult to restart after getting to 220-240,so i may be worrying about nothing. Ive got a shroud on my other F250,so i may put it on this truck,since this one currently steers and brakes a lot better. Ive never had the nerve to keep it running when it starts to heat up to see what temp it would reach eventually,do other owners of this era truck reach these same temps routinely? Is there a direct replacement radiator with a thicker core/tanks for this truck,is it likely to make much difference in temp.,and most importantly am i trying to fix something that really isnt broken? thanks for any ideas,Bob
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Post Fiend
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 5,338
Likes: 3
From: Grants Pass, Oregon
Start with the cheapest and easiest,see what happens,and go from there. The other thing i wondered was whether or not the fan was proper distance from the radiator,since this truck has a 72 body on what i believe to be a 75 frame, it was about 4-1/2" and i compared it with the other truck(which im fairly certain is a 67-72 body on a 67-72 frame,although its questionable whether the body and chassis were matched from the factory)which was also at 4-1/2" so that seems okay.
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Post Fiend
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 5,338
Likes: 3
From: Grants Pass, Oregon
I just assumed since they both had that kinda clearance that it was probably okay. That would be fantastic if i could at least partially solve this with the shroud ive already got and a parts store/junkyard spacer.... sounds like potentially a really cheap fix,I LIKE! oh yeah,and thanks!
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Post Fiend
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 5,338
Likes: 3
From: Grants Pass, Oregon
Finally got around to putting the shroud on it! now im noticing a few other things,ive seen photos of a much thicker radiator(4" tanks) and i would assume that with 1-1/4" thicker tanks than mine it would probably have a thicker core,so if it were mounted up to my present setup,i would probably get my fan closer to the rad. core? a thought for a poss. improvement in the future! I also had another strange development recently,the truck got really hot(on the gauge at least),almost at 260 degrees! i shut it off,let it sit quite some time to cool off,started it up and it ran fine,but temp gauge never dropped below 210 or 220 at freeway speeds. my aftermarket mech. temp gauge doesnt bottom out all the way to the left side of the scale now,it has a little peg to limit travel down to about 130 degrees minimum registering temp,and even totally cold it shows about 140 or 150..... so now im wondering if most of my problem was just a crappy reading gauge? by the way,if it matters,this truck has its temp gauge mounted on the water outlet,and its orig factory gauge which mounted a sending unit on the intake manifold has been disconnected.
