I was reading the thread about a trans temp gauge and saw a a comment about a front license blocking some air to the radiator. I have been having temp problems for a long time now and I had a thought. Nearly 15 years ago I installed driving lights in the 2 openings in the front bumper (big bumper). Could this be the culprit to running 210 on the highway in the summer?
Sorry, if you are running 210, installing driving lights, a license plate, or a set of longhorns on your grill aren't going to make a difference. You have a cooling problem.
Have you got a shroud on it. Also how far away from the radiator is the fan. Should be pretty close. Another thing to test that is pretty cheap is the radiator cap. Most garages can test it for you for free. or it is cheap enough to buy a new one if it is pretty old anyway.
I recently replaced the factory 4 blade fan with a 15" 5 blade, no shroud (although I would like to add one). The fan seems to be as close to the radiator as the factory fan was. The cap is new as is the 160 degree thermostat. The radiator is a few years old. I should mention I have a 200I6. Used to run a little high in traffic on hot days (200+) but with the new fan thats not an issue anymore. On the way to the roundup this year it was sunny and in the high 80's, I had to keep my speed around 60mph which kept the temp around 200. If I went faster or up an incline, the temp would go up.
With a 160 thermostat, you should not be running that hot. I would start by checking the accuracy of your temperature guage. Find a digitial thermal temp guage (one of those point and shoot kind) and point it at the thermostat housing as the car is running.
That will hurt you at lower speeds or in traffic. Highway speeds usually cause overheating if your radiator is partially clogged ( yes, I know it's not that old ). I've had folks put in a new radiator and a month or so later the car's overheating again. I would suggest a professional cooling system flush. There is corrosion and crud in there that you will not be able to remove, unless you have a shops equipment. You can try a flush yourself first, but in my experience, you're better off having it done professionally! Edit! Also make sure you mix your coolant no stronger than 50/50. Concentrated antifreeze does not provide good heat transfer!
Yep, fans and shrouds don't matter much at highway speeds but I've seen where the lower radiator hose was starting to collapse and cause that problem. That's why they used to put springs in the lower hose.
ALL good advice, thank you. Engine has about 10,000 miles on it since its last rebuild. Someone told me (maybe Craig) that there could be sand or something clogging the cooling ports from the engine shop. I'm thinking about installing an aluminum radiator and shroud this winter.
the first thing I thought was no fan shroud but you said at highway speeds. when you rebuilt your engine did you have it bored out? how many miles sine rebuild? is it fully broke in? (no reason for it to over heat from not being broke in just asking) has this been a problem since before you rebuilt the engine? I would say check your water make sure its not rusty if its rusty theres most likely your problem. a radiator doesnt take much to plug it up if the crap inside the cooling system is funky enough. add a fan shroud that will help keep the air flow on hot days in slow traffic. you could try taking out your thermostat and see if its stuck half shut. a bottom radiator hose can definitely get you. I just changed mine. I saw it suck completely shut when I hit the gas while tuning it one day if all that doesnt cure your problem you need to check for hot exhaust gas in your water I dont know if radiator shops will check it for free anymore or not but it only takes a second. if you do have exhaust gas in your water your head gasket is leaking. you could TRY to re torque them but not likely to help try the simple stuff first and good luck
That was a mouthful, lol. Let's see, the motor was rebuilt at least 4 times that I know of and it had already been bore when I got it. It is broke in, about 10k miles on it. Coolant is clean and I believe the radiator is too, it was replaced at time of rebuild and coolant was replaced this summer when I put in the 160 degree thermostat. I can tell you that the last 2 rebuilds I had trouble with the head gasket leaking coolant down the left side of the block. Its doing it right now, retorquing didn't help. Its the type gasket that's on there. Its been a while but there is 2 different types of head gasket and one of them causes this problem. So exhaust gas in coolant, maybe. The upper radiator hose is new but the bottom one is probably 6 plus years old (since the last rebuild). Thanks for the tips!
