Well as some of you may know, my "old and busted" IL6 was overheating and in very sad shape. So....I replaced the old ticker with a brand new remanned engine, and added ALL new bolt on parts such as; new dual core aluminum radiator and hoses, rebuilt carb, coil, distributor, plugs, wires, oil pump, new ceramic coated dual headers, and a true dual stainless steel exhaust with high flow cats. Nothing was repurposed from old engine other than starter, alternator, power steering pump and some nut and bolts. (Probably other stuff I can't remember right now) And guess what...the NEW engine is overheating!!! My best guess is a bad tranny. I have an a/t C-4 that is slipping in second gear (?) and I've not replaced those hard line either. I figure maybe it is the cause of my engine overheating. It is the only variable left I think. I figure it is robbing the engine of cool water by working harder and circulating hot water back into the engine. Any takers on this theory???
I think that is possible. I had a Winstar van back in the early 90's that overheated when the trans under a load. It never leaked water. Rick
Unless the trans is requiring grossly excessive power to rotate, that isn't your problem... You can disconnect the two trans lines from the radiator, then connect them together with a piece of hose to test your theory, but I'll bet you are full of hot water(pun intended)...
Oh I should mention, my fluid level is low (radiator) but no puddles in driveway. I checked the oil for antifreeze but it's clean. But again...new engine, same old overheating problem. Just seems weird to me that I'd have two bad engines in a row. Any other thoughts?
How hot does it run??? If it isn't pushing out coolant the engine may be a little stiff and problem will subside after a few runs... A few things to consider though The radiator should be full to rule out any possibility of overheating due to air pockets in the head... Sometimes trapped air can be difficult to remove, but if the vehicle nose is high(as on ramps) and allowed to idle till the water is circulating any air pocket should be bled out... Otherwise you're looking at either poor circulation(defective pump, collapsed hose etc), insufficient flow across the rad(have a shroud?) or maybe undersized radiator(guessing this isn't your problem)...
Probably air in the cooling system. I can't believe you did all that and didn't swap in a V-8. The cost would not have been much more.
Rad is big enough. I don't remember the T-stat temp, but it is a stock replacement. I don't have a shroud. It was at 240 degrees when I noticed it. Was no steam during overheat, the light came on and I shut it down. Heard gurgling. No steam. Radiator was full when I started driving it. Stopped at three places within a half hour. Then the overheat.
If it didn't push out coolant my bet is air pocket/low coolant... Often a engine will idle just fine but at speed the pump will cavatate and not pump enough to keep the engine cool...
