car still overheats

[madness410]

i never knew about that though...learn something new everyday.

[Clark]

I skimmed through this, and I second the fan shroud. There was actually a pretty cool write up in CarCraft a while back preaching the importance of a fan shroud. Basically they were saying that without a shroud, the only surface on the radiator that is being efficiently cooled is the area that the fan covers. With a shroud, you are effectively utilizing the fan to cool the entire area that the shroud covers. So you want to get something that covers a large area of the radiator...something like this

http://www.jegs.com/p/JEGS/1014845/10002/-1

But in all honesty, since your fans are hooked up manually anyhow, I would highly suggest looking into getting a ford taurus SHO fan to put in there. That thing is a beast. People use em in 4x4 projects all the time. It mates up to a 3rd gen radiator rather nice with minimal fabrication. I had to cut out a section of plastic or two to get it to fit. Thing pulls over 4000cfm of air on high speed (low speed I think is somewhere in the realm of half that). You can get these for $50 on ebay.




Although I do agree that your fans on there right now should be keeping your car cool to an extent, it may be something to really look at. I think I ran in the low 200's with the 3rd gen dual fan setup, with only one fan working on a stock setup.

[madness410]

hey clark thanks for the help. its $50 for the fan and the shroud? ill definately look into that.

the thing is i have a stock radiator and stock fan set up and its cooling the system good...i just need to top the rad off and make sure its running and not climbing up, it stayed at 180 the other day.

[Clark]

Originally Posted by madness410

hey clark thanks for the help. its $50 for the fan and the shroud? ill definately look into that.

the thing is i have a stock radiator and stock fan set up and its cooling the system good...i just need to top the rad off and make sure its running and not climbing up, it stayed at 180 the other day.

180? Thats good. 200 is even fine, my dd stays consistently at 200.

And yes, that fan and shroud are one piece, they come together. If you are interested just search Ebay for "Ford Taurus Fan" and youll see a bunch of em. Also, theres a few write ups on TGO about those fans if you need more guidance.

[Pampered-Z]

I didn't read this entire thread line for line, but what about these ideas?

Where is you temp sensor connected too? Is it going into the head?

Take the thermostat completely out and see what happens. You could have something simple like the wrong housing or thermostat so that there is some interference and the thermostat is not opening completey.

What is the brand and the part number of the intake and heads your running? With this much of an issue are your certain the water jackets bewteen the intake and heads are lined up correctly? Could you have a 400 block or heads and you need the steam holes drilled?

Or, you could have a later model intake and early heads or something? Been a few years, but some intakes needed the water passages blocked or left open with certain heads and you could either get intake gaskets with or without the passages? Did you make sure all the openings matched between the intake/intakegasket/heads/head gaskets/block?

[madness410]

Originally Posted by Pampered-Z

I didn't read this entire thread line for line, but what about these ideas?

Where is you temp sensor connected too? Is it going into the head?

Take the thermostat completely out and see what happens. You could have something simple like the wrong housing or thermostat so that there is some interference and the thermostat is not opening completey.

What is the brand and the part number of the intake and heads your running? With this much of an issue are your certain the water jackets bewteen the intake and heads are lined up correctly? Could you have a 400 block or heads and you need the steam holes drilled?

Or, you could have a later model intake and early heads or something? Been a few years, but some intakes needed the water passages blocked or left open with certain heads and you could either get intake gaskets with or without the passages? Did you make sure all the openings matched between the intake/intakegasket/heads/head gaskets/block?

hey man thanks for the interest. before i answer the questions just know EVERYTHING on this car is pretty much aftermarket.

the temp sensor plugs into the intake, it doenst give me a problem im pretty sure its a fairly accurate read-out. and i base this on absolutely nothing lol, but its good.

the thermostat is brand new i dont see how it could be giving me problems but i will try that tomorrow, i warmed up the car today before i saw this post and the coolant is still almost 200*.

the heads are aftermarket world sportman II's...definately made for a 350 block...its a holley intake manifold, not sure on part numbers. all the water jackets should match up with the heads and intake...

[madness410]

i just went outside and started it up, and it still climbed slowly. the heater core hose that is connected into the firewall leaks a little bit but im pretty sure thats not the problem.

the new set up works fine, fan works, rad works, the pump is new. but it still climbs.

next thing i want to look at is bleed the system out again, just to make sure thats not it. then adjust the timing maybe its running lean. this is really starting to piss me off. im calling up mechanics in the area for quotes to diagnose the problem.

[Clark]

Whats the max temp you hit again?

Try some Purple Ice from Royal Purple?

[madness410]

Originally Posted by Clark

Whats the max temp you hit again?

Try some Purple Ice from Royal Purple?

200 and when i shut it off it kept climbing...

purple ice? i guess its a type of coolant?

[sweetbmxrider]

its an additive, its not going to fix your issue IMO

[madness410]

yeah thats what i was thinking. im pretty sure every minor thing i could do with my skills / knowledge has been done...im looking into bringing it to a professional

[FIcamaroRE92]

gauges ****ed up?

[Tru2Chevy]

Originally Posted by madness410

200 and when i shut it off it kept climbing...

200 is not an issue....and it's usually gonna climb when you shut the car off, as the coolant in the block is no longer circulating, but still absorbing all the heat from the engine.

- Justin

[madness410]

arrite...whats the temperature that it would start to steam at?

[madness410]

bled the system out completely today..climbed to 220

[Tru2Chevy]

Originally Posted by madness410

arrite...whats the temperature that it would start to steam at?

That depends on the exact mixture of water / antifreeze and the pressure of your radiator cap. The antifreeze lowers the 212* boiling point of water, however that is raised quite a bit when it's pressurized.

Have you pressure tested the system yet to make sure that it is holding pressure correctly?

- Justin

[madness410]

its 50/50 antifreeze / water. i havent pressure tested it yet, is there anyone on here who has one i can borrow?

next thing is the timing and the fuel / air mixture and if that doesnt work im at a loss for words lol

[jims69camaro]

Originally Posted by JL8Jeff

I don't know 3rd gens well enough, but I'm assuming it has electric fans. [if they are, they were swapped in - remember he has a built motor. i have a clutch fan on my '87.]

If somebody messed with the wiring maybe they could have reversed them by accident.

i don't see how that is possible, really. reversing the fan would have next to zero effect on the amount of air that was passing through the radiator. it's like this, the fans are developed to force the maximum amount of air possible in one direction. they make them either push or pull. you can't take a push fan and make it pull, is my point. since they are specifically developed to push the maximum amount of air, just reversing the direction that the fan rotates will not allow it to pull the same amount of air. i have a couple of fans here, electric-type fans, and the blades really are quite different than the clutch fan of years ago. if the wires were crossed, i don't think the fan would operate.

anyway, i offered this up, and although i am unwilling to read through 5 pages of responses i don't know if i repeated anything. at least we got him off of selling the car, which is a positive move as far as i am concerned. here was my response:

Originally Posted by jims69camaro

one way to learn a car is to take one completely apart. that could be worth its time, if you ask me. but you don't have a place to part it out, so that's out.

you don't want to sell it whole because it has a problem and, well, to put it bluntly, kiss that 6k goodbye.

it has a problem, you are not enjoying the car, you feel the time isn't right to sell it... dude, you've answered your own question. tighten your belt and get through the tough time with the car. you'll fix it eventually.

and you'll probably find it is a lot easier to fix than you think. with a car overheating, it can only be a handful of things: thermostat not working/sticking closed, clogged and/or worn out hoses (you'd be surprised how much the vacuum in the system sucks down on the inside of the hose and if it's well worn that could block off the coolant from circulating in the system), wrong type of cap, coolant leaking into the motor (what color is the smoke, if any, from the tailpipe), coolant leaking from the radiator, radiator blocked... just to name a few. there are other problems and ways of diagnosing them without throwing a bunch of money at it. if it's the thermostat, then you're done for less than $20.

so, don't sell it. do what you have to to make it by without selling it. people kick themselves years later after selling a car they used to enjoy.

[sweetbmxrider]

you can cross the wires and the fan will operate in the reverse direction.

[LTb1ow]

Yea, but if the fan blades are designed to push air and you spin the motor the wrong way, you won't move much air at all.

You don't see to many prop planes with reverse do you?

[sweetbmxrider]

i didn't say the fans would operate correctly, i simply said reversing wires reverses the direction of the motor. a simple test is a hand behind the fan with it on, you should feel a considerable amount of air. if you have any doubts, you may have a problem.

[Tru2Chevy]

Originally Posted by JL8Jeff

I don't know 3rd gens well enough, but I'm assuming it has electric fans.

If somebody messed with the wiring maybe they could have reversed them by accident.

Jim, my 87 305 came with a single electric fan.....they were available that year, just not sure which cars got what.

- Justin

[JL8Jeff]

Air will move both ways with a fan, kind of similar to a boat prop. It might not be as efficient the wrong direction, but it will move it and the wrong way is not good.

OP, where is your water temp gauge getting the temp reading from? You might be getting hot spots around the heads if coolant isn't flowing well enough. Unless your engine is built real crazy, a good radiator, t-stat, water pump, fan and shroud should be able to cool it. If your carb is running too lean it could lead to the extra heat as well. Spark plugs could be the wrong heat range, too much timing, etc. A mild built engine should not have these overheating issues so it sounds like something is wrong with the combination. Has anyone else checked the car for you?

[madness410]

nope nobody else has checked the car for me. im waiting for Al from TMR to pick up my lexan t tops and he said he can take a quick look at it. but im going to try to richen up the mixture, maybe even try out my buddies carb off his 92 rs to see if that fixes the problem.

[BonzoHansen]

Originally Posted by Tru2Chevy

Jim, my 87 305 came with a single electric fan.....they were available that year, just not sure which cars got what.

- Justin

The 85 TPI T/A I stripped years ago had a single electric fan. I put it in my 82 T/A and it cooled that car just fine, in conjunction with a good radiator & good air damn under the car.