Radiator Maintenance

[RyanCorpse]

Alright, I don't know where else to post this.

My temp gauge went a bit past the 3/4th mark in traffic at the freeway today. It was a reasonably hot day in Los Angeles, I think close to 82-85 deg.

Anyways, what are some things I can do to improve the temperature?

Drain the radiator?

I'd definitely be interested in installing electric fans and wouldn't mind copping a 3g alternator. But I'll save that as a last resort.

 

[JackFish]

3/4 means nothing empirically. Did the engine show signs of overheating?
At what temperature is the thermostat rated?

 

[BetsyBabe64]

That doesn't seem too bad. The faster you go the hotter your engine gets and of course sitting and idling in traffic while it's hot out doesn't help.

If your engine starts to get too hot ever, turn on your heater. That will help cool it down. Just as long as your radiator is in good condition and you have a good water pump and thermostat, you can't do much more then that other then keeping your radiator full of radiator fluid, not just water. A radiator flush once in awhile helps a lot too. Flush your engine block out too if you haven't done it in awhile.

You can also look into an aluminum radiator, check them out on ebay. Radiatordealz makes some really good ones at a good price.

Last week i was driving my boss and co-worker around in my falcon (boss car broke down), it was very hot out and we had long distances to travel on the freeway. I often drive on the freeway going 75 with no problems but that day, something went wrong. On the way back home i noticed my temp gauge was really high, it startled me because i had never seen it that high. When we got back to the factory, i opened the hood and radiator fluid was EVERYWHERE. more then half the radiator fluid was missing and i had driven like that for awhile. Ever since then i can't drive faster then 60MPH without my lifters getting really hot and a few of them start to make a loud clicking sound until they cool down.

My falcon has 50,000 miles on the engine,( or at least that's what it says on the odometer. It just hit 50,000 this week) original radiator, water pump and the engine has never been rebuilt. So i totally screwed some stuff up, i can still drive to work everyday with no problems, i just can't go on the freeway anymore until i rebuild my engine and get a new radiator which will have to wait until my new falcon project is done.

 

[MPGmustang]

3/4 temp is fine on my 65 mustang (that is what it is on +100* day's with the A/C on low, when on med it's at 7/8th (ish) still scary but I'm not on the freeway, I have noticed that my old water pump pulley was 5 and 5/8" diameter, my new pulley is 5" exact, maybe a smaller pulley will help out for you? (smaller = more rev's per engine rev)

Without A/C on a hot day I see 1/2 temp, sometimes 3/4 temp. My T-stat is 180* with a burp hole installed.

 

[CobraSix]

Agree, 3/4 means nothing to be honest.

My old TSU ready 3/4 when my mechanical gauge read 195*. My new TSU shows 1/4* at the same temperature. Even if only temporary, install a mechanical gauge that you can read during driving. I just ran one an had it sit outside my hood for a week while I took relative readings.

However, with a cooling system in good working condition, the gauge should not vary much once the car comes up to the thermostat temperature. Otherwise, at least one, if not several parts are not functioning at full capacity. I've sat in 95* weather in stop and go traffic for an hour (gotta love boston) and never had my temp rise above the thermostat setting. That being said, I have new hoses, new water pump, new radiator, flushed the block 4 times. I do however still have my old 4 blade fan and no AC (I just put the top down). My only problem now is that in the winter, the car doesn't warm up enough on the freeway to allow me to run the heater at full blast. I end up using my blower fan as a thermostat to keep the engine warm while trying to keep my hands from freezing to the wheel.

 

[RyanCorpse]

Ah, alright. Great replies!

Just recently I was on the dreaded 405 in rush hour traffic. My stock temp gauge was about 7/8ths on the H side. Kinda worried me a bit. I'm thinking of flushing the radiator soon. I'm even due for an oil change. Will report back as soon as I do that.

I'm starting to think of getting a shroud as well.

 

[fordconvert]

If you have not lost any coolant I would not worry about changing parts yet. Have a look in the radiator. The fluid should be just above the top tubes and you should easily be able to see the tubes. If you cant your coolant needs changed. If the tubes have crusty looking stuff on them it needs at least a flush and perhaps a serious cleaning. Look for a coupon in my area I can usually find a radiator flush for under $50 including coolant. Paying a shop to do it beats how much of a pain it is to do at home. The flush is easy but properly disposing of the old stuff is the trick. After that see what happens. It may solve your problem. It may push you to a new radiator.

 

[mugsy]

Engines run cooler at highway speed because the cooling system efficiency increase faster than the heat generated by the engine. So if the car runs hot at highway speed then the radiator is the problem. Either the internal surfaces are fouled and preventing heat transfer or there is partial blockage/plugging so that the entire heat transfer surface area is not being used. Either way, the fix is to pull the radiator and have a shop inspect and test it. If it flows the correct amount, then the surfaces are fouled and you can either get it "boiled out" or you buy a new radiator. If the tubes are blocked then it can be "rodded out" or you buy a new radiator.

If it overheats at idle or "around town" driving then the problem is on the "air" side of the radiator. The fan is not drawing enough air thru the radiator to cool the coolant. You then must either get a fan shroud and hope that improves the efficiency of the fan so it pulls enough air through the rad. Or buy a fan with more blades that will move more air at a given rpm. Or buy an electric fan that pulls the right amount of air.

The old rule of thumb was that somewhere between 30 to 35 MPH the air being pushed thru the radiator by simply driving is more than the fan "sucks" or pulls thru the radiator. So basically the fan is useless after that speed, it just taking horsepower away from the engine.