HELP ME FIX MY 4.6 ITS OVERHEATING!!!

85/96gt

New Member
Mar 27, 2004
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hey guys i need help with my 4.6 96 gt it wont stop overheating and i dont nowhats wrong with it .. im hoping its nothng to major as i dont have alot of money ...ok after about 20 mins of driving it on a cold start up it starts to get hot and will start knocking or ticking or somthing@! i replaced a thermostat in it recently that ditn seem to be the problem...i took it to autozone to plug it in.. afew things came up one of the thing that did was the coolant tempature sensor so figuring that was it i replaced it . nothing still overheating !! my electric fan isnt working .. nothing came up for that on the check...BUT that isnt that recent it stopped working before all of this.. and i dont think the fan alone would cause all of this this bad after about 20 mins or so of driving it gets rot and get loud and is burning oil!! what could it be? waterpump? radiator? what could it be . it doenst seem to be losing coolant .."unless it boils over" so what can i do? o ya and also wen i plugged it in at autozone it said the i believe bank 2 was running lean..any idea i gottaget this fixed!! thnks alot of any info ...
 
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85/96gt said:
hey guys i need help with my 4.6 96 gt it wont stop overheating and i dont nowhats wrong with it .. im hoping its nothng to major as i dont have alot of money ...ok after about 20 mins of driving it on a cold start up it starts to get hot and will start knocking or ticking or somthing@! i replaced a thermostat in it recently that ditn seem to be the problem...i took it to autozone to plug it in.. afew things came up one of the thing that did was the coolant tempature sensor so figuring that was it i replaced it . nothing still overheating !! my electric fan isnt working .. nothing came up for that on the check...BUT that isnt that recent it stopped working before all of this.. and i dont think the fan alone would cause all of this this bad after about 20 mins or so of driving it gets rot and get loud and is burning oil!! what could it be? waterpump? radiator? what could it be . it doenst seem to be losing coolant .."unless it boils over" so what can i do? o ya and also wen i plugged it in at autozone it said the i believe bank 2 was running lean..any idea i gottaget this fixed!! thnks alot of any info ...

you probably need to inspect the intake really good , possibly intake gasket or cracked intake . could be losing coolant through exhaust usually it will puff white smoke which you didnt mentioin , might try replacing the T stat again for good measure . Headgasket or cracked head could be another possible too .
 
Bypass the sensor so the fan runs all of the time, then drive for 20 minutes and see if it still overheats. If temp remains normal, your problem is likely in the fan control or sensor. Be careful not to be in the path of the fan when you bypass the sensor (best to disconnect the battery ground terminal first). If you cannot get the fan to run continuously, suspect the control or the fan motor itself.
 
dude to tell you the truth i had some what of a similar problem and all it was is the radiator cap. the theads on the cap were not tightning causing it to overheat i took it to the shops nobody can catch it they didn't know why it was overheating then my dad looked at it and said look at the cap from the inside then i saw the threads were almost melted. I baught a different one and problem solved.
 
recall is for a intake manifold failure, had the same probelm. if you're car is within the allowed mileage ford will replace the mainfold and coolant free of charge. they even payed for my tow job. it's worth a try and if it is the problem its free!
 
I drive an 02 now, but two years ago I owned a 96Gt. Same overheating thing, replaced thermostat- did nothing . I didnt even know there was a recall for the radiator or I wouldnt of bought it in the first place. Wow. (Im glad I got rid of it asap while I still could.) I traded mine in to the dealership where I bought my new 02 and I was very happy cause now they can worry about it. If you can I would try to trade it in and get a 99 or newer(gt), caus that will end your nightmare.
 
ok thaks alot everyone for all the replies god i hope its not the intake or somthing major casue i dont have money to fix it ..(especially wen trying to restore my 85=)
hmm ill check some of that stuff.. jstut he radiator car could casue all that? and how do i no if my car qualify's for the recall.. its got 85k on it hm..
tommy0022 i would love to trade it in for 99+ haha but i dont have that kind of money unfotunatly...
im going to try somer of that stuff...i really rally hope its nothign major.. i dont have mch money tillfriday .. illget back to you guysnon this ..once again thanks ill kep ya poseted..
 
I had the same problem. There was a hairline crack in the manifold where the thermostat resided. Also the manifold gasket seemed to be leaking in that area. The dealer said that Ford wouldn't replace it because the car is too old and has too many miles on it. I don't have the money to do it right now and anyway I'm not dumping $1100 into a 125,000 mile motor.

So I sealed up the crack the best I could with JB Weld, smothered the thermostat housing with hi-temp red RTV, and when that didn't work fully I poured a bottle of "Bar's Leaks" in the radiator. That did the trick!
 
How hot do these usually run? Mine runs on the M in normal on the gauge. That is over half way and that worried me at first. Is there any way to make it run cooler so that the Fan doesn't always turn on?
 
Well,

I have a 1996 gt with a lot of mods and I was over heating aswell. Soon discovered that I was running lean. Running lean will cause your car to over heat. Do you have any mods on your car that might be pushing your car past it's stock injectors?