Please help.. Major overheating problem

[UnderPressureGT]

Today, it took my car about 2 hours to reach 210 degrees and then it slowly made its way to 250 before i got home... this scared the hell outta me... soo i checked to see if i had antifreeze and i sure did..

I have the stock radiator, remanufactured waterpump, 180 Tstat and a cheap 1100cfm pep boys electric fan

first i thought that the fan is my problem because its weak, but then my neighbor told me that has nothing to do with it because when the thermostat opens, the radiator should cool down the car.... now driving it, it makes its way up to 210 realllll fast.. I do not want my car to operate higher then 180.. 210 is pushing it......250 is DAMN high! I do not wanna blow a head gasket or something... please help me out!

is the fan my problem??? Im even thinking about running no thermostat for the summer, but i was told not to. Could my thermostat stop opening??? wow i have no clue

 

[UnderPressureGT]

TTT

 

[Sicarius428]

Your Tstat could have locked in the closed position you can maybe tell by if you are driving it on the freeway at speed and the temp doesn't go down. It is an easy and cheap change so if you havn't changed it already give that a shot. It can be your fan too, if you have the original, try putting that on and seeing if you have the same problem. How many miles does your engine have by the way. I have seen a lot of 5.0s blow their headgasket at about 130,000 miles which may be the case too... not to worry you.
Kevin

 

[HISSIN50]

as said (sort of), overheating on the highway is radiator (or t-stat) related. overheating in the city (but not on the highway) is fan related.

get a good 180 (i like Mr Gaskets. fully balanced, opens fully sooner and has a bleed hole) - if you are unsure of yours.

good luck.

 

[D347643]

thats sooo weird......it took a super long time to warm up. even longer than if there was no thermostat at all. then it warms up way too quick like its stuck closed.
also, how did you come about the 250 degrees? i hope you didnt base that on the stock gauges. do you have aftermarket gauges cause the stockers are wayy wrong.
good luck.

Drew

 

[HISSIN50]

also, how did you come about the 250 degrees? i hope you didnt base that on the stock gauges. do you have aftermarket gauges cause the stockers are wayy wrong.
good luck.

Drew

Drew, that is a good point. i overlooked it since he listed such specific temps - the stock gauge is hard to interpolate. but a very good point indeed.

the stock gauge shows trends (and inaccurate ones at that). the voltage regulator and design are hysteretic (as Michael Yount puts it).

have you felt your top rad hose when it is hot? also, you might take the rad cap off after the car sits overnight. let it warm up. use a turkey thermometer to check the temp in the rad neck. when the stat opens, coolant will flow from pass side toward driver side (viewed through the cap hole). see what gives with it.

it could be something as stupid as a faulty cap. the pressure in the system raises the boiling point and increases efficiency. a weak cap lowers that pressure.

good luck.

 

[timewarped1972]

did it just start doing this or did it do it after you did something ( a fan, t-stat etc) ??

 

[UnderPressureGT]

it just recently started doing this... about a month ago, i had a leak in my heater core and i would lose antifreeze which would causew my car to overheat.. I then bypassed the core and my car didnt overheat since..... this started 2 days ago now

Also, i do have a pillar gauge for the temp

 

[RiceCooker5.0]

I would not recomend removinf the t-stat, water would just
rush through the radiator too fast for it to cool it down.
I recomend gutting your t-stat so you use the frame of the
t-stat to slow the water down. This is a cheap fix cuz this
way you dont even have to buy a new t-stat you can
do this to your curent one.

 

[D347643]

i didnt run a thermo for a while and it just took a while to heat up, as long as you have a good rad itll be fine. ive also run a gutted thermo and it did the same thing. its funny though cause if its a 180 degree thermo it probably fully opens at something like 195.

also on another note, the gauge you are using, what port in the lower intake did you mount the temp gauge line to? if its in the back on the lower manifold then temps tend to be a "little" innacurate.

good luck

Drew

 

[TheUser]

I would not recomend removinf the t-stat, water would just
rush through the radiator too fast for it to cool it down.
I recomend gutting your t-stat so you use the frame of the
t-stat to slow the water down. This is a cheap fix cuz this
way you dont even have to buy a new t-stat you can
do this to your curent one.

Theromstats are 10-15 bucks, so why do a cheap fix? I've also heard you can ask for one for a Thunderbird and it's the same exact thing, but like half the price (4-5 bucks or so) - I've never done this. You might also consider a Mr. Gasket unit as HISSIN pointed out - probably better quality.

If you don't run a thermo and your coolant is flowing all the time, it may take a while to get above 150. You want it to get above 150-160(I can't remember for sure) because until the car is at that temperature range, the O2 sensors are in closed loop and do not take readings - not good.

 

[D347643]

yeah i heard 160 then its out of safe mode. haha but im prob wrong

 

[bln92cpe]

my car was over heating due to a blown head gasket. I put in a new motor and it still over heats due to my weak stock radiator. I have a fluidyne sitting in my garage and i am thinking of an after cooler to cool her down.

 

[turbostang79]

it's a different engine, but my dad's V6 would also overheat.
We installed a new radiator : went great for a few days, but after driving a while, still overheating.
Thermostat was the next replacement, we tested the old one, but still, for 10 bucks, just get a new thermostat.
Nothing actually changed with replacing the thermostat.
After 3 days, steam was coming out from the exhaust : blown head gasket.
The left gasket was all deformed and #4 piston was so clean due to all the water flowing in

We put new head gaskets, so now we have a new radiator, new thermostat and new head gaskets.
After 3 days, the engine would STILL overheat.

Having another look at the water pump, nothing out of the ordinary was noticed. It seemed in good condition, like brand new.
After thinking about it for a while, the only possible thing left to change was the waterpump, but it was still like brand new ?
I said, what the heck.
And it turned out to be a good guess ! New waterpump, no more overheating !!!

The waterpump actually caused all these problems.
Engine would not cool down even not with a new radiator, due to the water not flooting around enough. Engine would get to hot, water is boiling inside, head gaskets got shot.

just worth thinking about, I guess, kept me awake for a few nights

 

[FLA5.0]

Quote:
"the stock gauge shows trends (and inaccurate ones at that). the voltage regulator and design are hysteretic (as Michael Yount puts it)."

Is this true with the oil pressure guage as well? My guage used to fluctuate with engine RPM's. I changed the sending unit and now when I start the car, it goes to 30 pounds and seems to just stay there until I shut it off.

 

[dastang2]

with such a small stock radiator, taking the thermo most likely won't hurt. but if you had a big 2 core or 3 core than run a good thermo,

 

[HISSIN50]

Quote:
"the stock gauge shows trends (and inaccurate ones at that). the voltage regulator and design are hysteretic (as Michael Yount puts it)."

Is this true with the oil pressure guage as well? My guage used to fluctuate with engine RPM's. I changed the sending unit and now when I start the car, it goes to 30 pounds and seems to just stay there until I shut it off.

yep. i knew the voltage regulator helped with keeping a steady needle before (to keep the needles from moving when the alt output dropped at idle, etc).....i.e. my aftermarket voltmeter dances at idle with the Turn signal on, whereas the stocker sits steady.

but then Michael told us that the gauges are designed to be hysteretic (he actually said hysteresis). he cited that in testing, drivers were not comfy with the needles dancing ever so slightly (in real time), so they deadened them a bit (to show trends). Michael, if i have messed any of this up, please correct me.

with your oil pressure gauge, i dont know that it is so complicated as all of this, or that the stock gauge just sucks. making a sucky gauge hysteretic certainly does not help, but the gauge would still probably suck.

i can offer that mine is very slow to react to changes (a blip of the throttle does not move it, but holding the throttle does). definately get yourself a good oil pressure and temp gauge, if you have not. as Mustang 5L5 says, the stocker is as useful as an idiot light. that is the first mod i recommend to many.....