Temperature rises quickly after accelarating...

5spd GT

"the 5.0 owns all"
Founding Member
Aug 7, 2002
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Arkansas
This isn't really a problem in the winter...but in the summer if I get on it for a 70mph spirited run...the temp..guage goes up (steadily in about a 20-25 second time or so) about 4 or 5 "guage bars" on the stock guages....and it kinda scares me...what could cause this...For example a trip down the dragstrip one time would cause the temparture to rise those 4 or 5 bars...(is it radiator, water pump, t-stat, not enough oil flow..etc...) :shrug:

I know in my 2000 (I do realize it is newer and practically stock)...I could punch it all day and it wouldn't overheat....

thanks for any help...I would like to get the problems solved by the time summer comes around....

David
 
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lol j/k dawg... overheating well , when my car was overheating it's because the fan wires were broken causing the rad to get toooooo hot and overheat, when your cars at top heat have you noticed your coolent bubbeling or your fan not working. I'm not really a tech guy but it's happened to me before.
 
Well I have a Black Magic electric fan...and it comes on after a certain temp (not for sure guage is wrong...assuming stock)...and it comes on with the a/c...and normal driving I dont' have any overheating problems...I'm not really sure if it is overheating but it will rise after accelerating 4 to 5 bars which is quite a bit and then will drop down to normal temp after a minute or two....anyone else have any ideas...or suggestions? Thanks

David
 
Do you have any other evidence that it's heating up? You're trusting the stock gauge- they weren't reliable when they were new, now they're over ten years old. It's a common problem with these. Put an Autometer in and see if it still says that. If you know it is, it could be the H20 pump or radiator. My '91 did the same exact thing, and it improved when I put in the new rad, went away entirely with the new pump. Like eric said, I'd check the timing too.
 
Well I made a mistake...I meant 2 to 3 bars and not 4 to 5...the temparature is very consistent during normal driving...its just when I "get on it"...it just rises slowly...I'm just confused... :shrug: ..lol

David
 
Sounds like a lean condition to me. Or you timing is a little too high like he said.... Maybe take a few degrees of timing out of it and see what that does for you. Are you sure the fan is turning the right direction?
 
Well the previous owner installed the fan...and he knows stangs pretty well....how would I know which way is the right way...its mounted on the engine side...

oh and my timing is supposedly around 13 or so...

David
 
Somebody brought up a great point about the timing. Retard it a bit and see what happens. If that's not the problem, I'm inclined to believe it may be a coolant flow problem of some kind. If your car has its original radiator, there's a good chance that it's a bit gummed up. It might not hurt to pull the rad and take it somewhere that could give it a good chem cleaning. If that doesn't help, at least you eliminated one possible problem, and you have a nice clean radiator when it's all said and done.
Oh, and you should probably upgrade to some autometere temp and oil guages at the very least. It's hard to tell what's really going on without them.
 
I have a weird cooling problem. I can let me car idle for hours and it will stay real cool. I can drive around city street and in traffic and it stays below or at half. As soon as I get on the interstate and cruise at a reasonable constant speed, it goes up to 3/4's. Isn't this backwards? Haha Wtf do you guys think is causing it? Crappy stock gauge?
 
Fox Saleen 163 said:
I have a weird cooling problem. I can let me car idle for hours and it will stay real cool. I can drive around city street and in traffic and it stays below or at half. As soon as I get on the interstate and cruise at a reasonable constant speed, it goes up to 3/4's. Isn't this backwards? Haha Wtf do you guys think is causing it? Crappy stock gauge?
Just though of something else- if your fan clutch is worn out, that can happen. It stay tight and works fine at low R's, but slips when you stay in it for ahile without letting off- highway conditions. If you don't have the factory clutch setup anymore, then I'm back to the drawing board... did it do it before you put in the underdrive pullies? How's your tensioner, and belt?
 
stangbear427 said:
Just though of something else- if your fan clutch is worn out, that can happen. It stay tight and works fine at low R's, but slips when you stay in it for ahile without letting off- highway conditions. If you don't have the factory clutch setup anymore, then I'm back to the drawing board... did it do it before you put in the underdrive pullies? How's your tensioner, and belt?

Actually, the cooling system only needs the fan when you're idling around town. On the highway there's enough air travelling through the radiator that the fan isn't needed. If you're fan IS stuck on while on the highway, that's when you need a new fan clutch...........otherwise your waterpump bearing will be toasted in no time.
 
NKau said:
Actually, the cooling system only needs the fan when you're idling around town. On the highway there's enough air travelling through the radiator that the fan isn't needed. If you're fan IS stuck on while on the highway, that's when you need a new fan clutch...........otherwise your waterpump bearing will be toasted in no time.
That depends on where you live. It's kinda hot in SanDiego. If the air going through the radiator isn't cool, it isn't going to cool much. If having the clutch stuck on the highway caused problems, I don't think I would have made it over three years and 75,000 miles with a solid spacer deleting my fan clutch entirely. It's direct drive, 1:1. And it does get cold here, it hasn't gone above freezing in almost two weeks- the car warms up fully and runs at 185* on the highway.
 
stangbear427 said:
That depends on where you live. It's kinda hot in SanDiego. If the air going through the radiator isn't cool, it isn't going to cool much. If having the clutch stuck on the highway caused problems, I don't think I would have made it over three years and 75,000 miles with a solid spacer deleting my fan clutch entirely. It's direct drive, 1:1. And it does get cold here, it hasn't gone above freezing in almost two weeks- the car warms up fully and runs at 185* on the highway.

Well, saying that the waterpump would be fragged in "no time" may have been a slight overstatement :) I should have also said "at speed".......I realize that you guys aren't always moving too fast on the highway ou in CA. BTW, having your fan on while at speed isn't helping anything.........the fan won't pull more air than is going through the radiator already.
 
check compression, a possbility when getting on it harder, you are pressing combustion gases into the coolant... i have the same problem, replaced the head gaskets still have the same problem. so. off to get my radiator cleaned, (i wish i had a new one) and i got a bigger fan. I'm also running low compression in some cylinders, dont know why.