car wanting to overheat

[LiquidGT]

yes this is per an autometer phantom guage, i havent tried the turkey thermometer. the thermostat that i have been using is a mr gasket 180, those are balanced correct?

Yes they are supposed to be balanced, I've heard good and bad things about the Mr Gasket thermo; I had a Mr Gasket 195 and it ran way, way, waaay too cool in the winter, I put a Stant Superstat in and it was all good.

Since thermostats are cheap and easy to replace, and you exhausted all your options, I might try a different brand of thermostat.

 

[mustangfan1990]

Maybe everyone is looking for the most simpliest problems...Is the car losing cooolant anywhere? Maybe not on the ground but could it be burning it? Just trying to explorer all options.Maybe your tensioner is bad and causing the belt to slip across the water pump pulley and the pump isnt turning 100% when the belt gets hot. I dont know though just trying to throw some ideas out there

 

[HISSIN50]

Yes they are supposed to be balanced, I've heard good and bad things about the Mr Gasket thermo; I had a Mr Gasket 195 and it ran way, way, waaay too cool in the winter, I put a Stant Superstat in and it was all good.

Since thermostats are cheap and easy to replace, and you exhausted all your options, I might try a different brand of thermostat.

The balanced stats generally are open by their rated temps, and they begin to open about 10*F cooler than their rating. Depending upon the placement of theetemp sender, a gauge can read 165-170* with a balanced 180 (generally this is in colder ambient temps). If the car ran cooler than that, that's not normal.

 

[bdub]

Maybe everyone is looking for the most simpliest problems...Is the car losing cooolant anywhere? Maybe not on the ground but could it be burning it? Just trying to explorer all options.Maybe your tensioner is bad and causing the belt to slip across the water pump pulley and the pump isnt turning 100% when the belt gets hot. I dont know though just trying to throw some ideas out there

i dont seem to be losing any coolant anywhere, the level is staying high like always, im gonna try and do another thermostat, maybe third time is a charm, belt and everything seems tight. but i just dont know how two stats would be going out that quick

 

[Foxfan88]

did you try burping the system with the front jacked up as high as possible??

like is said its happened to me alot, burping with the car level on the ground may no get all the pockets out, jack it up and make the radiator cap hole the highest point in the cooling system, air will get out better that way. worth a try.

 

[bdub]

i tried that burping method the other night, jacked the front end up real high and did it, but i guess its worth another try. gonna try another thermostat in the morning, anyone know if that stant superstat is a balanced thermostat? also is there anyway that the new radiator has gone bad? im hoping its not the radiator and want that to be my very last option.

 

[mustangfan1990]

i tried that burping method the other night, jacked the front end up real high and did it, but i guess its worth another try. gonna try another thermostat in the morning, anyone know if that stant superstat is a balanced thermostat? also is there anyway that the new radiator has gone bad? im hoping its not the radiator and want that to be my very last option.

Well you could have gunk in there somehwere in your rad that you cant see. To be honest with you I dont think your t-stat is bad. Air in the systems is VERY common in the 5.0s and sometimes is harder to get out than others. You can do a compression test on the collant system I think and should yeild some results

 

[bdub]

Well you could have gunk in there somehwere in your rad that you cant see. To be honest with you I dont think your t-stat is bad. Air in the systems is VERY common in the 5.0s and sometimes is harder to get out than others. You can do a compression test on the collant system I think and should yeild some results

i pulled a vacuum on the coolant system yesterday at work, the tool is supposed to pull all the air out of the system, it goes in the radiator and pulls a vacuum, pulls so much it will suck all the hoses flat, then fills your system with coolant for u, and that didnt help either

 

[mustangfan1990]

i pulled a vacuum on the coolant system yesterday at work, the tool is supposed to pull all the air out of the system, it goes in the radiator and pulls a vacuum, pulls so much it will suck all the hoses flat, then fills your system with coolant for u, and that didnt help either

Sounds more serious to me then

 

[bdub]

yeah i havent got a clue, oil looks fine, car smells to be runnin a lil rich, other than the coolant everything else is fine

 

[mustangfan1990]

how far is kinston from Hickory. I know at my work I pick orders from a Lowes Food there in kinston. Anyway If you could drive the car and have a meet up maybe I could look at it for ya

 

[terr5178]

I've been having a similiar problem. I put my thermostat in a pot and boiled the water it opened fully at around 180. So I figured the thermostat was fine. I flushed the coolant. I seemed a little better. But still I haven't fixed the problem. I did notice that some of my guages are not as accurate as the were, old age I guess. My alt. guage has been reading low also. I'm also lost on this one

 

[bdub]

how far is kinston from Hickory. I know at my work I pick orders from a Lowes Food there in kinston. Anyway If you could drive the car and have a meet up maybe I could look at it for ya

i prec the help man, but from here hickory is atleast four hours away

 

[bdub]

I've been having a similiar problem. I put my thermostat in a pot and boiled the water it opened fully at around 180. So I figured the thermostat was fine. I flushed the coolant. I seemed a little better. But still I haven't fixed the problem. I did notice that some of my guages are not as accurate as the were, old age I guess. My alt. guage has been reading low also. I'm also lost on this one

yours sounds like it could possibly be a belt problem

 

[bdub]

just tried jacking the car up again to get any air out, then took it around the block, car still heated up quick, and i noticed while at a stop sign the temp was on about 190 and i revved the engine and it jumped to about 196, revved the engine again and it jumped to about 201 or so, revved again and it jumped to almost 210. this car is driving me crazy

 

[Scott W]

well its sounding like the rad to me. Maybe its partially blocked on the inside, or maybe its dirty and air is not flowing properly on the outside. since the rad is the most expensive component I would try all other options first - but you've pretty much done that already.

Does the taurus fan have enough airflow to cool the rad- I'm not familiar with those fans.

 

[bdub]

well its sounding like the rad to me. Maybe its partially blocked on the inside, or maybe its dirty and air is not flowing properly on the outside. since the rad is the most expensive component I would try all other options first - but you've pretty much done that already.

Does the taurus fan have enough airflow to cool the rad- I'm not familiar with those fans.

well i took the radiator out today and flushed it out of the car two times and let it soak for about 2 hours, and once back in the car, then re-filled with coolant and water and put a new radiator cap on, still the same problems going on. at idle when you rev the engine its jumping anywhere from 5-8 degrees easy

yeah the taurus fan is a great fan

 

[Scott W]

its strange that just with a punch of gas the temp rises that quickly. How about the temperature sending unit - maybe its faulty? There is a way of checking the sending unit. I ended up replacing mine a couple years ago - I don't think they are too expensive, about $20. Its worth a shot.

 

[Scott W]

latemodelrestoration has the coolant temp sending units for $11.95 - oem ford.

here's a link

http://www.latemodelrestoration.com/iwwida.pvx?;item?item_no=SW2328 1&comp=LRS

you can probably pick on up at your local parts dealer for similar price.

I think you said you were running an aftermarket gauge - so that should be o.k. but if the sensor is faulty then your going to get a bad reading at the gauge.

 

[bdub]

latemodelrestoration has the coolant temp sending units for $11.95 - oem ford.

here's a link

http://www.latemodelrestoration.com/iwwida.pvx?;item?item_no=SW2328 1&comp=LRS

you can probably pick on up at your local parts dealer for similar price.

I think you said you were running an aftermarket gauge - so that should be o.k. but if the sensor is faulty then your going to get a bad reading at the gauge.

gonna try checking the radiator and fluids morrow morning with the laser temp, gun to make sure of that, but im pretty sure thats not it cause i can tell the heat difference coming off the motor. also gonna test all four corners and middle of the rad. just to make sure it doesnt have a major stop up somewhere. if that works out i guess im on to a new water pump incase maybe for some reason the impellers on the pump have worn. if anyone else can chime in with a possible idea i would greatly appreciate it.