cooling problems

37fordtruckguy

37fordtruckguy

Member
So i have been having cooling problems right after i did a fresh rebuild. I have modern water pumps, electric fan and 180 thermostats. Though it does not help that i am bored .187" oversize. Yet it still climbs pass the 200 degree mark. Should I change to 160 stats or stay with the 180's until my engine has broken in? It only has about 30 mile on it so far.
 
Try the 160's. Oftentimes the 180's allow the temp to get too high for the radiator to keep in control. The 160's seem to give the radiator a fair warning to pull up its socks, and get on with cooling.
Probably.
in truth, I have seen the swap to 160's cure the overheat problem.
Do worth a go.
Make sure timings not to retarded (late) as this can heat things up real quick.
Martin.
 
If it won't stay cool at 180, how is it going to cool at 160? When the thermostat is wide open, that's as good as it gets. Sounds more like you have a problem with adequate air flow through the radiator. How about adding a shroud?
 
flatjack9 said:
If it won't stay cool at 180, how is it going to cool at 160? When the thermostat is wide open, that's as good as it gets. Sounds more like you have a problem with adequate air flow through the radiator. How about adding a shroud?
Click to expand...

I can't really answer that, hence the probably word. but as I said I've seen this and only this change, solve an overheating problem.
Martin.
 
You didn't mention the age and condition of the radiator. When cooling problems happen, almost always it is due to a radiator problem. The interior may be lime coated, some of the tubes may be plugged, and some fins may be separated from the tubes. Electric fans need an efficient radiator, as many don't provide as much air flow as the stock fan.
 
it is an original radiator from 1937, but I took it to get rotted out and pressure tested. The whole nine yards, so im not sure why its still doing it.
 
I fixed a neighbors 40 by drilling holes in the thermostats, do not remember now how I came up with that but it sure stopped the heating problem.
 
I have 160's with a 1/8" hole drilled in each. Still, a shroud made all the difference in the world in mine. Without the shroud it ran 180 - 190. With it, it never passes 180 on hot days even in heavy traffic, idling or hauling heavy loads.
 
I will assume this is a 37 Ford we are talking about from your avatar.
If everything is in good condition, it will cool under almost any conditions. It did when it was new.

You indicate a reconditioned radiator which was cleaned and rodded so we can probably rule that out as the problem.

If there was a shroud on the radiator when the truck was new, then it needs to be there now. You can try driving the truck through traffic on a hot day WITHOUT THE HOOD and see what happens. If it cools better then it is an airflow problem.

If the temp. is running over what the thermostats are rated at they are wide open and changing to another thermostat will have no effect.
(unless the stat is faulty)
You can lose the stats and drive in traffic and see what happens. I suspect that won't help.

That leaves only the engine.
DID YOU GET THE BLOCK ACID STRIPPED???
If not, you will probably always have a heating problem.
Scale build up in the lower parts of the water jackets is the worst enemy of good cooling.
NOTHING BUT ACID WILL GET IT OUT.
Most strippers use electrolysis along with the acid dip now. It is much faster.
 
The only thing is that i suspect might be the problem is that the radiator was modified for a 85 horse engine, when it was for a v60. the reason for this is that the bottoms water outlets are smaller that the water pump ones
 
That's a problem. The V8-60 radiator is smaller with less water capacity.
V8-60 3.75 gal (15 qt) V8-85 5.5 gal (22 qt)
 
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Just another of the wall suggestion. I had a 327 rebuilt for an O/T Corvette I have. When I got it back, it was OK when driving down the road (in central Minnesota), but if I let it sit and idle, the temp gauge would peg. I tried all kinds of things that didn't help, but finally, after I had put about 800 miles on it, all the overheating problems went away. All I can surmise is that the engine builder built the engine with all of the tolerances on the "tight side" (this is not all of the problems he introduced), and it took a lot longer to break in than normal. Give it about a thousand miles of normal use before you do anything drastic.
 
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Drill a 3mm hole in the thermostate, if it dont have it already.
To get all air out.
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Buy or borrow a Infrared Thermometer, the gauge can be off quite a lot.

Finally Check the timing... (maybe start with this one :-) ).
Not enough advance causes flatheads to overheat, more often than you'd think
 
He's already knows the problem.... it's not thermostats, it's trying to run a bored out V8 with a little V860 radiator. Simple..... not enough coolant in the system.
 
Now that's out in the open, sounds fair to assume the rad is the issue here.
Gota say though, after re reading the original posts, "fine on the highway, gets hot if Sat still" air flow through the rad is also an issue. Shroud and a mechanical fan that sits in the right place relative to the rad and shroud, should sort it out.
I think if the rad wasn't up to spec, it would get real hot, wether Sat still or running down the highway.
Martin.
 
Forgot, I still would change the stats, and try the drilled hole idea. Purely as it does sometimes work, and it's very cheap and easy.
As I said in my last post, and others stated earlier, a shroud is probably the way to go for your symptoms.
Martin.
 
Re: 60 vs. 85 - It's not the volume of coolant - it's the amount of finned cooling area in the core.
 
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