Cooling system problems on my '36 Phaeton.

Rakkasan

Rakkasan

Member
Seems no matter what I've done the car still overheats.

I sent the waterpumps to Skip Haney and he rebuilt them but after I installed them it still overheated sitting in my garage with a box fan in front of it after about 15 minutes. I took it out for a drive and the temperature dropped to high normal traveling at 55 mph, but rose again when I slowed. The outside temperature was in the mid 60's here in central Florida.

I checked the temperature at the top of both hoses with an infrared thermometer and both sides read 192˚. The top of the radiator read 197˚.

My plan next is to run the thermometer back and forth over the radiator and look for cool spots that should indicate a blockage. Looking at the radiator it looks pretty beat up in the back with the fins bent and dented over about 10% of the back and it's impossible to straighten them.

Should I take the radiator off and have a new core put in or is there something else I should try?

For what it's worth I'm not a fan of putting additives in the radiator to cool it. To me that's just a bandaid and I'd rather have it fixed.
 
Plugged radiator is the prime cause of overheating. Look into the top of the radiator with the water low enough to see the ends of the tubes. If you see any gunk plugging up the ends of the tube it should be removed and taken to a radiator shop to test, clean, rod out, and maybe re-core. That's what mine took.
 
One thing I forgot to say, a box fan in front of the engine won't blow enough air to simulate air flow while driving. Bent and dented fins also restrict air flow.
 
A large box fan AGAINST the grill with an engine speed of 15 to 20 MPH will give you the almost exact results as driveing. We used this method in all our tests and run them for an hour. In the mid 60s you should be not be getting over 175 driveing on the open road. You don't believe in additives but the Purple Ice works which is recommended in the instructions with the pumps. Air bubbles form on the surface in the rear of the heads and in the center of the heads. Put the Purple Ice in and in 15 minutes of running watch the temperatures drop. If you had the fan AGAINST the grill blowing the air in through the radiator it should no get hot.If the fan is back at the bumper not much is going through the radiator. Did you get Skips 3 lb valve? If not you are running over a gallon low on coolant. You need the valve so you can fill the radiator up to the filler neck. Plus you need to make sure the cap has a good gasket. The radiator has to be pretty bad for it to heat up. The main problem if Skips pumps aren't doing the job is low on water, fan belt loose causeing less air and less water from the pumps or a compression leak. If it don't improve email or call Skip. Look in the radiator while it is running and with the water filled watch for bubbles. If there are bubbles this indicates a compression leak. You can run it stationary with the cap off. G.M.
 
a 75 year old rad. is proulbey cloged. plug or cap the over flow pipe. fill rad to level of cap. have some one start the car while watching the water level .have him rev eng to about 1800 rpm. rad level schould drop if the water over flows the rad it,s cloged. have it cleaned roded if you can find some one to do it if rad is cloged .while it,s out back flush the eng the best you can .also retorque the cyl heads if the water level drops check for comp leaks like g.m says. both things i said to do don,t cost a dime you can spend a lot of money playing the guesing game. p.s you can remove the rad without removing the grill.keep us posted
 
I had heating problems with a new motor until I re-cored the radiator. The old one looked good on the outside but was rotten on the inside.
 
I had my radiator rodded out and a few cores replaced. After 70 years you wouldn't believe the kinda deposits they got out of it. Just hope my arteries don't look that bad. It was well worth the time and money,Works great now.
 
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You need to do exactly what Skip's instructions say. Also, the best thing you could do is have the radiator cleaned, rodded or recored, whatever it needs.
Butch
 
A box fan cools well at idel which proves poor air flow ,Trucks had a 6 blade fan and a shroud for cooling at slow speeds .the photo here is what Ford offed in about 35 a 4 blade impelor instead of 3 in there prevouse pumps , this flows a lot of water ,The new high flow speed way /Carpenter pumps is basically this design with a little twist on the end of the impeller ,cannot see any more water flow , but the price is very good and full bearing rollers .Like the others posts 90% of cooling problems are the Radiator .Retarded timing can add a little to the mix .keeping the water in helps cool as well .
 

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flatjack9 said:
Lean fuel condition and retarded spark timing are prime causes for overheating.
Click to expand...

I agree ! I have a loaner 36 distributor i can send you , would only take a minute or two to change out and then you would know.
The advance unit is really bad about rusting to the shaft etc. Probably 75 % of the ones we build have a stuck advance unit. Just another thought.??

I agree with all the cooling suggestions as well but dont overlook the timing issues....:eek:
 
Article in this V8 Times regarding blocked muffler, very interesting. Lots of good info above, and I like the idea of looking for cool spots in the radiator.
 
Afgter checking the other items, recore the radiator. It is not necessarily stopping up of the tubes but corrosion between the tubes and the fins. You cannot see this but what happens is the conduction of heat from those tubes no longer efficiently works so there is little to no heat transfer.
 
Jim that's a good point plus paint in the point of contact and on the fins. Actualy a modern radiator has better heat transfer from fin to tube due to the fact the fins are soldered to the tubes where they are just pushed on the tubes in the old ones. I also noticed the tubes line up front to rear on the old radiators and are staggered on the modern ones I have seen. The air on the old radiators can flow straight through between the tubes with the front ones blocking the rear ones and completely depend on the fins for heat transfer. On the modern radiator the air is diverted and forced around all of the tubes which I think would be better. G.M.
 
For what it's worth I had the same issues on my 36, Skips pumps did not solve it, I tried everything but when I drove it at 60 it overheated. I took the radiator out and went to a shop that cleaned it and it was better but only after I installed larger main jets did the problem go away. I was told by an old stock car guy you don't want the plugs as clean looking as a new car, so mine are a little grey and the car runs cool.
 
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