overheat over 45

P

Peyton

Senior Member
My radiator appears to be original and was recently okayed by a reputable radiator repair shop here in Jacksonville.

I removed the thermostat after much input from people more experienced than me about Model A cooling --- especially in warm climates.

Our club recently toured to St Augustine (30 miles from Jacksonville). On the way down, we toured at 45-50 mph. It was a beautiful 60 degree day. My car lost a gallon of coolant and overheated as we reached the outskirts of St Augustine. I filled the radiator to the top with water and this solved the problem.

I limited my speed to 45 mph on the way back home and the car only used a quart of water and ran cool all the way home (35 miles). What do you think?

Peyton
 
Peyton,
Try this: Drop a loose fitting, large head nail, in the top of your overflow tube. It's a proven "old time" fix & may help you. It prevents ocassional "splash over" into the tube at higher speeds, when the water is REALLY churnin' through.
Bill W.
(Also, "maybe" you've accumulated rust flakes in the top of the radiator tubes, requiring a good back-flush. I back flush mine at least once a year!)
 
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Hi Peyton,

If it were mine, &:

A. I verified that the fan belt was tight; &,
B. Verified that the exterior of the radiator did "not" have thick paint on it; &,
C. Verified that the radiator does not leak, (on a concrete surface where leak can be verified in lieu of grass area), when engine "not" running; then,
D. Fill the radiator, start it up, run it at a very fast idle, then notice "if" water if being pumped into the overflow tube on to the concrete slab below, or if any hose leaks occur; & if not;
E. Concentrate on cleaning the interior of the cooling system.

No telling what else can be found; but from miles away, we cannot see what you are experiencing.

Report back, always something -- that is for sure.
Hope this helps.
 
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does your car have a newer water pump you may have to shave a little on the inside impellers of the pump some times the new ones put out to much flow and pushes the water out of your over flow tube??
 
When driving 45 on the freeway, mine did the same. I adjusted the distributor advance till the guage showed it to be cooling down. I added coolant and used the same advance setting without any more overheating or coolant loss noticed.
 
Interesting. I'm probably going to make an 1100 mile trip around labor day. Temps could be in the 90s then. I run a thermostat in the hose. Should I remove it?
 
Dick Webber said:
Interesting. I'm probably going to make an 1100 mile trip around labor day. Temps could be in the 90s then. I run a thermostat in the hose. Should I remove it?
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1100 miles. I believe I made it 5 miles once. I really envy people who can jump in their A and embark on such a voyage. Have a safe enjoyable trip. :o
 
Dick Webber said:
Interesting. I'm probably going to make an 1100 mile trip around labor day. Temps could be in the 90s then. I run a thermostat in the hose. Should I remove it?
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No, in fact I was going to suggest that the OP run pure white vinegar for 30 days, don't drive faster than 40-45, then rinse with water, remove the radiator and back flush it (upside down) to make sure some junk isn't blocking the tops of the tubes, then reinstall it and add the thermostat.

It might also be wise to add a temp gauge, at least until you are sure the problem is gone.
 
Dear All

I vinegared the cooling system last year and (jm29henry) did install a rebuilt water pump with impellers not shaved. When I ran with a 160 thermostat (JackA), the car would hover around 180 and on hot days would creep past 190 and sometimes overheat. I do have a good temp gauge and this is what keyed me first to the overheat on the St Augustine trip. Bill, I'll try the big headed loose fitting nail. H.L., I'll look into leaking at high idle. Everything else seems okay. I recently set the timing per the Ford Service Bulletin (Flatout). Thanks also William, Dick and Tom.

When it gets warm here again (high 36 today) and I get my wife's Lumina intake gaskets installed and all back together again (that's another story), I'll report back!

Again, thanks!

Peyton
 
Sometimes radiators can lose their "connection."

What I mean by this is that each fin is soldered to each tube at the juncture. As the radiator and solder age, then the thermal resistance between these two parts increases and you lose some of your heat transfer ability.

The radiator can be clean and even the tubes rodded out - better than brand new inside possibly - but it still won't cool correctly.

This not a problem easily diagnosed unless you've run out of all other options. And unfortunately not easily solved either. Generally its better to do a complete re-core than to try to get a shop to do the level of cleaning/disassembly possible to correct this.

Sadly, nothing lasts forever. The tanks are still better quality than you'll find in modern repop radiators though.

Joe K
 
Get the radiator rodded out. It takes an hour to get if off and less than 2 to put it back on. $70 and your worries are gone. My bets are the radiator is clogged. If you don't know when the last time it was cleaned, it's a good bet this is what it is and even if it's not, you then have a clean, better cooling radiator. If you're only using water, i can guarantee you there is rust build up.
 
Jordan said:
Get the radiator rodded out. It takes an hour to get if off and less than 2 to put it back on. $70 and your worries are gone. My bets are the radiator is clogged. If you don't know when the last time it was cleaned, it's a good bet this is what it is and even if it's not, you then have a clean, better cooling radiator. If you're only using water, i can guarantee you there is rust build up.
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^This.

Ours was similar (but a lot more expensive!). At 45 it was OK, but go near a hill or speed up, and it would start to spit water out of the overflow, and start to bubble from under the cap within about 30 seconds.

After the radiator was rodded out (and an ENTIRE cup packed full of rusty crap came out of the tubes alone!) it never did it again.

I also fixed the radiator cap :D

We have since fitted a thermostat and temperature gauge, and on one VERY steep long hill, it got up to about 190F, but it was a very hot/humid day and we were only just able to hold 15MPH in second gear in a couple of places :eek:.
 
never take it for granted that the radiator is not pluged, you can run a flow test on a radiator and 99% of the time it will show good, but its just marginal, if you plan on doing touring, pull the radiator and have it cleaned (rodded out), three major problems cause over heating, bad radiator, bad water pump, slow timing, other things like blown head gaskets, but those are easy to spot, in my experience most heating problems are caused by the radiator
 
there is a u tube video by jack bahm that show a simple way to check radiator flow it take two people cool video this might help you!!!
 
The radiator people who flushed and did some minor repairs on the radiator run the most trusted shop in town.

Allanw, my experience is very similar to yours. It may be that the radiator will need to be rodded out; however, I'm also concerned (JoeK) about the fin to core situation on an eighty-three year old radiator. The radiator shop seemed to think that the radiator was in good shape.

The car ran cool almost all the way to St Augustine at 45 to 50 and then, abruptly, the temp gauge went wild into the hot range. It fluctuated somewhat in the hot range until I found a water source and filled the radiator (just over a gallon). It immediately cooled back down to approx 150 degrees. The car ran cool for the next 35 miles at speeds up to 45. Ambient temperature was 60 degrees. I'm pretty sure the timing (MikeV Florida) is okay --- the car runs great.

Thanks also to Jordan, tbirdbird,ford3, jm29henry, Bill W., Tom, H.L., JackA, Flatout, Dick Webber, William Kelchner----please forgive me if I've left anyone out.

When I get to the bottom of this, I'll do a follow-up.
 
i would double check the timing regardless. Lots and lots of owners seem to have trouble with timing...some more than others, but I rarely get a properly timed car in my shop
 
tbirdtbird said:
i would double check the timing regardless. Lots and lots of owners seem to have trouble with timing...some more than others, but I rarely get a properly timed car in my shop
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RIGHT ON, BUDDY,
When I help someone with setting the "MYSTERIOUS"?? Model A timing, I say, "FORGET everything you ever knew about setting timing & DO EVERYTHING just like I'm doing it"-----Afterwards, they usually say something like, "OH, that wuzun't HARD."
Then I tell them how to KNOW it's set right:
1 Spark all the way up,=a smooth & rythmical, TADA-TADA-TADA-TADA.
2 Spark 1/2 way down=a FASTER, SMOOTH idle.
3 Spark full down=an even faster, but somewhat "ROLLING" idle.
4 If you have ALL the above, it's perfect & don't diddle with it!
Bill W.
 
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