Overheating in a few minutes.

Fritz

Fritz

Senior Member
Hey guys, I'm running a stock 239 flathead in my '41 pickup. It's a fresh rebuild from a very quality builder. I also have a freshly rebuilt stock dual-core radiator. I've put less than 100 miles on the engine with no temp problems.

However, we just installed a crab distributor with a pertronix ignition due to misfire problems with the helmet distributors. Anyway, the engine is now overheating something fierce. My engine rebuilder who also set the timing said the timing is correct. But the temp gauge will bury the needle under HOT after a 5 minute drive. When I park it again, steam can also be seen exiting the oil fill tube and the radiator when I take the cap off, and the coolant is also just above the level I fill it to (a little bit above the top shelf). It's at my garage now, not at the shop. Any one have any ideas? It seems to me that the coolant is flowing through the block, but I don't know what else could cause overheating like that?
 
My 1st guess would be timming / 2nd guess is head gasket ~ the Best way I have found to check is when COLD pull radiator cap. start engine check for bubbles in water if none
Make sure you keep your face away from top of radiator & with cap still off bring engine
up to at least 3/4 full throttle wun there for 15 to 20 sec. Now Quick jump off the throttle then as soon as it gets to to slow speed Jump right back on the throttle Full this time it only has to be there a moment , if bad gasket when you jump back on throttle it will push the water out the top of raidiator ~ REMEMBER KEEP ALL BODY PARTS AWAY FROM TOP OF RAIATOR OR ANY WHERE THE WATER MAY SPRAY ~ GOOD LUCK
 
I'm thinking the problem is being caused by the last thing or things that you did or changed. If possible, change back to what you had and see if problem goes away. When setup correctly, the helmet distributors are very reliable.
 
I didn't do anything with the heads. What should the timing be set at? I do not have thermostats in there.
 
Do you know that your radiator is good.
It sounds like something is blocking your water flow.
How about your water pumps or belt ?
MIKE :) (mikeburch)
 
is it boiling over or are you just looking at the gauge. i have seen maney early ford temp gauge reading hot when i used one of those infera red guns it said 165. the gauge & sender if stock are over 70 years old
 
I agree to first determine if the engine is REALLY getting to the boiling point in such a short time period. If so, the most likely problem is head gasket leakage. The heads MUST be re-torqued at least twice during initial break in. It might be too late to save the gaskets at this time??Never torque to more than 50 ft. lbs.

However, since the problem, seemingly, did not arise until the distributor was changed the timing is a possible culprit. If there is no spark knock or "chirping" try advancing the timing a healthy amount. If you have timing marks on the crank pulley set for total advance of 22 degrees at 2500 RPM for a ballpark test. You can fine tune from there but you are not at the "fine tuning" stage yet.
 
Do a compression check, it will tell you if you have head gasket problems. After 100 miles on a new engine you need to retorque to check that it is still up to spec.

Bill
 
Had a 39 ford that did the same when I got it. Started it up, walked to the garage and came back , it was boiling. Spun the dist. a bit and drove it for 3 years
 
Hey guys, thanks for the tips. I retorqued all the nuts and then I started seeing white smoke out the exhaust. After pulling the heads, I found the no. 7 cylinder had a good amount of coolant pooled in it. Then I saw a crack in the head above that cylinder. I'm figuring that's my problem!
 
Well, it runs after replacing the head, but it's doing the same overheating. I've run it for about 10 minutes and it got up to 210. I let it cool for about a half hour and drove it again for about 5 miles. I shut it off when I got back home and saw the engine was at 218. It was 80 and humid that day, but it still seems way too hot.

I'm confident there's no more coolant leak, and I am not running thermostats. Anybody have any suggestions? I'm thinking something happened with the new distributor and Pertronix, since it ran cool before that. Can someone run me through checking the timing this setup as well? I do have tdc marked on my crank pulley.
 
I think you would be better with BUBBas Chevy dist.
If you are using a smart timing light use it like and old one.
If you mark about 1 1/2" 22 degs.from pulley dot rev it up and line up marks.
No marks find TDC.
 
I do not have timing marks on my pulley... I have just marked TDC with tape. I'll double check it and see if I can put 22 deg on there if static timing doesn't work. Thanks guys.
 
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