What's With The Heat?

Walt Ebie

Walt Ebie

Senior Member
So the timing is okay, points and plugs all gapped, new water pump, fan and fan belt (pushes in about a half-inch), I'm running 50-50 antifreeze, filled to just over the tubes, but my Quail thermometer still hits the top after about 3 miles at 30-35 mph. No steam out the cap but the radiator is bubbling and gurgling when I get home. Today I tried a test drive adjusting the rich and lean but it didn't seem to make any difference in the temp or the way it ran. Usually run it less than a fourth open. The radiator was flushed out last week until the water came out clean. So what am I doing wrong or what should I look at next? Could the needle valve be ruined and unable to work right?
 
I don't think the quail thermometer works. Is the engine really hot? Feel the bottom fins on the radiator. They should only be warm after a short ride. The cap may only be leaking out the gasket. If your car is overheating it would explosively push the water out the top cap. Or out the overflow depending on your cap seal.
 
I'd fix the water pump first, then check for late timing, unless you find cool spots in the radiator. If the fan can move back and forth more than a few thousandths, then the thrust washer can fall out of place and cut into the shaft until the impellor falls off, which can let the fan chop up the radiator. I've seen it happen.
 
Timing?? Was the radiator flushed while still in the car?? Flushed from the top down or bottom up?? Flushed with straight water??
Paul in CT
 
What is the history of your car? Newly purchased and did this problem just begin?

If timing is correct as previously mentioned, I would suspect a stopped up radiator. Flushing is really a preventative maintenance procedure and rarely will clean one out that is clogged up - Only real solution for plugged core is to have it rodded out.
 
1931 flamingo said:
Timing?? Was the radiator flushed while still in the car?? Flushed from the top down or bottom up?? Flushed with straight water??
Paul in CT
Click to expand...

A proper flush should be done with the radiator out of the car.
You will be surprised the amount of debris sitting on top of your tube shelf.
Turn the radiator upside down and flush again into a bucket, that way you can see what comes out.
The pic shows what I got out of mine last week.
 

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burner31 said:
A proper flush should be done with the radiator out of the car.
You will be surprised the amount of debris sitting on top of your tube shelf.
Turn the radiator upside down and flush again into a bucket, that way you can see what comes out.
The pic shows what I got out of mine last week.
Click to expand...

I've just changed the motor in my '30 CCPU. When I got it, I checked everything and found that it was very rusty in the water jacket so I raided my wife's sock drawer :rolleyes: and cut the foot off an old pair of pantyhose which I put in the radiator inlet. When I took it out after no more than 50 miles, it contained at least double that amount of rusty grit. I flushed the radiator while I had it off - all good but better that crap be in my wife's stocking than in my radiator.:D
The stocking foot made no difference to the way it cooled but kept lots of crap out of the core.
This won't fix your current problem but might be worth considering as a preventative measure for the future.
 
Synchro909 said:
......When I took it out after no more than 50 miles, it contained at least double that amount of rusty grit. I flushed the radiator while I had it off - all good but better that crap be in my wife's stocking than in my radiator.:D.......
Click to expand...

Well, that depends upon whether or not you put the stocking straight back in your wife's drawer? :rolleyes:
 
bubbling and gurgling doesn't sound good.

quails are notoriously inaccurate. For starters the sensor never actually touches any water. Get a hand help IR temp gun so you can shoot temps at various block, water neck, and radiator locations, so you really know what is going on. The bottom of the rad should be 30° cooler than the top if it is not clogged.

Did this run OK before you started messing with it? What got you started on the timing?

At this point if the timing is truly correct, and it often is not despite everyone's best efforts, then I vote that the rad is clogged. A flush either in or out of the car won't do a whole lot if it is filled with scale and crud....needs to be rodded or cored
 
I treat my Quail's Incontinence by keeping the coolant beneath the baffle and I can do over sixty without it tinkling.
 
Update: To answer a couple questions first: It is an original radiator installed in 1980. I started this odyssey because of overheating.....flushed with thorou-flush and plain water....checked timing again with Andrews' timing test in the Blue book and passed just fine. Earlier today, I cranked it up in the driveway and ran at a good idle until the quail hit the top - took about 14 minutes. Shut it down and used my hands on the inside surface of the radiator: too hot to keep your bare hands on the radiator on right and left sides......cooler in a strip down the middle....and cool across the bottom. I hope this isn't going where I think it is. What say you?
 
I agree on the distilled water. At the St Louis 88 meet we had tons of overheating and the culprit was anti freeze gumming up the tubes. Model A's were never meant to run on modern anti freeze as anti freeze is designed to run under pressure. It is my understanding that the new yellow anti freeze is kinder to the Model a radiator but water is always the safest way to cool your A. The radiator should flow about 50+ gallons of water per minute and if you are not loosing any coolant it should be cooling fine but if it is spitting water out the overflow then your tubes are clogged as the water pump is pumping at the rate of 50+ gallons per/minute.
 
So before I turn to my wife's dish soap, what is TSP and how much did you use? I have dumped the antifreeze and refilled with distilled water - took about 2 and 2/3 gal to fill it to just below the baffle.
 
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