i was having a prob with my car heating up. i installed a guage from autozone in a a- pilllar pod. it shows that the t-stat opens at 190 or just a little higher. then would creap all the way past 240.

i have replaced the radiator with a huge aluminum howe radiator. the water pump has about 200 miles on it. i noticed that my fuel preasure was at 4 psi and would not go up. i replaced my fuel pump and filters and now i can have 14 if i want it. it is at 8 I know it is a little high but I was thinking that the lack of fuel was causing my car to run lean and over heat. my timing is close. it is more on the retard side than anything. (my timing light does not like the msd)

Now the car still heats up, I have an air damn, aftermarket fan which is wired up correctly, i know the heads and gaskets are all good. they have about 200 miles on them also. I don't know if there is anything i am missing. Hope someone can help. thanks

 

You havent mentionned anything about thecooling fan, Is there one? (lol) Does it work normally?

 

He did Mention the fan. What kinda of fan is it? Does it have an adjustable temp sensor is belt driven? More details wouldnt hurt. Also does it over heat while runing or only at stops whats need a bit more details...-RevZ28

 

i do have an aftermarket electric radiator it does move alot of air. it is setup to turn on when i throw the a/c switch or when my temp gauge reads 230 degrees. i don't know if thats normal but it will climb higher than 230.

also in the pics the radiator that i installed is smaller in width than the factory. would that cause me to have cooling issues? as in the air moves around the radiator instead of through it?

It does heat up when stopped or when driving down a back road.

 

ok so today i went for a drive. not long about 10 mins or so. i got back to my house and i heard a noise under the hood. my over flow was overflowing. i had hot coolant coming out the cap. my temp gauge was around 260 maybe a little less. when i was driving i saw my temp gauge start to get up around 230 so i kicked my fan on. it stayed there wile i was driving, i started to get into it and it went up a little. then i was at a light and it went up a little more. then i was on a back road before i got to my house speed was around 25 mph. i don't know what it could be. i need to figure this thing out.

 

A blown head gasket can do that or maybe a clogged passage in the block. Driving down the road you shouldn't need your fan unless it's a hot day. Or maybe a faulty thermostat.

 

if the thermostat is opening can it still cause my car to heat up that much? I see my temp gauge go up to about 190 or so then it drops down to about 130 or so then it goes up from there.

 

I think you should do whatever you can to make sure air isn't going around your radiator but is forced through it while you're driving. it's going to take the path of least resistance, so if you have giant gaping holes to either side of your radiator, next to nothing is going to go through it.

when you're sitting at a traffic light will your temperature still rise or is your radiator fan cooling it down while you're stopped for a bit? the gaping holes to either side of your radiator shouldn't be a problem when you're sitting still because the fan should be right up against it, almost forcing air to pull through it.

 

i did take the thermostate out of the car and it still heated up. over 200 degrees. i know that the fan moves alot of air into the radiator. the motor seems to get hot fast. other than a head gasket is there anything that could cause this . could too high of fuel preasure cause the car to heat up too quickly and over heat? i have not blocked off the sides of the radiator yet but I am in the process of making up some metal peices to fit in place.

i can't drive more than 2 miles and be below 200 degrees. the radiator is not bubbleing and the tailpipes do not have any smoke.

 

I've heard that an improperly timed engine will produce lots of extra heat. also the stock temp gauges aren't known for their accuracy. When my gauge which i believe to be accurate goes into the red and I shut my car off, steam escapes into my coolant resevior, maybe you're not getting as hot as you think you are?

edit: you have an aftermarket gauge, don't mind me!

 

ok the calr does still heat up. but it takes about 3 or 5 mins for it to show on the gauge. then once it shows it will steadely go up. the fan being on does slow the gauge speed. i don't know if now i need to pull the heads or if the timing or what. i pulled a vaccum line off the other day and it did not change the motor at all. all i heard was the sucking sound. i don't know if that has anything to do with it or not but i thought i would mention it. any ideas?

 

That is the first thing that came to my attention. Make some plastic "ramps" that make the air go through the radiator. Did the car over heat with the stock radiator in?

 

yes it was that was why i put in the big radiator. i figured the stock radiator was just not good anymore. it had a small pin hole leak in it so i put in this howe one.

 

ok so i had been playing around with the timing.it is set at about 8 degrees on the timing tab. that gives me about 15lbs of vaccum. the vaccum gauge only moved one or two lbs of vaccum when it was connected to the intake manifold. but when it was on a vaccum port on the carb it was steady as a rock.

I was talking with someone that told me that a vaccum test will do the same as a compression test. it had and held a good ammount of vaccum so he told me that he thinks everything is working mechanically. i could start my car and let it run for 2 mins and the radiator is HOT to touch. but it takes a few mins for the gauge to register it. the sender for the water temp gauge is in the drivers side head(stock location) I just can't think of anything anymore.

also the waterpump is from napa. it is about a year old. could i be heating up that quck and have a faulty waterpump? how would i check if it is bad? if the water pump was bad would my system still preasureize?

 

My RS was never running that hot, but would get up to about 210 - 220 just cruising around. I added a bottle of watter wetter to the system and helped out tremendously. I am running a stock sized radiator with a 350 sbc in my car. You may also check to make sure you do not have an air pocket trapped in your system somewhere.

Just an idea.

David

 

I don't beleive that i have an air pocket. i am running with no t-stat now. so it is free flowing. so i would not think that there would be any air pockets.

so I am now down to guessing. i am going to try a different waterpump. i am getting flow but i don't know where else to turn. i will have the radiator flushed and tested at a radiator shop. so i am hoping that that does the trick. if now i guess i am going to have to pull the heads AGAIN!. I just don't want to do that.