over heating

[geraldchainsaw]

hi all,   we had a 2 day what we call a downriver cruise here south of Detroit,  not to be misstaken for the Woodward Dream cruise in Detroit,    anyway,   it gets real bad back up like stop and go for at least 3 miles,  and i was watching my temp gage, boy did it get hot,  on the dash gage it went past the half way mark and on my dial gage it read around 230 or close,  what are some of the things that can happen?, anything i should look for or just wait until it blows?,   thanks

[Ford Blue blood]

I have a theory that if the water stays in the temp is OK.  My street rod will run up to 230 in town with the AC running on a very warm day (92) and not loose water.  It has been doing this for just about the entire time the AC has been in the car (22 years).  Keep a good 50/50 mix, use distilled water, a good cap and coolant recovery system and you should get many years of dependable use.  As long as it has water it won't blow, loose the water then you have issues....

If the high temps make you nervous use a shroud and a good electric fan instead of the mechanical. 

A fellow hot rodder is old school, if it goes above 180 it is running hot!  He has spent countless dollars getting the many street rods he has owned to run cool.  New cars have 205 and 210 thermostats in them so I say not to worry about the internals of your engine!

[shopratwoody]

I'd pull the radiator and have it looked at. You have a stock engine and they didn't run
hot when new. Electric fans were for your house when that car was built. My semi hot rod 429
runs 180 with a 4 blade fan and a recent radiator core. No aluminum rad either.
Ron

[JimNolan]

Gerry,
    That's hard to believe. The guage on your dash should be around 160 when it's in the middle with about 20 degrees either side of middle and 40 degrees to the hot mark. ( You guys correct me if I'm wrong ). The 390 I run now is a stock 390/300hp engine and I run a stock radiator with a 160 degree thermostat. Mine doesn't get over 180 no matter what the temp and no matter how long it idles. I've been driving thru town at 95 and the temp is 180.
   If you had been 230 I'd think you'd be telling us about all the water it blew out instead of how hot the temp was. Check you guage that reads by degrees. I think it may be off.
  Anyway, you want to know what happens when you run an engine too hot. Well, I lost a bottom radiator hose on the interstate and didn't notice it until a passing car indicated I had something wrong. I pulled over, got a new radiator hose, filled it with water and drove it two days thinking I was all right. Then I had a bad miss and couldn't find anything wrong. I ended up pulling the heads and found when I cranked the engine I didn't have one piston that went up and down. Upon further investigation I found the top of the piston had broken off and was just sitting there. I called a friend and told him about it and the first thing he said was, you overheated it didn't you.
   Recheck your guage, I'd think at 230 you'd be hearing some poping and cracking when you shut the engine down. Jim

[geraldchainsaw]

ok,  good points and i've got a couple of questions,    1st its not stock, has a 3/4 cam, 600 cfm carb,    2nd, does distilled water mean that much?, i also  just went out and checked a ferw things,   the needle  was setting in the middle of the M on the dash gage,    my dial gage is mounted in the thermostate housing which read around 230, (i'll have to be more specific the next time i look at the gage),  i also had the rad cleaned out when i got the car (pressure blasted),   yesterday after the cruise i checked the storage bottle,  empty,   like Jim says could b a bad gage,  i know going all over the place,  but in the end we'll get to the bottom of it,   during the cruise yesterday if i had blown a hose i would have know with the stop and go traffic,.   maybe a good gage would help also,   or maybe  i just have to much time on my hands nothing to do,    july 17 or 18 theres a car show  (Ford & Mercury restorers club, Dearborn) out in Bellville Mi which i'll b going to, if any one goes let me know,   its a big swap meet not Hershey big ,but big,     ok so much of me talking, i'll let u know what happens,  thanks for the info

[FORDNUT]

You have to think of what happens in traffic. The airflow through the radiator slows. You are not moving for one and the car in front is blocking some of your air. Once you get back to speed, I'll bet the temp goes down. I always put a pusher fan in front of the radiator in addition to the engine fan. Switched with either a manual switch that you control or a temp sensor switch in the thermostat housing. JMHO

[geraldchainsaw]

read Fordnut's reply,    it does say just about everything that happened,   the stop and go, in back of another car,  but when i get out of trafic it cools right down.   maybe i'm worried because i have alot invested in this car,  or put it another way,   can't put any more money into it,    but still going to check a few things ,  thanks for all the help and info,  and as usuall nice talking to u guys,     jerry

[Lou]

Your car is running hot it is not overheating, as long as it doesn't vapor lock or boil over don't worry about it. Every 50s and 60s Ford I ever owned ran hot in traffic. If it worries you install an electric fan, but really it nothing to worry about.

[geraldchainsaw]

took the car for a ride down the expressway,   couldn't gt it past 180 deg,   proves i'm just a worry  wart.