overheating

Did the coolant boil and puke out of the overflow? If not I know there is a resistor that went bad on my 190% temp guage so I replaced it with my stock 160% guage and it was the 190% gauge malfunctioning. Other than that it is important to raise the rear of the car when replacing the coolant and open the air bleeder screws at the top of the radiator to eliminate air from the system. Also check that the fans are working and blowing the air in the correct direction.

Sounds like the shop might have put a 351W thermostat instead of the correct 351C thermostat with the 'hat.' Using the incorrect thermostat would allow a good deal of the coolant to bypass the radiator, resulting in overheating.

Another thing to diagnose what is going on is to use an infrared laser pointer thermostat on the radiator or the water pump area while this is going on to see what the water temperature really is compared to the thermostat gauge in the car. I may be wrong on the locations to check the temperature; someone else may chime in to give better advise, but I would definitely use an infrared thermometer -- they're great for trouble shooting plugged radiators, or jacked up thermostats.

Best of luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mark

thanks for replies. we put in another robert shaw 333-160 thermostat and 'burped' the fluidyne radiator. the fans are in front of the radiator and push air through, seem to switch on at appropriate time, the radiator gets hot, but temp huage goes to 210 befor i turned it off. has anyone ever gotten a bad new radiator?
2 bad thermostats? any suggestions?

Answer some of the questions from above regarding the temperature readings using an infrared thermo gun. Point it at the rad, and the cylinder heads. What is that temp? Get within 6".

Do you still have the stock fans or replacements?

It is unlikely that you have a bad radiator or thermostat. Did the overflow tank actually puke? 210 is not overheating. Did you heat cycle the system and refill several times? The temp sender will go off scale high if it is dry.

These are cheap from any supplier:

sounds like you have air in the system, get the rear end as high as the floor jack will go open the top petcock on your radiator, bleed until it is only water, now with the car still up ( use jacks to hold the rear end up) , start it up let it idle, now check the petcock again, let all the air escape, turn engine off, let cool, add water to tanks, add a water wetter like Red Line, all fluids topped off set car down open top petcock bleeder again, no air your good! Hey, getting all the air out of the system is a procedure, but not impossible, check all hose clamps and connections make sure they are tight as they will loosen up after the first heat cycle. 195 is the operating temperature in a stock application,Ford motor company runs extensive tests on their engines to determine the optimum operating temperature, a lower temperature does not burn off contaminants to high well will burn the engine up, keep in mind the wear on engine parts are optimized according to Ford at the 195 operating temperature.

quote:

Originally posted by slojoe:
thanks for replies. we put in another robert shaw 333-160 thermostat and 'burped' the fluidyne radiator. the fans are in front of the radiator and push air through, seem to switch on at appropriate time, the radiator gets hot, but temp huage goes to 210 befor i turned it off. has anyone ever gotten a bad new radiator?
2 bad thermostats? any suggestions?

One more thing, that heater shut off, if the valve is not installed correctly it could cause it to overheat,try it with the valve open.

quote:

Originally posted by slojoe:
had new radiator and stainless steel cooling pipes put in along w new arm bushings, steering rack, and rear brake calipers. car ran fine in stop and go from san diego to san luis obispo never above 180 prior to change now hit 250. ask about robert shaw thermostst and mechanic ordered one but did not have one in when work was done.only other thing was i asked for a shut off valve for the heater.
any suggestions?

what water pump is on the car, stock cast iron or an aftermarket alloy?

some of the aftermarket water pumps do not have the internal bypass pathway machined, this combined with a heater control valve may cause zero coolant flow until the T-stat opens

if there's no internal bypass in the water pump, or if the bypass is deliberately eliminated/blocked some other way the correct T-stat is a mute point

thanks for suggestions will implement and get back to you
i guess my concern is we did nto change anything ie pulley waterpummp temp sensor and the temp was ALWAYS 160 TO 190 until we "improved" the system