So I just fixed the a/c in my car and figured I'd finally put the 16 inch electric fan on my car I got with my 2 row champion radiator and now it overheats fairly quickly. I was running a direct drive fan with shroud and the car never saw past 180 even with it being 100+ degrees outside right now. I have a fairly new water pump and thermostat in. Now here comes the weird part it only overheats while I'm driving and when I'm stopped it drops fairly quickly. I have an aftermarket temperature gauge and electric setup with it. I even let the car idle in my driveway till it hit 200 turned on the fan and it cooled to about 170 but when I drive the car it just warms up. Its 1973 dodge dart 225 I even put water wetter and nothing. Please help!
/6 overheating need help.
- Thread starter Smokedya
- Start date
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player1up
Well-Known Member
That IS pretty odd.
Usually running hot at speed is a flow problem.
What changed and when?
New radiator, electric fan, new temp gauge all at the same time?
Is the new gauge reading correctly?
Have you verified with a meat thermometer or cross referenced reading with the factory gauge?
Does the temp continue to creep up while at speed and/or does the temp get higher the faster you go? --if yes, then air or water flow problem ( or timing but since that wasn't mentioned as being changed, probably not the issue ) If the new fan shroud is blocking enough of the radiator it can cause problems. Could also be the lower hose collapsing at speed if it's old.
Does the cooling fan keep the engine cool at idle even after 15 min of idle time? if yes, the fan setup is adequate, if not you'll need more cfm.
I had the overheating at speed problem and it ended up being a low flowing radiator.
I could leave it idling in the driveway for 30+ min in 90° weather and temp would be normal.
You can check the flow of the radiator with a garden hose in the top at full open with no nozzle and the lower rad hose disconnected.
If the radiator overflows the top while the lower hose is off, the radiator isn't flowing enough.
Usually running hot at speed is a flow problem.
What changed and when?
New radiator, electric fan, new temp gauge all at the same time?
Is the new gauge reading correctly?
Have you verified with a meat thermometer or cross referenced reading with the factory gauge?
Does the temp continue to creep up while at speed and/or does the temp get higher the faster you go? --if yes, then air or water flow problem ( or timing but since that wasn't mentioned as being changed, probably not the issue ) If the new fan shroud is blocking enough of the radiator it can cause problems. Could also be the lower hose collapsing at speed if it's old.
Does the cooling fan keep the engine cool at idle even after 15 min of idle time? if yes, the fan setup is adequate, if not you'll need more cfm.
I had the overheating at speed problem and it ended up being a low flowing radiator.
I could leave it idling in the driveway for 30+ min in 90° weather and temp would be normal.
You can check the flow of the radiator with a garden hose in the top at full open with no nozzle and the lower rad hose disconnected.
If the radiator overflows the top while the lower hose is off, the radiator isn't flowing enough.
My question would have to be, if it never came close to running hot before, why in the world would you have changed it?
No I did everything a long time ago. And the old guy we bought the car from put a spacer behind the water pump pulley for some reason. So I tore that apart and figured I'd use the electric fan. Yes player I did them all at the same time about two years ago.it continues to creep while I'm crushing around. I'm gonna check it with a meat thermometer today but I don't use my dash guages because they are all off.
nm9stheham
Well-Known Member
Have a photo to share? I gotta wonder if the electirc fan and all of it supports are reducing/blocking arirflow at higher speeds. Thsi would cause your issue as well as a poor flowing rad.
Have you lowered the coolant in the radiator top and looked to see if there is a lot of crud in the tops of the tubes? If a bunch of crud got loosened up, it could be blocking a number of the tubes, and that would be most evident with higher eingine loads (i.e., while driving, not idling).
Is the spring in place inside the lower hose to keep it from collapsing when the pump is sucking more coolant when the engine is revved up?
Have you lowered the coolant in the radiator top and looked to see if there is a lot of crud in the tops of the tubes? If a bunch of crud got loosened up, it could be blocking a number of the tubes, and that would be most evident with higher eingine loads (i.e., while driving, not idling).
Is the spring in place inside the lower hose to keep it from collapsing when the pump is sucking more coolant when the engine is revved up?
1968FormulaS340
Well-Known Member
Fan turning the right direction?
440Ken
Well-Known Member
You had a radiator. fan and shroud combo that engine temp below 180 degree and changed to set that overheats....why? Put it back the way it was.
1968FormulaS340
Well-Known Member
Most of the overheating threads on here are a result of owners trying to reinvent the wheel.
Yeah I pretty much said all that already and got called a "player" so piss on him. Let it melt in the street.
Hey Rusty, I think he was replying to another poster (see avatar below) - I thought the same thing, then scrolled up to see if I had missed something...
My mistake. My apologies. Sorry, I am super on edge lately. That's not yalls dilemma, it's mine. Sorry.
Hey I messed that up. I didn't have a fan shroud and I really only ran the car during the winter and now I have a/c and no shroud so I put my electric fan on it. I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel here.
Here in Arizona it gets way to hot during summer and with my champion radiator my stock shroud wouldn't fit and my fan is offset from the middle of the radiator for some reason so I just ran it without because I could idle the car all day and the heat wouldn't rise up that far. And plus with the fan and the spacer on there for some reason my water pump would make a metal shaving sound and it sounded horrible.
roadrunnerh
Well-Known Member
Tough crowd here.........geeze
Only because I thought you were bein a smartass, because I was not payin attention. It was my mistake and I apologized. See above post. ^^^^^^
Dumb question time, any chance that fan is running more when you are stopped? Are you sure it's spinning while you are motoring? I don't know what your controls are, any chance you can bypass, make it on all the time?
Duster I didnt have the setup for it to run on a thermostat so I wired it to my a switch so I can have complete control of it. Well sorry rusty I just read that one post and was like wow... my apologies as well I was being a dick to you.
nm9stheham
Well-Known Member
Well, it sounds like it never got heat loaded like it is now with the AC and no shroud and summer temps. So it is back to the basic questions of:
1) Is the radiator sealed against the core support so all the high speed air is force through the rad core?
2) Is the spring inside the lower hose o prevent collapse/partial collapse with higher rates of pump suction when running/cruising?
3) Is there any clogging in the new core due to loosened crud blocking it up?
4) Is the thermostat in the right way, spring towards block?
5) Thermostat tested? They can be bad out of the box...
BTW, the fan shroud is out of the picture at high speeds so I would not focus on that.
If all above is good, then before changing the rad core, I would check the cooling system for the presence of combustion gas with a pressure checker or CO2 test kit. A small head gasket leak or crack somewhere will cause these symptoms.
1) Is the radiator sealed against the core support so all the high speed air is force through the rad core?
2) Is the spring inside the lower hose o prevent collapse/partial collapse with higher rates of pump suction when running/cruising?
3) Is there any clogging in the new core due to loosened crud blocking it up?
4) Is the thermostat in the right way, spring towards block?
5) Thermostat tested? They can be bad out of the box...
BTW, the fan shroud is out of the picture at high speeds so I would not focus on that.
If all above is good, then before changing the rad core, I would check the cooling system for the presence of combustion gas with a pressure checker or CO2 test kit. A small head gasket leak or crack somewhere will cause these symptoms.
Naw dude. It was totally my mistake. 110%. Like I said, I have been on edge lately. We're in a real bad way. I didn't mean to aim it in your direction. Lets just put it behind us and start over. Hows that?
So you say you did all the mods a long time ago. Then that means it WAS running cool with all the added stuff. Is that what I am reading? Does it overheat on the road and cool off when you slow down? Does it overheat when you come to a stop? Any additional details will help. I agree though, the shroud is a very important part of the system. It should not have been left off. I would put it back on, even if it meant putting the original radiator back in. You said yourself it didn't overheat with the original radiator, so that may be an option.
Charrlie_S
Well-Known Member
Is the fan running the right direction. If it is running backwards, it could cool at idle, but when running down the road, the air flow from the fan could be "fighting" the road air flow.
PS: If the lower radiator hose colapses, that is due to a restricted radiator.
PS: If the lower radiator hose colapses, that is due to a restricted radiator.
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