[Archimedes]

I have a 1967 Ford Mustang convertible with a 289 engine, and a 4 barrel carb, 160 degree thermostat. This car overheats no matter what i do!. i have a new 6 bladed fan in in it, the radiator i think is only 2 core, but the over heating does not occure when im idle, i can be going down a road at 65 and it will not cool down. what do i do? I am ripping my hair out over this problem. I cant even drive to work without having it overheat. Some one tell me how to cure this problem without me spending a ton of money.

 

[s-code]

Have you had your radiator flushed and cleaned? Sounds like it may just be clogged up pretty bad. Also check your hoses, make sure they aren't collapsing. They make hoses with a spring like structure built into them that keeps them from collapsing. You probably do have these, but if not, it would be worth the investment.

 

[mfp4073]

The following came from a posting on another board. I cannot verify anything on it, but it was just from a general discussion on overheating.



I replaced everything on my 289, waterpump, radiator, thermastat, hoses, belts, 3 fans with different number of blades. I still would overheat at idle within 10 minutes of running. I finally called K.A.R. auto group and explained problem. The 3 core radiator I had purchased new from a well know supplier was the size of a 2 core. I new this because I had to buy the 2 core brackets to mount the factory fan shroud. The radiator that Kar advised me to buy was almost one inch deeper and I could now put on the 3 core brackets for my shroud. I installed the new radiator from kar and idled for 20 minutes with the nose of the car in the garage. After running this long i took the cap off and no anitfreeze blew out. I then stuck a thermastat into the antifreeze and it was 190 degrees. The temp gauge showed a little udder half way. Kar has xclaimed they have cooled down a 289 bored 60 over with these rads. I have fought with my problem for 2 years and always drove the car when it was cool because I never suspected a new radiator was bad but it was. All I know is I cant believe the results. Email me if you have any questions.

Kar auto groups number is 1-800-341-5949. Ask to speak with Kevin or George. The cost of my radiator was 189.00 A little more than the other 3 cores I have seen offered but well worth the money.

 

[Kar Dokter]

289 overheating

I have seen the little holes (that allows coolent to flow threw the head) the head gasket get pluged. This will cause the exact problem U have.

 

[mfp4073]

Let me amend my post, if you have check everything else (passages, intake gaskets, etc) then its an option. Very strange problems though. I had an original radiator in my car and then wrecked it. The replacement radiator, and then the 3 row desert radiator never cooled the car like my original that was 30 years old.

 

[SuperDave]

It could be a simple as a bad radiator cap. BTW, didn't you invent the lever and some ideas about displacement?

 

[Stoic00]

I read a story where an engine overheated and they couldn't find a problem with the cooling system. Turns out over the years, instead of replacing the engines freeze plugs, the previous owner just punched them into the engine. I guess they just clogged the motor's cooling area so badly, the engine just over heated. If you don't know the history of the engine, this could be an area to check.

 

[dmark101]

hmm.

my 289 would overheat frequently as well. i did the following:

• had the radiator cleaned and rodded
• replaced the heater core
• replaced the radiator intake/return hoses (only the intake has the spring tim)
• installed a gano filter (return hose)
• replaced thermostat

this helped the car quite a bit, but it was still a little warmer than i wanted.

i had a problem with a head gasket, so i decided to replace both of them. turned out that when i took the heads off and inspected the gaskets, both gaskets had no holes for the passages in the front of the head. that's right, they were blocked, which meant that water was travelling through only one side of the head!

these were not the original head gaskets, but fel-pro replacements. the new gaskets i bought were the exact same way! i wound up marking the holes that should have been on the gasket to begin with, cut them out, and reinstalled them and the heads.

when i was done, the car stayed nice and cool, very rarely going above 1/3 on the temp gauge unless i was in summer stop-and-go (and only then did it ever get close to halfway).

HTH.

 

[djporters]

What should the temp. reading be w/ a 289 hipo?

I just bought a 66 K code w/ the 289 hipo engine and am curious as to what the temp reading should be? My average reading is about half way on the temp. gauge; is this optimal?
Would a closed radiator system keep the engine cooler?
What is the best ratio of radiator fluid to water; I live in San Jose, CA and it can get pretty hot.

 

[84 Mark VII]

I have also heard of a case where the water pump blades were cooroded away and the water pump was not moving enough water. Have you checked to see if there are so many dead bugs and dirt stuck in the radiator that no air can go through. Use a light on one side of the radiator and look through the other side too see how much light gets through!

 

[SuperDave]

Regarding optimal operating temperature for a "K" motor (or any other Mustang for that matter) it matters not so much what the gauge indicates as the heat range of the thermostat. I recommend 180 degree t'stats. The gauge reading depends on the accuracy of the sending unit and the gauge itself both of which indicate an approximation of the actual coolant temperature.

A 50/50 coolant/water mix is generally recommended. Remember that coolant does more than provide "anti-freeze" protection. It raises the boiling point AND protects the internals of the cooling system from corrosion and electrolysis.

A closed (recovery) system might be adviseable if your car tends to run too hot as in hot weather with the A/C in operation.

 

[Archimedes]

overheating engine problems

I originally started this thread on my overheating engine. The engine was giving me so many problems that i finally just took it out of the car for a rebuild. Inside the block towards the back of it, where the water is supposed to flow in the water jacket on the bottom there was about an inch of thick muck that took a few hours to clean up. This could be a problem others may not know about if their engine / system has not been cleaned or rebuilt so beware. This is a difficult thing to spot but its where my overheating problem was because i had a new 2 row radiator in, a new water pump, new hoses i made sure werent collapsing, I even tried to take the thermostat out but i went witha 140, and a number of different fans. By the way does anyone know if a clutch fan is better then just a fixed fan? I just put in a 302 while I rebuild the 289 I hope at least this engine will give me good results. Lastly, anyone know how a radiator cap can lead to overheating? I am using a 14lb pressure safe release cap.

 

[SuperDave]

A bad radiator cap will not hold pressure at rated capacity. Modern engines are designed to be run with pressurized cooling systems and a 50/50 coolant/water ratio. Properly working, this combination will raise the boiling point of the fluid in the system. If proper pressure is not present, the boiling point is reduced and thus the tendency to boil is increased. Boiling causes the system to expell water. This problem is made worse if, in addition to no pressure, the system is running less than the proper coolant/ water ratio.

In your case, the blockage in the cooling passages makes sense. Too often, owners will keep adding "stop leak" solutions to stop cooling system leaks. Done to excess, this blocks radiator, heater core, and engine block passages.

 

[Archimedes]

289 overheating

In my case, Dirt/rust/sediment..whatever it is somehow got into the system and over the 34 years it built up. Word has it that the car I have actually sat for a decade or two with no coolant drain beforehand. I took off the heads, took out all the freeze plugs (behind them was rust chips) and i took a long flat head screw driver and scraped around the bottom through the little holes that the coolant flows through. The front of the block was ok, a few rust chips here and there, but towards the back end of both sides is where i started hitting the muck. A pen magnet works great for finding and removing rust chips and metalic particals.

 

[agawam]

overheating 302

I had a 79 F150 302 at this truck for years wouldn't go any faster than 67mph but ran excellent then about 4 years after I owned it it developed an over heating problem so first I replaced the thermostat no good then the water pump no good flushed the cooling system no good replaced the radiator no good replaced the clutchfan no good now the whole cooling system is new and still overheating did a complete tuneup checked compression rebuilt the distributor and carb checked the exhaust did everything I could think of and it was still overheating but I could drive it short distances before it overheated it drove me crazy. One day I got into the truck and drove watching the temp guage and it didn't even reach normal so I drove for over an hour and no overheating,just repaired itself, never figured out why but the truck would still only go 67mph so one day I was on 81n in penn going up that big hill and looked at the speedo I was doing 85 up a hill loaded from that day 0on the truck would break 100 easy never figured out any of it. so why they overheat some times only god knows