Ford 2000 over heating

Adonisghd86

New User
I have a ford 2000 3 cyl diesel that blew a head gasket. Replaced the gasket and reassembled using new gaskets all the way around and installed a 172° thermostat. Refilled the coolant with new 50/50 antifreeze, and now the motor will not stay cool. Under load (plowing snow) at 1800 rpm the temperature needle runs right on the edge of the red area for a while and then eventually goes into the red and I shut it down. Any advise? Weak water pump? Faulty new thermostat? Clogged cooling passage? Im stumped. Also, is there anyway to flush your coolant system on your own?
 
May well be a bad new thermostat. It can also be a plugged up cooling system due the the blown head gasket letting a lot of oil in the cooling system
 
If you continue to run it will the radiator boil over?
The first thing I would do is get a meat thermometer and stick it down in the coolant in the radiator and verify that it is over heating.
It might be the gauge, it could be the sender, or the other things you mentioned. But first, verify that there is a problem.
 
I haven't had it boil over yet, I shut it down before it gets that far. The meat thermometer is a good idea. I'll try that.
 
Another possibility is if the radiator fins are plugged up with chaff, etc. My first 3 cylinder was a 2000 like yours. It had spent it's life on a turkey farm running a grinder/mixer. The fins were almost completely blocked by very fine feathers. I took the radiator out and kept spraying it out from both front and back with a pressure washer till I got it clean. The feathers and dust were petrified in there so it took a while. I used the fan setting on the pressure washer so as not to damage the fins.
As for flushing the system, just buy a bottle of flush from Napa or some place. Drain the coolant and put in straight water. Add the flush and then go work it for a couple of hours. Then drain and flush with clean water a couple of times before replacing the 50/50 mix.
 
You can buy those infared thermometers pretty reasonable they are great for lots of things. If it's not pukeing coolant when you shut it off and the temp gauge is in the red I dought it's all that hot.
 
Not sure about the cooling system on the 2000 series. Another thing you may want to check out is if the coolant is actually flowing. Had a tractor and a Jeep both that needed to be "Burped" to get the air out of the cooling system. The air pockets were preventing coolant from flowing.

Just a thought.

BJ
 
Did you have the head magnafluxed to check for cracks? It sounds like you still have a combustion bypass issue with the head or headgasket.
 
Fastest way to ruin a good engine, lost of oil
pressure.

Second fastest way to ruin a good engine, let it get
too hot due to lack of proper cooling.

I would pull the radiator, have a shop do a flow
test, it must be in good condition to provide proper
cooling.

Good fan belt, properly adjusted

Have you spun the water pump by hand to listen for
noise, have heard of the impeller coming loose from
the shaft, water pump appears to be working, but
it's not pumping.

Run 50/50 water/antifreeze mixture

If all that does not solve the problem the block
could be stopped up.

Whatever you find, just remember overheating can
ruin your engine quick!!!!!!!
 
Update on the overheating. I made a
rookie mistake and didn't drain the
coolant from the block, so I created an
air pocket. I drained it and flushed it
and refilled with 50 50 and now it runs
like a top.
 

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