Crazy Overheating Issue

JohnnyHville · Jan 21, 2020

'46 2N. Lately been having an issue wherein the girl overheats immediately after warming up. But, after turn off and sitting a minute, it cools down and runs perfectly.
Installed a thermostat for the first time last year (was missing, and I was oblivious). Wondering if this thing has gotten "sticky" or something.

I do have a temp gauge I put in last year also. I've noticed that initially, once it starts to heat up, it heats up very quick. Like, the needle starts to move and is pretty methodical to about 160, then
rockets up to around 190+ when she boils over. Once it she starts to operate correctly, stays under 160 deg.

Bruce (VA) · Jan 21, 2020

Do you have a band or clamp to hold the t-stat in place? If so, you might have it to tight.

Otherwise, I'd say it's a sticky t-stat.
75 Tips

JohnnyHville · Jan 21, 2020

It's inside the upper hose. It was a pretty tight fit.

My son put some BarsLeak in it sometime ago because of a misunderstanding. I was hoping that was the prob (causing the t-stat to be sticky) and a good flush would cure it. Of course, it has only been ran a little bit since I flushed it.

Eman85 · Jan 21, 2020

Is it full of coolant? Any chance you have air trapped?

Bob · Jan 21, 2020

(quoted from post at 10:35:13 01/21/20) '46 2N. Lately been having an issue wherein the girl overheats immediately after warming up. But, after turn off and sitting a minute, it cools down and runs perfectly.
Installed a thermostat for the first time last year (was missing, and I was oblivious). Wondering if this thing has gotten "sticky" or something.

I do have a temp gauge I put in last year also. I've noticed that initially, once it starts to heat up, it heats up very quick. Like, the needle starts to move and is pretty methodical to about 160, then
rockets up to around 190+ when she boils over. Once it she starts to operate correctly, stays under 160 deg.

Sounds to me like the 'stat is installed backwards and/or has migrated up in the hose, away from the cylinder head.

The copper bulb "wax motor" needs to be facing the cylinder head, and low down in the hose.

Ed S. · Jan 21, 2020

(quoted from post at 10:10:59 01/21/20) It's inside the upper hose. It was a pretty tight fit.

It may have been a tight fit when you installed it in a room-temperature hose, but a hose can loosen up/stretch when it gets warm.

I, too, lean toward checking the t-stat first (by physically removing it, and maybe test its function in a pot of hot water using a candy thermometer as a reference). If you find evidence of the bars-leak while it's out, flush the system again (without the t-stat, then reinstall in the correct orientation).

es

soaked · Jan 21, 2020

Overfilled radiator?

Check Bruce(VA) tip #24

Thanks for the list Bruce!

John

RogerinIowa · Jan 21, 2020

Sounds like thermostat needs a small hole drilled on it so hot water can teach thermostat while warming up. Have had other engines do the same thing you are experiencing.

ASEguy · Jan 22, 2020

If it has done it since initial installation then I would suspect as Bob posted. It may be in backwards.

JohnnyHville · Jan 22, 2020

Not having an overfilled radiator is why BarsLeak was put in it in the first place. My 20 y/o shredded w/it last summer while I was out of town. It was getting hot because of goat weed seeds clogging the radiator. He and my dad checked the radiator, and, not understanding how full the radiator is supposed to be, and before seeing the radiator needed to be blown out, they assumed it had a leak somewhere. So, they poured a whole battle of that junk in her.

A week or two later, I saw how much fluid was in the radiator and drained out enough to get it back to normal. I was unaware of the BarsLeak until recently.

The t-stat worked fine until about two months ago. I had worked her pretty hard one day, the next had the issue begin. I am assuming the BarsLeak got warm enough to do its magic and adhered to the t-stat.

Dang, it's hard to complain about someone trying to do you a favor.

Hobo,NC · Jan 22, 2020

Whuts 190+

JohnnyHville · Jan 22, 2020

Fahrenheit.
That's about as high as it gets before I can react in a panic and turn the key off. Else wise, Ford's automatic overheating safety feature kicks in (ie: it boils over, spills onto the distributor, and stalls
out).

I know temp because I installed a temp gauge when I reworked her wiring, and replaced belts, hoses, etc. a year or so ago. My ahmmeter was busted, the needle was slipping on the oil pressure, a 3-pack of 2"
Bosch gauges was way cheaper than buying individually. So, what the heck, a voltmeter instead of ammeter, and a temp gauge never hurts.

soaked · Jan 22, 2020

I've not used flush products designed to remove bars leak before, but suspect searching on-line may offer choices.

If you haven't already rigged up a temp gas tank, maybe now is the time. Sure makes it easy to work on. 😃

John

Hobo,NC · Jan 22, 2020

Wheres the temp gauge located.

JohnnyHville · Jan 23, 2020

No recently started. Has worked great up til now

JohnnyHville · Jan 23, 2020

Directly under the oil pressure gauge. The adapter pipe (where the lead connects) is at the bottom of the upper hose, with the t-stat just above it (in the hose).

Hobo,NC · Jan 23, 2020

Whats the hottest you have seen the gauge read, 190 is not overheating.

Do you keep the coolant level just above the radiator tubes and no more.

Radiator cap off do you see coolant flowing when it reaches operating temp of 180.

When a thermo is installed backwards it will take quite a bit of temp to make the thermo open (pop open not gradually as normal) it will take overheating status enoufh to open/pop the thermo open its possible from that time on while operating the machine the temp may stay normal.

It does not sound like the radiator is stopped up if it resorts back to normal. There are other ways to check the system you will have to work your way to them and confirm the good...

I am curious does the lower radiator stay cold up until it overheats. At 160 thermo starts to open at 160 fully opens around 180 from there it regulates the coolant flow to maintain at least 160 during operation it moves depending on coolant temp.

One nice thing is you can actually see the event looking in the radiator fill cap... You have a gauge have you confirmed its accurate.

JohnnyHville · Jan 23, 2020

Prob 210 or so. It rockets up once it goes over 160-170. I'm (or was) confident the tstat is not in backwards. I made dang sure of that from research done here before installing. I say 190, because, that's
my oh sh!+ moment to kill the key before it boils over. When it peaks 190, it's still climbing. I have no idea if the gauge is accurate or not.
I did feel around last time to see if the tstat had moved. It was where it needed to be. The lower hose wasn't hot.

I can say with confidence, that after installing it would start to open at 160 (know because rate of increase would slow) and would fully open and drop back to 160 around 180.

Hobo,NC · Jan 23, 2020

I believe the gauge with the new info...

Without doing other test I would go after the thermo...

a32vickyhotrod · Jan 23, 2020

Like anything mechanical, thermostats can fail. Take 15 minutes and pull it out and see if the running engine now overheats. If it does you know to look further at maybe the the water pump. If it does not, put in a new thermostat and be on your way.

JMOR · Jan 23, 2020

(quoted from post at 16:40:28 01/23/20)
Like anything mechanical, thermostats can fail. Take 15 minutes and pull it out and see if the running engine now overheats. If it does you know to look further at maybe the the water pump. If it does not, put in a new thermostat and be on your way.

here is all the fun in that? can't we all jaw about it for days instead? :roll:

Crazy Overheating Issue

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