Pinging under power and drive train Q's

[mainer311]

I love this thread already. I want to see how many more times RacerX and Mike repeat themselves. 

[thisismatt]

Kansas gets into high 90's and 100+...

[datzenmike]

I love this thread already. I want to see how many more times RacerX and Mike repeat themselves. 

 

True. It's so long and not sure if addressed and answered without re-reading it all over again.

[Charlie69]

Damn mariner I was sure you would not be such a critic.  When you read as many posts as Mike and some of us do and try to help we can post some things in a post more than a couple times. 

 

If we left Ratsun up to you, I hate to image what it might become, probably none existent.

 

You have a beautiful Roadster and a beautiful 521.  Here lately you criticize a lot, please what ever has pissed you off get over it and move on.  You have in the past added to Ratsun with your knowledgeable posts but lately you have lowered yourself and Ratsun with your bad attitude.

 

I remember a post you wrote complaining about this very thing, please get back to the person we appreciated.

 

I am older and get tired of the new people asking the same questions over and over when all they had to do is search with any major search engine their question with Ratsun at the end and they will find there answers.

[pwrcat4000]

I'm convinced this damn thing is bipolar it's running right at the line now, just under it actually. I wonder if there was possibly some air in the system I have drained that radiator and system so many times trying to solve this problem, just weird.

[datzenmike]

Not possible I think. The thermostat housing is the highest point on the engine side of the cooling system and the engine is highest at the front. Air will quickly migrate to it. The thermostat is horizontal so the first time it opens the air is let out into the top rad tank.

[pwrcat4000]

I'm convinced this damn thing is bipolar it's running right at the line now, just under it actually. I wonder if there was possibly some air in the system I have drained that radiator and system so many times trying to solve this problem, just weird.

Please disregard, later that day it was back to it's old tricks going CLR and to put the L16 pump and shroud on next I will report back if there are any changes

Again thanks for everyone's posts.

[Charlie69]

Whe you drain the CLR, pull both radiator hoses, and tie a rag around your garden hose to help seal the radiator cap opening, run the water as fast as you can from the top of the radiator out the bottom, try to watch to see if anything comes out.  Be sure to rinse cooling system well before refilling with distiled water and anti freeze.

[Charlie69]

After the water pump and fan shroud please let us know if these changes helped.  I hope this helps.

 

As far as the 3 core radiator goes a radiator shop will have to re core your radiator with a 3 core.

[datzenmike]

Might as well flush the block too.

[pwrcat4000]

I used a flush product earlier in this process for the whole system.
BlueDevil Products 1 Quart Radiator Flush. followed the Deep clean instructions on the bottle drove it around for 6 hours
I used premixed O'Reilly Green 50/50 Antifreeze

So I did not add any water but i understand the reasoning behind the the distilled water, don't want any calcium or mineral deposits to stick to the cooling surfaces.
So Is the CLR still something you think I should do? or is it redundant.

 

 

[datzenmike]

Well.... can't hurt.

[pwrcat4000]

Okay, so today did the swap on the water pump put the L16 four-blade fixed fan back on it with the shroud. Drove about 15 miles around the city at highway speeds it did not go up to the red like it did previously so I was pretty happy thinking wow we finally made some progress.

I checked all the other fluids everything was fine pulled the valve cover after getting the truck up to operating temperature checked all the gaps they didn't need adjustment. Put it all back together.

Went to go pick up my old daddy take him to the grocery store and get some tacos in it now it is running warmer than it was without the shroud and the old fan, about halfway between the Middle Mark and the red all the time.

Before if I let it idle for a while it would get down close to the middle mark, now it will not do that. I looked inside the radiator while I was working on the water pump swap it looks pretty good in there doesn't seem like there's any build up but of course I can't see down inside of the whole thing. I didn't do the CLR, I thought I would just try it with the swap first, so it looks like that's my last option now.

Maybe it's time to switch to an electric fan or something, else.

Did this post on my phone so apologies for the format.

[racerx]

Never had electric fans on all my old skool cars, didn't need it. They overheated cause of bad t stat or bad radiator or fan belt broke. Don't waste money and replace parts "just because". You didn't even try clr and now ur thinking about an electronic fan!

[datzenmike]

The mechanical fan is on all the time and increases with engine speed. The down side is that it's on ALL the time even when not needed. Electric is only on when needed, and if the cooling system is working right and the fan large enough, this is fine.

[racerx]

Forgot to mention, my 75 Celica overheated cuz lean carb.

[pwrcat4000]

Pulled the radiator (in the rain no less) I can verify it is a 2 core

Right now Radiator is front down in my bath tub and filled with CLR. I have some medical gloves rubber banded over the upper and lower radiator hose openings radiator cap is on I have the drain cracked mainly to let any gasses out.
Should I flip it the other way tomorrow to make sure the engine side core is submerged in CLR too?
I am going to straighten any of the bent fins while I have it out their are not that many but I figure every little bit of cooling I can get.

[datzenmike]

I just faced the inlet and outlet up and with the rad cap on and drain closed. Then fill completely so all the cores and top/bottom tanks are submerged. Any bubbles will exit the inlet or outlet

[mainer311]

I can't remember if this was suggested already or not, but is your gauge and sender working properly? IR temp guns are notoriously bad at reading proper temp. Do you have a thermocouple, or an aftermarket gauge you can hook up?

 

The stock temp gauge in my roadster wildly swings around and does what it wants, but my Autometer water temp gauge holds nice and steady, even though the senders are directly next to each other.

 

The only other thing I can think of is a large blockage somewhere in the block. When I rebuilt my R16, I had to probe and chisel a lot of that shit out of the block. Flushing it wasn't enough. 

[racerx]

As suggested, drive around w out a tstat? For sure, u will know, there's blockage.

[Charlie69]

If there is blockage in your radiator cores. the only remedy I know is have a radiator shop clean, rod and repair.  Rodding is where the readiator tanks have been removed and the radiator specialist takes a proprer size and shaped rod and pushes it through each core removing any obstruction.  The radiator is then thoughly clean a the tanks are soldered back on.

 

I would take it to the sop and get it done before you end up cracking a head or block.

[pwrcat4000]

CLR had very little effect I did get some flakes out of the radiator I assume this is Calcium or some other mineral build up. Combed the fins, Today I pulled the Thermostat again. I started running distilled water during this diagnostic period, since I have dropped the fluid so much, 89 cents a gallon is less than even the cheapest antifreeze

[pwrcat4000]

I priced rodding and re-core beween 200 and  600 so I think I will buy a champion 2 core

this one
found one for $175 on ebay, my local car club guys have had good reviews with this brand.
here are the specs

American Eagle All Aluminum Radiator
2-Row Core
AE487 Radiator Dimensions:
Total: 16.5" tall (with cap) x 22" wide (with brackets)
Core: 10.63" tall x 19.36" wide x 2.13" thick
Inlet: 1.38" driver side
Outlet: 1.38" passenger side
Tanks: 2.5" thick
Tubes: 1" thick

Bracket Mounted

16 lb. Radiator Cap included
Transmission Cooler NOT included

[racerx]

I would highly consider koyo rad. 3 core, 100 dollars more but heard they are worth it. Other shiny alum. Ones is a hit and miss w quality. Been through what u r going through and there's good info. About Koyo rad on line.

[Charlie69]

Run 50/50 anti freeze and distilled water.