A few weeks ago I posted a question concerning towing a camper behind my 59 Ford Wagon. I had previous issues with cooling, have been doing some work on it for the past couple of weeks and took it for the maiden voyage tonight. As discussed, I have installed an external trans cooler, checked and or replaced all kinds of miscellaneous axle and transmission seals, and further inspected the hitch (while it is not a reese style receiver hitch, it is tied into the frame and bumper). I decided to replace the thermostat, wondering if that was part of the running hot problem. When I pulled off the thermostat housing, there was no thermostat inside. I added that to the list and bought one from the local parts store, and installed it along with many other updates (gaskets to the motor, intake gaskets, and the pan under the intake gasket (don't know the name of that one). The camper was stored around 20 miles away from my house, and decided to drive the wagon to pick it up to see how it performs. The entire trip to pick up the camper the wagon ran around 190. As soon as I stopped, it started to overheat at around 220. I let it cool, hooked up the camper and drove it home. On the plus side, the wagon towed the camper quite well for a 59. However, once again, when I returned home and shut the car off the temperature skyrocketed to 230 and began to overheat.

My questions:

Did someone remove the thermostat before because of some overheating problem? Does it make a difference to not have a thermostat in? I never had overheating trouble like this before, it just got hot at high speeds.

The radio has no fan shroud on it. Was it supposed to have one? Is there somewhere I can get a fan shroud for this application? I inspected the radiator and flushed it, and it seemed quite clean. I do not think the radiator has any issues.

Off topic... I also dropped the tank to inspect my sending unit. It was bad, but I did move it up and down and my gas gauge does work. I have read several posts on the forum about the nightmares of aftermarket sending units. I also found a convenient access hole to replace the sending unit, so I do not need to drop the tank again. Any suggestions on a good aftermarket sending unit?

No one locally had a trans filter or a trans pan gasket. Does anyone know the part number, or where I can locate one for my transmission? It is an automatic behind the 292, it is either the true two speed, or I have read about the 2 speed that is actually a three speed. Someone had a link to a website for transmission identification...but I was unsuccessful in my quest.

Sorry for the long winded post, and long list of questions. BUT, there is a car show next weekend (around 250 miles away) and I would like to attend with the camper and the wagon.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. You guys rock.

Did you flush the block?

What thermostat did you use? You want to use a wide mouth unit like a NAPA #6 (170degree). Mr Gasket has a wide mouth, listed for Chrysler products

If there seems to be a prior heating problem, how about the head gaskets. They can be installed incorrectly which will cause overheating. In a YBlock, the square corner of the gasket should be in the upper front position.

54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

It is so important not to assume the radiator is ok, even after sticking a hose in it, it needs to be at its optium performance and should be at least sent out for proper clean at rad shop, or look at that cost vs new radiator. I would be thiniing the later 292 auto is 3 speed trans with 2nd gear take off, i think it is medium case type and TEE BIRD products has that gasket, among other vendors. Any cars temp will climb when turned off. Hope this helps. bill.

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

The temperature usually does rise some when the engine is shut off. Was it boiling over? Have you checked your gauge for accuracy?

And no, the radio should not have a shroud.


Lawrenceville, GA

Sorry it was a typo. I meant radiator, not radio.

When turned off the car goes immediately to 220 or higher. It never did this before, and the only adjustments I've made to the cooling system are new radiator hoses, a rather poor radiator flushing, and installing a thermostat where no thermostat was before. The car behaves just fine going down the road.

Thanks!

Check the bottom Radiator hose after you shut the engine off to make sure it isnt collapsing Carl

An "engine dead" temperature rise - especially when there is no discharge from the radiator overflow, shouldn't be a cause for alarm. The temperature from that point can only drop...... If you restart the engine in a short interval does it cool down when the system is flowing water? The running, loaded 190° number sounds about right to me.

Your engine needs a thermostat to regulate properly when cold - one of the high flow items mentioned earlier would be preferred. The NAPA 170° part works well and is easily found. I would also urge you to consider putting in a bypass orfice (goes in the hose directly under the main outlet from the intake manifold) to up the % of water flowing through the radiator. The little hose is a 5/8 diameter "short circuit" for rapid warm-ups - not something you are lacking for at this point. Use a 3/8 std brass pipe plug with a 1/8 or 3/16 hole drilled through - it can't get out of the short hose, so don't worry over that.

How many fan blades are you spinning? Probably should have 6 as a minimum - you can find 7 sometimes. Beware of the flex fans - climbing a heavy grade in a lower gear can spin them up to the point of reducing flow, just when you need it.

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

Fordomatic parts can be found at www.autotran.us/fmkits1.html‎ I got everything I needed from him. Mark

The thermostat is by all means a "temperature regulator". Its function is to regulate coolant temperature for optimal performance. It is necessary to be there to slow the coolant flow so that it actually has time to cool. Temperature should hold around 190 if that is tstat setting.
The fan shroud should be in place. Its function is to direct the air through the radiator. If there is no fan shroud, some air flow through radiator will be lost resulting in poor heat exchange.
Is your fan direct drive or does it have a fan clutch. A fan clutch not working right will cause one to overheat when idling.
As others have said, when car is turned off not running, the temperature will climb. That is normal, but it should fall again to something normal if car is started again.
I would recommend taking radiator to a trustworthy radiator shop and let them inspect it. I have seen several radiators seem to flow well with a garden hose, but when taken apart, too many tubes were stopped up to cool efficiently. If it is cooling ok while pulling a load I doubt that stopped up is the problem.
I would get shroud on first and see how that helps.
Good luck and keep us posted

Gene