Posted by Wayne Hillenbrand [162.158.78.145] on Thursday, January 05, 2017 at 10:26:40 :
I want to start a new thread on this so it doesn't get lost in all the posts.
When I bought my truck it was in the dead of winter in Western PA. It ran fine and did not overheat. Or leak any coolant.
Of course when I got it home and ran it it looked like it was getting hot. The previous owner warned me it ran hot sometimes.
I flushed out the block and put a filter inline for the cooling system. Whe I pulled the drain on the block nothing came out at first. (lots of sediment??) I also installed a calibrated aftermarket gauge.
With a 160 degree thermometer it still got up to almost 200 degrees but never over. I ran it like that for two years. I put a new water pump on it ans new water distribution tube. (the old one was actually good)
Fast forward to two years ago when we rebuilt the engine. That means bare block that gets hot tanked, 30 over pistons, new crank, cam, bearing (balanced and measured twice)
While doing that I took it to an old time radiator shop. They said it was over 50% blocked. Even after I thought I cleaned it. The previous owner used many bottles of stop leak to fix his leaks and that plugged up thr water distribution tube and the radiator.
So I go to start it up two years ago. Unlike the TV shows I made sure I had fuel to the carb, had spark and primed the oil pump. It turned over maybe half a second and started up of course. (with break in oil and extra zinc for cam lube)
Since that day two years ago The temperature gauge is rock solid regardless of how hard I work it or how hot it is.
These engines are not like Prius engines. They have lots of extra cooling capacity, and when working right will not overheat. They are designed to run implements off the PTO when standing still.
Several people have told me, and I see it now, these engines are well cooled and are designed to run in the hottest harshest climates under load.
So... I didn't go all the way back and check it all the posts. but I wonder
1) did you have the radiator professionally cleaned?
2) Was the engine hot tanked before you put it back together?
3)I seem to recall you put a new water distribution tube in?
Anyway, enough of my typing. I need to finish putting urine in my car so we don't pollute the air too much!
Good luck.
Wayne
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