FOUND my coolant problem.

[dar314]

One other thing to look at is your condencer in front of the radiator, it may be partialy plugged not letting air flow as much as it needs. when its cooler it runs fine but as it gets hotter and you use more options it heats up or even overheats. just get a presure washer and clean out the crap from the fins and see if it helps. It helped mine.

 

[smacd]

Just a word of caution - if you're going to use a pressure washer on the condenser, be very careful not to get too close to the fins. The high pressure water can very easily bend the fins over causing the condenser to not flow any air at all.

 

[93MTXSHO]

Guys, won't ignition timing make an engine run warmer than it should? i.e. too advanced or too ********. Check your timing. Also, I assume that if you replaced the ECT, you replaced it with some bargain variety from Autozone or Advanced Auto? Why not spend a few extra bucks and try the Motorcraft ECT. Like 32.19 from FPN vs. 14.99. It would make sense to me that the ECT would be the culprit since SHOLOVER mentioned that his computer reads it as 190 to 212 and then kicks the fans on. The computer's most likely not reading the sensor right because it's some replacement POS. The only reason that I say this is because I had an Autozone (Wells) temp sender fail after a year. I replaced it and magically my guage came back to working order. If the quality on something so unimportant to engine control is that **** poor, what's the quality like on something more important? Probably about the same. Especially when dealing with vital engine sensors, stick to the Ford parts. Replacements are a redesign made by some manufacturer because that way they can cut corners and they think they know better anyway. You wouldn't put Autolite plugs in your SHO, would you? So why put in a non-Motorcraft ECT? Sure you pay more for it, but the quality is the same as it was the day it rolled off the assembly line. Simply my opinion and experiences.

 

[shojuan]

So will clogged cats, a lean running engiine, and an EGR that's not flowing (egr gas cools the combustion chamber).

Rick

 

[luigisho]

Oz, did you ever put the proper 180 tstat in? Couldn't hurt at this point.

 

[Jersey Fred]

Another country heard from...

Like everyone else, I ran hot for an entire summer. Every hot day the A/C would put the temp guage into orbit. Changed the water pump, changed the hoses, put in a 160 * thermostat, tried water wetter, tried flushing the system with store-bought kit. Nuthin.

Mechanic told me to try running water (hose) over the radiator to see if that cooled the car down. It did = > new radiator installed. Runs fine now.

 

[shojuan]

I think I suggested a new radiator earlier on. Even if your radiator is newish, you might have had a lot of crud still circulating in the cooling system that clogged the new one. Radiator is relatively cheap to replace for such a worrisome problem. Get one with a lifetime replacement warranty and replace it yourself. I've had several cars in the past that started running too hot when they got old. New radiator fixed those problems.

Rick

 

[SHOZ123]

If it's hot out and you turn on the A/C (fans) and the engine temp drops this is a good clue that the raditor is ok.

 

[CharlieSHO95]

Pakisho,

I haven't looked at the exact cooling system layout on the SHO, but you may be screwing yourself by bypassing the heater core. I did something like that on a SB chevy one time and it caused the engine temperature to fluctuate wildly. The heater core and coolant bypass allowed the thermostat to always see a small flow so it could react to the engine coolant temp. With no flow past the thermostat, the engine could heat up and the thermostat would not see the higher temp. As was already stated anyway, the heater core can help, but shouldn't hurt, unless you are not circulating enough coolant.

Just a thought since you've tried so many things, good luck.

 

[shojuan]

SHOZ123,

I love that avatar!

Rick