Help Needed. SD Patt, or anyone else, please

[Oz]

Ok, this has been driving me nuts for a while now. I dont know what to do about the white car. I had the 60k done last september, and had a new waterpump, t-stat and temp sender put in. Unknown miles on all the old parts.

After I got the car back, I noticed the temps reading higher than they used to. I figured that was normal, because of the new temp-sender.

I had the A/C recharged in preparation for summer. All summer long the car has run around the O-R. When its hot, it runs around the N-O range, adn I cant use the A/C because it will over heat.

I had the coolant flushed today. Hooked it up to the machine and let it flush itself. Just put in a new t-stat too. Still the same problem. What next? By the way, Ive bypassed my heater core. Could this have anything to do with it?

Please give me some input, this is really starting to **** me off.

Much appreciated.
oz

 

[Slo-Sho]

I would run a chemical flush such as Prestone's Super Flush (tm). Possible partially plugged radiator core??

 

[Oz]

i switched out radiators a while ago. not a new part, but switched them because the old one was leaking. there was no change in operating temp before/afetr the switch. and i just had it flushed TODAY!!!! it flushed fine.

 

[shojuan]

Try wiggling the connector on your gauge temperature sender to see if it changes the gauge reading. After I hosed down my engine really good the second time around during an afternoon degreasing session, I noticed the gauge was reading much higher than normal. I knew this couldn't be right because the fan was running constantly (got a little overzealous with the hose) After driving it for a short drying run, I wiggled the temp sender wire a bit and the gauge reading went back to normal. Cooling fan stated behaving properly after an hour of drying time too.

Rick

 

[noSHO]

I think you best bet at this point would be to change out the single wire temp sender again. It's so easy to do and the part isn't that expensive that you might as well. Try that and let us know the results.

Bypassing your heater core shouldn't cause your normal operating temps to go up. The only time your heater core can fully utilize it's function as a "secondary radiator" is when you are running the heat, so I wouldn't consider that a prime suspect for your problem.

What was the mixture ratio of AF/water that you had put in when you got the coolant flushed today? I really don't suspect that to be the root of your problem, but the thermal conductivity of AF is considerably less than that of water, so the more AF you run in your mix the hotter your car will tend to run. When you put in the new tstat, what was the temp rating? Was it the Ford OEM or RobertShaw part with the correct jiggle valves? Last Tuesday I changed my tstat (an incorrect part that I had installed in the fall of last year) with the 180 degree RobertShaw Generation II piece. I flushed the coolant and replaced it with a more water based mix (about 35/65) and a bottle of water wetter, and my highway operating temps dropped from in between the R and M to the top of the L. Driving around in heavy traffic, it takes considerably longer for the car to heat up enough to kick the fan on. Keep us updated...

 

[mopower]

kind of off topic but I just notice that using my wipers causes my temp reading to get hotter. These fords have some strange problems.

On your car overheatng I would suspect the radiator.

 

[shojuan]

I'm definitely with noSHO on the lower coolant to water ratio + waterwetter, oz. Seeing as how you are bay area, as long as you don't intend to take your SHO up to the snow, I'd say go for it. You can always pull some water out and replace with coolant if you need low temp protection. I've run some of our cars with 20% coolant + water wetter and I think for a while I was running my wife's law-school beater with 100% water + water wetter. It's like doubling your cooling system capacity. The SHO does have a pretty good sized cooling system capacity already though.

You should try wiggling the sender wire to see if that changes things. You might save the $7 on a new sender that way. No sense in throwing away $7 if the connection is the problem. If that doesn't fix it, and replacing the sender doesn't change things, then you might consider t-ing off the sender so you can run a *real* temperature gauge to see what's really going on there. When the idiot lights and gauges aren't good enough, replace 'em with the real thing's what I say.

Rick

 

[sdpatt]

First you have to determine if there is a problem - 85% of fixing something is finding out what is wrong. Before you replace any parts, you need to measure the actual temperatures upstream and downstream of the thermostat. Once you know the real temperatures, then you can determine if something isn't working properly. What was the temperature setting on the thermostat you installed? Is it opening at that temperature? Is it the correct temperature for your engine?

There are two versions of the Motorcraft RT-1112: 82C (179.6F) and 88C (190.4F). You did install the Motorcraft part, didn't you? The former was original equipment for the 3.0L and the latter was installed with the 3.2L. The 82C stat will keep the gauge in the A-L range, the 88C stat will move it up around the R-M range.

Now, the use of foaming flushes can cause problems too. It is very difficult to get all of any fluid out of the cooling system. I have seen a head on the coolant after removing the radiator cap on some engines that looked like a head on a green Irish beer. I don't like them (the flushes that is - the green beer is fine). If you have used a foaming flush, get all of it out of there. Bubbles in a cooling system can **** the heat transfer properties of any fluid.

If any of this is helpful, please send your $75 service fee to my PayPal account at [email protected].

 

[aberdeenSHO]

man trust me i feel ya. heh read back on all my post believe me i seriously know what you're going through. i don't know wtf to do. The only thing i havnt tried is replacing the radiator and the tempsender. I did all the hoses, head gasket, thermostat, flush after flush, and whatever else the mechanic did i don't know... i don't think it's the temp sender because i heard all that did was turn on your fan, and this isnt a problem with the fan coming on at the wrong time. I thought that it may have been the rad but you said you switched it out and no change???? geeze now i'm really confused. ok well anywayz i have decided to give up. labor charges are tearing me up and i'm too lazy to try to fix it anymore. there is an 2000 acura integra gs-r with low miles for sale from this guy i know and i'm going rice i think. This car was awesome but i've never never experience so much trouble fixing a car in my life! If i knew how to work on it i'd keep it forever but i can't find a decent mechanic and i'd rather just have a honda engine under me for a while to **** some of my stress of broken stuff. It was definately worth having though... how much do you all think i could get for a 93 in great condition(except for this cooling problem) and with 117000 miles?

 

[Mike Kopstain]

I'm with Scott. Also it's important to know that the temp senders suck!!!! I buy a lot of them and 2 out of 5 are way out of range. Get yourself a gauge son... or just gank it from the SHO with the E-Ram on it.

 

[Oz]

I looked at the t-stat: they stuck some cheapo 195 t-stat in there! Im getting a motorcraft 180, and they will replace it at no charge. lets see what happens now.

thanks Scott, and everyone else. By the way, it was not a foaming flush. Just flushed it out with coolant.

 

[Oz]

YES!!!!!!!!

my stupid bastard temp sender seemed to have been lying to me. one new temp sender and one new MOTORCRAFT T-stat later, she behaves GOOD. bad sho. now good sho. i go now.

 

[sdpatt]

I checked the PayPal account and no deposits have been made. Well....

Scott