unbelievable...

[snowwind1990]

Cooling system:
Radiator may be clogged:
flush it til it is clear water coming through it. Refill with 50/50 coolant(green) and distilled water. Reservoir should also be thoroughy cleaned at the same time..remove it to do it. So far you have needed two socket sizes, you know the stop-**** is how you let the coolant out?.......this all takes about 1 hour.However, burping the car to get the air out could take 1/2 hour additional, squeeze the big upper hose to see bubbles in the neck of the rad.
Drive Car.
Still too hot?
Change t-stat: Motorcraft only replacement, available at Autozone..no substitutions please. Remove large hose, the one you squeezed! Screwdriver needed to remove clamps.
Drive Car.
Still too hot?
Change t-sensor: Again, just to left of big hose, and screwed into throttle-body..
Still too hot?......probably not!
Try one thing at a time.......do not change all at once or you can't gauge the improvement each time and eliminate the bugger-boo!
M

 

[aberdeenSHO]

oh see people had told me that you can't take out the radiator without pulling a bunch of other crap out. All you have to do is pull off that top panel, the fan, and then the radiator right? oh also is there anything i should know before trying to pull out the radiator that may set me back(how many bolts, stuff about the hoses?). Is there anything else i should pull off besides the radiator fan? and where is the second fan. I only see one. the one in front of the radiator. heh that may be my problem.. i may be missing a fan. is there supposed to be a second fan somewhere in there? and of course drain the coolant before i take it out right? Like i said before i am 19 and have not worked on cars besides very little things and stereo work. i am always interested in trying things myself though even though there's a chance i could screw somthing up, but that's how you learn right? So "ANY" help, as dumb as the help may sound anything to help me do this without mistakes... thanks for all the help again! also the mechanic said he had flushed it already... so should i just skip that and jump to the temp sensor?

 

[91SHO]

I believe that he is talking about the overflow. Not the radiatior. No, I wouldn't skip that considering how "honest" he has been so far. I wouldn't even trust that guy to change my oil!!

<small>[ August 12, 2002, 01:00 AM: Message edited by: 91SHO ]</small>

 

[DHMag]

aberdeenSHO:

On top of all that i've already said, i've found 2 new things wrong tonight while driving it. my a/c was blowing smoke out of the vents today??? Now yesterday the mechanic cleaned the connection on the compressor (he said)... because my a/c wasn't working cold like it was supposed to. So today i was driving around with my a/c on for a while and it was blowing a dim mist or smoke of some kind out of the vents. There is some kind of smell but it's not like a clutch or anything, kind of like syrup?

that sweet smelling mist coming from your vents is an indication your heater core is about to go out

 

[Mike Kopstain]

Snowwind, the temp sensor that you are telling him to change is the one that controls the gauge. The one that the computer reads is under the intake between the V.

 

[93redATX]

Chris-
Since you have a '93, you should have two cooling fans. They are both smaller and in front of the radiator. If you can see one, you should be able to see the other one. If the fan is missing, that obviously is a problem, but i would think the car would overheat more.

In any event, I'm going to go with the people here that have already said to change the t-stat, temp sender, and to flush out the cooling system. As a side note, when you finally find and diagnose the problem, you should pull off the intake and valve covers to replace all of those gaskets. My car severly overheated late last summer and my gaskets were all very well cooked and quite brittle. I also had LOTS of oil in my plug wells after the overheat. If you need any more info or have any questions, you can email me as well. [email protected] thumbs_u

 

[naval-avi8or]

I was wondering when someone elese was gonna figure out he had a 93 and there are supposed to be two fans. You might want to check into that cause it could definetly be your problem since you seem to only be overheating with the A/C on.

I'm not sure but I don't think you can ROD the SHO radiator since it has plastic tanks. The tanks a crimped on and there is no way to un-crimp and re-crimp that's why they are not repairable.

As for the smoke coming from the vent I occasionally get FOG from my vents when the humidity is high, but you mentioned a syrup smell I can only hopr for your benifit you don't mean a sweet coolant smell cause that could mean BAD news and my be part of the reason for you over heating problem.

Last what are you using as an indication that your over heating. That gauge on the dash can be eroneous. I would spend a few bucks on a new sending unit for the gauge if thats what's giving you your indication. Other ways are to use test equipment.

<small>[ August 14, 2002, 10:44 AM: Message edited by: naval-avi8or ]</small>

 

[billh]

When I first got my sho, it ran in the upper range of the temp gauge. Since my tech told me that anywhere in the NORMAL range was OK, this didn't bother me. What did bother me was the car would, for lack of a better description, vapor lock when the temp was 90+ and the car sat for a while after it was warmed up. It was hard starting and you had to keep it at part throttle to keep it running, and it ran very rough. Flet just like some older performance cars did when the fuel system got too hot. I thought it was boiling the gas in the fuel rails and needed a fuel pump.
I tried different grades of gas, to no avail. Finally took it to my present SHO tech, he said that the radiator was plugged outside (Cooling fins packed with dirt) and inside. Replaced the radiator and 'stat, solved all of these problems.
He arrived at the diagnosis only after completely checking evey thiing else.
Good Luck

 

[BIGSHOMIKE]

Mine was doing the exact same thing, overheating when the A/C was on, I think there is some kinda protect switch because mine would **** the A/C before the car overheated. I took the radiator out fans still on and had it boiled and flushed out cost 35 bucks. Works like new now. It only took me about 1/2 hour to get out after I drained it.

 

[aberdeenSHO]

heh ok i'm really starting to worry about this 2 fan thing. I replaced the big one in front of the radiator a while ago. I think i'm missing my sencond fan. It may have went and the guy may have pulled it off in hope of selling it off to me. If someone has a picture of the second fan or can at least give me an exact location of it that would be very helpful. I'm having a **** of a time with this car and i know i've been posting a lot lately but i'm about to go nuts if i don't get this overheating problem fixed. Also where can i get this fan from and where does it mount? Also i just got a coolant temperature sender. I was wondering if you all even think it's necesary to replace it? There is a sweet smell coming from the a/c what do you all think that could be? and the fog is only every once in a while.. and usually in very hot and humid weather. Again i know you all are probably sick of hearing about my car but believe me i feel every post is bringing me closer to fixing the thing... thanks a lot !!!!

 

[aberdeenSHO]

Oh, i had the temperature checked today from a mechanic with a thermometer type thing... on the upper rad hose it was 180, and on the engine somewhere it was 195 when the gauge read on the top bracket of normal. So if that's normal i guess my gauge is working? heh i'm really wondering about this second fan thing though now.. I remember when my big fan was out, it had no airflow in there at all when it got hot. and i can't see another fan in there anywhere. that sweet smell also... do you all think that could just have something to do with from before my head gasket blew? I don't know what that could be... but it seems to run alright.. a little sluggish but i think that's due to needing new plugs and wires...

 

[naval-avi8or]

The two fans are located side by side one on each half of the radiator. If the temp reading from the infared gage was 180-200 thats right on hoppfully your gage was in the lower to middle of the NORM(AL) on the gage . The thermo is either a 180 or a 192 deg thermo depending on which one part# you have. You will however need to replace the fan housing, to the OEM two fan unit. You should be able to get one from a salvage yard. The PCM has inputs that tell it when the AC is on and in turn it tells the relay to turn on the secondary fan. If the previous owner removed the secondary fan than there may be a chance that you have no cooling fan operating when you select AC or just not enough cooling when it's selected.

If the sweet smell you are experiencing smells like antifreeze than your heater core is possibly leaking and thats not good. You could also check the two heater core hoses under the hood at the fire wall if they are leaking than antifreeze may be running down the lines into the heater core box causing the smell, and you can just tighten the clamps.

 

[naval-avi8or]

aberdeenSHO~ please post all info pertaining to your SHO (i.e.) Motor 3.2/3.0 and tranny. I've been looking in my 94 Ford factory manual, only 3.2L models have two fans.

If you haven't checked the fan for operation when ac is selected please do. If it doesn't you may either have a bad CCRM or the PCM just isn't sending a signal to the CCRM. Are you sure the fan motor works.

 

[aberdeenSHO]

I have a 93 mtx, and the fan does come on when i have the a/c on. So i guess i may be ok with fans. I looked and there doesnt seem to be much room in there for a second fan heh. I guess i'm going to try to replace the coolant temperature sensor. Thanks for all your help again.