Overheating and annoyed, just venting.

[Brutal Metal]

So far so good. Man this Reische t-stat is no joke. I noticed some interesting fluctuations in temps.

Did the first heat cycle today. When I heat cycle the car I always put the burp plug on before doing it rather than the funnel method most use. I noticed that Ford is now making a different radiator cap than the one I'm accustomed to buying. I turned the A/C on as soon as I started the car and the fans came on immediately. No leaks detected anywhere while idling.

I was using the OBD II analog to monitor temps and I have to tell you this car does not come up to temp quickly with the Reische t-stat. While I was idling the car I had the heat on full blast. The highest temp it would reach while idling and the heat on full blast was (79C) 174.2F. It just would not budge from that temp with the heat on full blast. I had to turn the heat off in order to get the temp to go higher. The highest it went while idling was (88C) 190.4F. Even with frequently racing the engine the temps wouldn't go above 190F. No coolant leaked from the cap either.

As soon as the high speed fan went on at 190F the temps came down rapidly and went all the way down to (81C) 177.8F. As the temp came down to 177F I put the heat on to the highest setting and it dropped to 174F and would not climb back up until I turned the heat off. I idled the car for about 45min during today's heat cycle.

With my Stant 170, I always idled between (85C - 88C) 185F - 190F. The car got to operating temp very quickly. The temps I'm seeing so far are pretty impressive. Going to continue to do 1 heat cycle each day over the next 3 days and get all the air out. Then on Fri I'm drive it around town in lots of stop and go traffic to see what happens to the temps. I'm very impressed right now with what this t-stat is doing.

I doubt you'd see mid 170 cruising temps presently in scorching south Florida, I don't care what Stat you have! Mid 180's YES but not much lower!

 

[01cobravortech]

I doubt you'd see mid 170 cruising temps presently in scorching south Florida, I don't care what Stat you have! Mid 180's YES but not much lower!

I'll report back on what I see in highway driving. We have low 80s for this week in NJ. If the car stays between 180 - 190 I'm happy. Definitely not looking to have this car run under 180F as I drive this car in the winter too. And I'm not comfortable with being under 180F in the winter.

 

[cobracide]

My 170* magic number is 179*-185*. Lower that that, it's closed and not warmed up. Higher and it's starting to heat up. Highest was 215*ish babying it in stop and go 99* weather. I think that is where the stock thermostat temps were back in the day?

 

[01cobravortech]

My 170* magic number is 179*-185*. Lower that that, it's closed and not warmed up. Higher and it's starting to heat up. Highest was 215*ish babying it in stop and go 99* weather. I think that is where the stock thermostat temps were back in the day?

Thanks for putting up some numbers to compare to. About 3 weeks ago we had 100F days. I took the car out in the hottest day which was 106F in my area. Hasn't been that hot here in many years. Anyway, with my Stant still in I saw some stop and go traffic. Temps reached as high as 107C (224.6F). I got nervous and got on the highway and drove for about 30min and the temps would not drop below 98C (208.4F). Kind of wish we had some more 100F days coming to see what kind of temps I get with this t-stat. Guess we'll see next summer.

 

[Tims97SVT]

Lets throw this in the mix, if you decrease engine operating temp, at what "operating engine temp" is performance decreased because inefficient combustion?

 

[mu22stang]

Lets throw this in the mix, if you decrease engine operating temp, at what "operating engine temp" is performance decreased because inefficient combustion?

Combustion efficiency increases with engine temperature. You see your best gas mileage when the engine is hot.

Performance is decreased as timing is pulled. Engine timing retard is a product of IAT2, engine load and RPM. ECT's don't directly affect power, to my knowledge. But higher ECT's increase IAT2's.

 

[01cobravortech]

Well removed the burp plug just now before doing today's heat cycle and some coolant pushed out the crossover tube upon removing the plug. Looks to me like she has been successfully burped as I can't add anymore coolant.

EDIT: I know some of these systems like to hold pressure before all the air is bled out of it so that can explain why coolant pushed out when I opened the burp plug today. Tomorrow before I heat cycle the car, I'm going to relieve pressure from the radiator cap then tighten. Then open up the burp plug to check to see if more coolant needs to be added.

 

[01cobravortech]

Lets throw this in the mix, if you decrease engine operating temp, at what "operating engine temp" is performance decreased because inefficient combustion?

You raise a very good question. It really is a balancing act with these cars. On one hand we have to concern ourselves with removing heat from these motors on the other hand we have to be concerned with going too cold as it can radically affect performance and the viscosity of the oil in the motor. So what is the happy medium?

 

[mu22stang]

You raise a very good question. It really is a balancing act with these cars. On one hand we have to concern ourselves with removing heat from these motors on the other hand we have to be concerned with going too cold as it can radically affect performance and the viscosity of the oil in the motor. So what is the happy medium?

I misread his post. I would not feel comfortable with giving it the beans much below an ECT of 180.

 

[01cobravortech]

I misread his post. I would not feel comfortable with giving it the beans much below an ECT of 180.

What do you mean "giving it the beans?" :shrug:

 

[Tims97SVT]

You raise a very good question. It really is a balancing act with these cars. On one hand we have to concern ourselves with removing heat from these motors on the other hand we have to be concerned with going too cold as it can radically affect performance and the viscosity of the oil in the motor. So what is the happy medium?

Thanks! I try to make people think out of the box.

You guys tell me what you feel is good operating temp. What was the factory thermostat temp? Why did ford use xxx temp thermostat?
I'm sure we will have a few dif opinions on this.

Also I would like to know what "giving it the beans" means..

 

[cobracide]

I misread his post. I would not feel comfortable with giving it the beans much below an ECT of 180.

Agree

What do you mean "giving it the beans?" :shrug:

Romping on it, accelerating, beating on it, pedal to the metal, ect.

 

[01cobravortech]

Agree



Romping on it, accelerating, beating on it, pedal to the metal, ect.

:lol: Thanks never heard that expression before up in my parts.

 

[01cobravortech]

Bad news fellas...

Sorry but it was not a hg issue. :banana: Appears that it was just air. Opened up the burp plug today and no room to add coolant. Put a new burp plug on there with the Ford o-ring. Took the car out for an hour. For about the first half hour of driving temps kept staying consistently between 190 - 192F in highway driving. Then all of a sudden they started plummeting fast. Went as low as 178F and then started staying consistently between 180F - 186F. Around town in stop and go traffic the highest temp I saw was 197F. It was about 85F today where I was at. Car feels like a stud. Stretched the legs a little bit and the car feels strong like before the overheating problems. Cap is holding pressure and no leaks anywhere. I'll check that burp plug again tomorrow before start up as it appears some air may have been purged while driving today. Just have to replace the radiator air deflector now as the one that is on there is all banged up.

So for anyone who comes across this thread in the future and is frustrated with cooling issues...don't pull your hair out and don't automatically assume its a head gasket failure. Start small and take your time burping the system. Peace.

 

[rtvickers]

Sorry but it was not a hg issue. :banana: Appears that it was just air. Opened up the burp plug today and no room to add coolant. Put a new burp plug on there with the Ford o-ring. Took the car out for an hour. For about the first half hour of driving temps kept staying consistently between 190 - 192F in highway driving. Then all of a sudden they started plummeting fast. Went as low as 178F and then started staying consistently between 180F - 186F Around town in stop and go traffic the highest temp I saw was 197F. It was about 85F today where I was at. Car feels like a stud. Stretched the legs a little bit and the car feels strong like before the overheating problems. Cap is holding pressure and no leaks anywhere. I'll check that burp plug again tomorrow before start up as it appears some air may have been purged while driving today. Just have to replace the radiator air deflector now as the one that is on there is all banged up.

So for anyone who comes across this trhead in the future and is frustrated with cooling issues...don't pull your hair out and don't automatically assume its a head gasket failure. Start small and take your time burping the system. Peace.

Awesome!!! Im glad it worked out for you.

 

[01cobravortech]

Awesome!!! Im glad it worked out for you.

Thanks man. :beer: I'm not going to lie...when I have cooling issues I always sweat a little as that hg thought is always in the back of my head.

 

[rtvickers]

Thanks man. :beer: I'm not going to lie...when I have cooling issues I always sweat a little as that hg thought is always in the back of my head.

Yeah, I know how that is. I had overheating issues for about a month. It kept getting worse and worse. Id think Ive have it fixed and bam it would overheat. Needless to say I have atleast blew a hg. I think. Something in there isnt happy. But we will find out. I started on it today. I only spent like 3 hours on it. I forgot to bring some special tools home from work so I got as far as I could. Im gonna finish the tear down on saturday maybe.

 

[01cobravortech]

Yeah, I know how that is. I had overheating issues for about a month. It kept getting worse and worse. Id think Ive have it fixed and bam it would overheat. Needless to say I have atleast blew a hg. I think. Something in there isnt happy. But we will find out. I started on it today. I only spent like 3 hours on it. I forgot to bring some special tools home from work so I got as far as I could. Im gonna finish the tear down on saturday maybe.

You covering the basics? Replacement of radiator cap, radiator tank, t-stat, making sure burp plug has an o-ring? Looking for subtle leaks in radiator? I feel for you man. I wasn't a happy vamper over the past 3 days working on this heap. Well I'm pulling for it not being a HG. :beer:

 

[rtvickers]

At this point Im hoping its only a headgasket.

 

[jm@ReischePerf]

Rob, I know that you have a very early version of my thermostat. Being that you drive your car daily in NE winters I would be happy to exchange it for the newer version which will have a bit better warm up and cold weather performance.

Well removed the burp plug just now before doing today's heat cycle and some coolant pushed out the crossover tube upon removing the plug.

If this happened when the car was totally cold, you're good to go. After maybe the 1st or 2nd crossover top off I just crack the plug loose to see if the pressure will push out a little coolant then tighten it up quickly. At that point there should be zero air in the system. Also it should be noted that a funnel/burp procedure only needs to done once during the initial fill.

I would not feel comfortable with giving it the beans much below an ECT of 180.

I think that might be a bit extreme. As long as the ECT has warmed up to 170* and the engine has been driven for maybe 10-15 mins at that temp, figure your oil should be in the 180-190* range which is perfectly safe for some WOT.