Coolant system trouble shooting help

jjklongisland

Registered User
OK, now that the cam sensor is working and she isn't running advanced causing her to get warm, she still is not running as cool as she should be. Under no load in my driveway and up to temp with my 180 degree thermostat and new electric fan set to go on at 190 she runs good in the 185 to 195 range. Once I get her on the open road and she is under load she tends to get hotter which I guess is normal in the 205 to 195 range... When I get into the neighborhood she immediately start to get even hotter and climbs to 225. When I pull into the driveway she recovers pretty quick but this seams to happen now every time I take her out for a test run. So my buddy and I went through 2 gallons of antifreeze trying to get her to not be air bound in between test runs. Every time we burped her and you can see air release out of the system, top her off and then it happens again. I am thinking that when she is under boost she is pulling in air from somewhere. Does anybody have any ideas. could my head bolts not be torqued properly when my head gaskets were done allowing air to get into the cooling system. Remember I have recently done a new radiator, water pump, all new hoses, thermostat, electric fan, and radiator cap along with new head gaskets and timing cover gaskets... I notice when she gets hotter that my digital gauge will stutter sometimes and go instantly from 210 down to 195 and then back to 210 possibly indicating an air pocket travelling past the sending unit port (this is only a guess).
 
Yeah, the jumping temperature gauge is a very bad sign. I would suggest the test for combustion gases in the coolant.
 
tiny bubbles is trouble. you can eliminate the question of leak under boost and drive it around without the blower belt and ziptie the bypass valve open. if the lower intake was torqued to factory specs...(something like 12-15 lbs)that might lead to some issues from what I've read. Mine felt loose at that spec and I retightened before 1st fire up. Either way it sounds like it might be time to call in the original tech that did the heads.
 
tiny bubbles is trouble. you can eliminate the question of leak under boost and drive it around without the blower belt and ziptie the bypass valve open. if the lower intake was torqued to factory specs...(something like 12-15 lbs)that might lead to some issues from what I've read. Mine felt loose at that spec and I retightened before 1st fire up. Either way it sounds like it might be time to call in the original tech that did the heads.

Lower intake is a possible problem, but most of the time, the cooling system is under greater pressure than the intake. So it would probably be dropping a lot of coolant into the intake, leading to a lot of white smoke, if that was the cause.
 
Thanks guys... I am going to test for the combustion gasses in the coolant... I thought I saw a cheap test kit somewhere...
 
Oh YA tiny bubbles is not a good sign especially in the overflow tank after a hard run. It's how I found out my HG's were on their way out on the XR7. Ran it down the 1/4 and bubbles in the overflow tank.
Got the heads off before it went all the way through but you could see exactly where it was going to, left side back cylinder.

Erratic temps ended up being HG's on my 92 Taurus 3.8, JUST after the warranty ran out and before the recall, bye bye engine!
 
I dont know anything about "Tiny" bubbles. I guess I meant that an air pocket may pass by the sending unit causing the temp gauge to fluctuate on occasion.
 
Good thing a friend did them, that means he will re-do them fooo freeee

lol... no the guy that did them was my mechanic who i consider more than just a business transaction. I have known him for many years and I even set him up on a date with Aunt a few years back. I have no reason to believe they werent put back properly... I have no white smoke or milky oil.
 
lol... no the guy that did them was my mechanic who i consider more than just a business transaction. I have known him for many years and I even set him up on a date with Aunt a few years back. I have no reason to believe they werent put back properly... I have no white smoke or milky oil.

Did he use new head bolts?
 
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