getting hot

[dragon462]

I started it up and broke it in. the temp. stays at 195, i took it around the block and the temp. rose to a lil over 200. It over heats if you rise the rpm just a lil. alm. heads, vic jr. water pump, and 185 thermostat. basic timing is 12 degrees. 825 mighty demon. its a 428 bored and stroked to a 462 10.5 to it isnt running lean it runs fat. somebody said to me that the water pump is pushin to much water threw it and it isnt allowing it to cool. Need HELP! I wish to be driving it by this weekend!

[jwoodard]

When you say "over heats", does that mean it is puking out coolant or are you referring to the temp gauge reading? If it's the temp gauge, check your ground for your instruments and make sure it is good. I had a similar issue with my Lone Star when I built it, and after thinking my engine was over heating, I checked and fixed my gauge ground and everything was fine. Just a thought.

[ENTDOC]

200 degrees may well be fine for that motor, check with an IR thermometer and see if it correlates with the gauge. My Roush 427r was reading 215 at its highest but it turns out the IR reading was 196, so the gauge was wrong.

[dragon462]

puking out coolant 2 times and the wireing is perfect it is a lonestar

[dragon462]

i have a laser temp. and it reads the same that my thermostat gauge is.

[patrickt]

Either too much heat is making its way in to the coolant, or not enough heat is making its way out of the coolant. Do you overheat while driving at a speed of over 25 mph, or do you only overheat when you have stopped the car? Are your fan(s) running?

[dragon462]

temp climbs as driving and yes the fans are running I shut the car down at 210

[patrickt]

How many gallons of coolant did you put in your system?

[Rick Parker]

Get rid of the coolant and refilll with distilled water and a bottle of Super Water Wetter. -20 degrees!

[Michael C Henry]

Are you sure that the head gaskets were installed correctly with the coolant passage blocked at front on both sides? Coolant goes rearward in block and forward in the head. Is there a thermostat and does it have a vent ? The thermostat will control the flow there is a thing as too much flow. Does the radiator pressureize rapidly or slowly as temp climbes?

[patrickt]

If you didn't get about four gallons of AF/Water in your system then an air bubble could be the culprit. Brand new engines can also be a little hot as well.

[rblong]

Can you leave cap off and see thermostat opening? In other words do you see water flowing through radiator?

You say fans - My LSC has a single large fan, but even B4 I put shrouds on it would not overheat driving.

You sure about timeing. If water flowing try advancing it a little more. Mine runs 38-40 full advanced.

There are some detailed write ups about cooling issues, but I don't think you to that point yet.

[dragon462]

head gasket i think are right my first fe. a guy here said that if it was the head gasket the car could not idle it would over heat in two mins.thermostat i do not know if it has a hole . yes you can see it flowing. there is 4 gls. temp come up slow. i will check full advanced timing tomorrow thank you all

[dragon462]

whats a good temp for a fe motor?

[rblong]

Mine runs 190 - 200 idling in 100 degree weather with fan cycling, about same (maybe a little less) driving in 100 degree temp.

I noticed last weekend at the track it was running abut 200 all the time and I was running the you know what out of it - it was close to 100 outside.

[496fe]

Bunch of old-timer FE guys say that they like it at least 200 degrees, otherwise they get sludgey over time with the condensation.

[pgermond]

I read through this real quick and didn't see any specified thermostat (edit - opps just saw the 185). I had a 160 in my engine and it stayed cool, but didn't run worth a $hit. I now have a 190 and it runs perfect. Temps range between 190 - 200 w/no problems. I have pushers and a puller when stuck in traffic. FE's like to run warmer to function properly.

[vector1]

yank the thermostat out and run it that way and see what happens. give you a good indication.

[RICK LAKE]

dragon 462 First off you have a brand new motor that is tight. It's going to run hot. With the motor running ,do you see the temp gauge drop when the thermostat opens? It should drop 20-25 degrees? is this happening? If not, Like others have said, make sure both head gaskets are on right. Are you running undersize pulleys?? This may be part of the problem because the coolant is not moving fast enought to remove the heat in the motor. There could be air pockets in the heads,block, intake manifold, or radiator. Is the water pump a high flow one? I have an all Alum motor and it was running hot, I went to a BB dodge thermostat. You have to trim the other ring 2mm to make it fit in the housing recess. It flows 30% more than the correct FE one. I run 2 gallons of water(distilled) 1 gallon of green coolant and 1 bottle of water wetter. I use a 180 thermostat and the motor hangs about 185 after racing. Drill a 1/8" hole in the thermostat to help get the air bubbles out of the system. You may need to burp the system, 4-5 times before the air is gone. I run under drive pulleys on my car. Do you run dual fans in the inlet of the car? Some of the racers say to use the splitter for the air, and the orginial dual fans don't do that much to cool. The splitter gets more air spread to the rad. The other possiblity is that the intake gasket is partially covering the return ports in the manifold between the heads and the intake for coolant. The oil returns also need to be checked. The seen this happen too. Rick Lake Ps if you go to a auto zone or pepboys, get the stant thermostat for an FE and a Dodge BB 383-440 and look at the outlet for where the coolant goes through the housing. One hole is about 3/4" the other is 1" for the same temp. That's a BIG DIFFERENTS. My motor was running in the 220f until I reworked the gaskets and changed the thermostat. Oil return where also partial closed off.

[dragon462]

yes ... i'm running the march pulleys...when it idles it goes 160 -185 .. it could be fine i dont like 200 i have a supercharged mustang and it stay around 185....(sbf) i cut out the intake ports for the water and the oil ...it has one fan 2800 cfm i think..