Overheating problem

Ford78 · #1 (**permalink**) 12-03-2003, 01:22 PM

I have a 1978 F-150 that I have redone.......The original motor that was in it was a 351M......I just recentley replaced the motor with a 351W from a 1985 Ford E250.......I noticed I'm having a heat issue.......My motor after about 30minutes or so seems to get warmer than it should be.....I have a 180 themostat a brand new water pump and I had just rebuilt the motor before I put it in the truck.....The heads weren't warped, cracked or anything else same goes for the block.........Please give me any advice you have about this I'm goin crazy trying to figure it out.

Mr.Fixit · #2 (**permalink**) 12-03-2003, 01:29 PM

air pockets, bad thermostat, thermostst installed backwards, reverse rotation water pump, bad radiator, insufficent cooling fan, the list of possibilities is not short, you need to start sytematically eliminating possibilities.

jordanatkins305 · #3 (**permalink**) 12-08-2003, 12:54 PM

are you running a fan shroud?? if not how close is your cooling fan to the radiator? Are you running coolant?

rdorman · #4 (**permalink**) 12-08-2003, 12:59 PM

Fixit is right, what have you done so far? Also, the 351M to 351W caught my eye. Roscoe (another member here) recently had an issue where he had a 351C or M pump on a 351W. Maybe you have the reverse.

Do a search here on overheating problems if you are not sure where to begin in diagnosing the problem. Lots of information available.

Rick

Dirty Harry · #5 (**permalink**) 12-08-2003, 01:19 PM

Ignition timing off? Radiator hose collapsing? Is that 1978 radiator starting to plug up? Head gaskets on correctly? (Sometimes putting them on backwards will obstruct a water passage.) Very lean mixture? Just a couple ideas...

xlr8or · #6 (**permalink**) 12-08-2003, 04:12 PM

My first guess is the backward rotation on the pump. Did one of the cars have a serpentine belt system and the other have the old style V belts?

Ford78 · #7 (**permalink**) 12-12-2003, 10:35 AM

I'm not running a fan shroud because I didn't have one at the time. The water pump is the correct one for that motor....I look in the radiator and it is serculating the right way......it is possible that the themos stat is messed up...the thermos stat I have in it is from a Ford 300 straight six......I'm going to try a 195 themos stat and a fan shroud to see what it does..........ty all for the help