Need an opinion
- Thread starter Ed51
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Ed-
Neil's right - and thanks for the URL Neil. However, if there is any chance you could be building steam pockets in the heads and roasting valves, start out with it in the head. It'll normally read about 10 degrees hotter there, but does help detect a problem. If there's a steam pocket, your temp gauge can easily go to 240 degrees and higher.
Filling the radiator with 50% distilled water and 50% antifreeze, even if you are in a warm climate or the car never freezes, is important. It lubricates, coats and cuts down corrosion due to the additives most ethylene glycol antifreeze has. Some people argue that antifreeze is not as good as water for heat transfer and you should use as little antifreeze as possible. Yes and no. It depends on many things and let's not get crazy. At least use a 20/80 ratio. Things like Water Wetter (a surfactant) reduce the temp measurably and keeps air bubbles from forming. Wherever there's air, there's very poor heat transfer and little bubbles cling onto any roughness.
Always fill the radiator, run the engine for a bit and top it off again. Do this until no more coolant can be added. Okay, no more than one inch down from the top for expansion if you aren't running an overflow tank. If the radiator cap is LOWER than the HIGHest point water travels in your engine and you are having overheating problems, an expansion tank is in order if you can't bleed out any trapped air some other way. Sometimes jacking up the front end when you fill the radiator solves this. If there's air, it turns to steam when flowing through the heads and a pocket can block water flow altogether because the pressure can be enormous.
Once you're sure the cooling system works right, then you get a better indication taking the temp off the block.
Neil's right - and thanks for the URL Neil. However, if there is any chance you could be building steam pockets in the heads and roasting valves, start out with it in the head. It'll normally read about 10 degrees hotter there, but does help detect a problem. If there's a steam pocket, your temp gauge can easily go to 240 degrees and higher.
Filling the radiator with 50% distilled water and 50% antifreeze, even if you are in a warm climate or the car never freezes, is important. It lubricates, coats and cuts down corrosion due to the additives most ethylene glycol antifreeze has. Some people argue that antifreeze is not as good as water for heat transfer and you should use as little antifreeze as possible. Yes and no. It depends on many things and let's not get crazy. At least use a 20/80 ratio. Things like Water Wetter (a surfactant) reduce the temp measurably and keeps air bubbles from forming. Wherever there's air, there's very poor heat transfer and little bubbles cling onto any roughness.
Always fill the radiator, run the engine for a bit and top it off again. Do this until no more coolant can be added. Okay, no more than one inch down from the top for expansion if you aren't running an overflow tank. If the radiator cap is LOWER than the HIGHest point water travels in your engine and you are having overheating problems, an expansion tank is in order if you can't bleed out any trapped air some other way. Sometimes jacking up the front end when you fill the radiator solves this. If there's air, it turns to steam when flowing through the heads and a pocket can block water flow altogether because the pressure can be enormous.
Once you're sure the cooling system works right, then you get a better indication taking the temp off the block.
Neil,
If compression and octane are right and there's detonation (read your plugs even if there's no knocking), that's a sign of too much heat in the heads/combustion chamber. Also, and this is the bad way to find out, if you start burning pistons and valves, usually in one or two areas, that's a for sure sign. Lastly, when the engine is hot, but off, loosen the sender or plug in the head and if air hisses out, you've got steam. If coolant comes out, you're probably okay. If it sucks air in as coolant comes out, you'll have to purge the system again if it draws a lot. Just crack it, listen and quickly tighten it. I'd just put a second temp gauge on there for a while.
Yes, Water Wetter can help. If there's something wrong with the system, it's just a band-aid and a bad idea. But in a healthy system, it works most of the time. There's other stuff called 40 Below and it supposedly drops temps by 40 degrees. But using all this goo isn't going to fix a poorly functioning system. It just makes a good one run cooler. Sometimes.
I fought overheating on my streeter coupe and finally corrected it with an expansion tank, not to be confused with an overflow tank (catch can). It just purges air as you drive. But there's a lot of braided lines running all over and a plumbing nightmare. For our applications with a close to factory radiator and engine position, you shouldn't have to do this.
If compression and octane are right and there's detonation (read your plugs even if there's no knocking), that's a sign of too much heat in the heads/combustion chamber. Also, and this is the bad way to find out, if you start burning pistons and valves, usually in one or two areas, that's a for sure sign. Lastly, when the engine is hot, but off, loosen the sender or plug in the head and if air hisses out, you've got steam. If coolant comes out, you're probably okay. If it sucks air in as coolant comes out, you'll have to purge the system again if it draws a lot. Just crack it, listen and quickly tighten it. I'd just put a second temp gauge on there for a while.
Yes, Water Wetter can help. If there's something wrong with the system, it's just a band-aid and a bad idea. But in a healthy system, it works most of the time. There's other stuff called 40 Below and it supposedly drops temps by 40 degrees. But using all this goo isn't going to fix a poorly functioning system. It just makes a good one run cooler. Sometimes.
I fought overheating on my streeter coupe and finally corrected it with an expansion tank, not to be confused with an overflow tank (catch can). It just purges air as you drive. But there's a lot of braided lines running all over and a plumbing nightmare. For our applications with a close to factory radiator and engine position, you shouldn't have to do this.
Also when you first fill a system take the thermostat housing off and fill raditor until the coolant comes up to the bottom of the thermostat and then put housing on and fill the rest of the system. The thermostat blocks air from escaping from the engine as it is being filled with coolant.
Roy
Roy