My car has always ran 185 -190 in the heat. When I put it together with a set of Dart Iron Eagles last week it was up about 10 degrees. I figured it might be because I added almost a point of compression. The car drove fine and did not get over 200.

Sunday I took it to the track and the first pass lost a belt so it got real hot.
I let it cool all the way down and made another pass without incedent. The next pass the tree was messed up and I had to wait about 3 minutes. We had to stage 3 times before they got it to work. I was about 220 when I left and about 235 by the end of the track. I loaded it on the trailer and went home.

Tonight we were going to a cruise night. About a block from the house the temp was up to about 205. It stayed there for a short while and then all the sudden it pegged the mechanical gauge in about 15 seconds. I was only about 3 blocks from my house and I let it cool down for about 30 min. I started it back up to drive 3 blocks home. As I was pulling n the driveway the same thing happened.

The top hose was almost so hot you could not touch it yet the bottom hose was warm but not so hot you couldent touch it. I carefully opened the cap and the water was warm but not super hot.

I checked and the themostat is open and I pulled the water pump off and apart to see if the impeller broke away from the shaft. All was well.

What else could it be? Air pocket? I always fill the block first then put on the water neck then the radiator. I have never had any thing like this happen. I am at a loss.

Thanks for any input,
Richard

Could be the gauge. I've had that happen.

Originally posted by gearheads78:


Sunday I took it to the track and the first pass lost a belt so it got real hot.
The way you are describing this all of you problems happened after you changed the belt. Im sure you checked the belt was tight and the other things so it may be your replacement belt has the wrong pitch for your pulleys and is slipping, even if its tight. Look at the belt for signs of slippage and conpare it to the old belt for pitch. Was the replacement belt the same brand as the old belt? Originally posted by gearheads78:

The top hose was almost so hot you could not touch it yet the bottom hose was warm but not so hot you couldent touch it. I carefully opened the cap and the water was warm but not super hot.
Thanks for any input,
Richard Slow water flow, bad pump or belt slipping. May be something else but I would check this.

this might be a stupid question but is it possible you installed the fan on backwards when working on it?

then all the sudden it pegged the mechanical gauge in about 15 se Originally posted by Pat Kelley:
Could be the gauge. I've had that happen. That was my thought or the sending unit if its electric. Might verify with another guage..

Jack

Easiest way to verify. Get it to operating temp then check it with an infrared therm.

Thanks for the replies so far. The car is getting hot. I will diesel when I shut it off. Its a mechanical gauge not electric. The belt is the same belt and its not slipping. The fan is a themostatic clutch fan and seems to be pulling air fine.

how is your timing and jetting, and have you change them lately?

Thats the thing,. I have not changed anything other than the heads. Timing is 37 total. I can't figure out if something happened on the first pass when it got hot then why was it fine on the second pass? :confused:

Thinking the best.....Try another cap.......I was getting 210-220 while driving and it was my cap......Or put a new stat in that has also happened to me...It will look fine after cooling down but had stuck closed and it got real hot....

Or thinking the worst.... did you hurt a head gasket???

HI Richard, got your voice mail. It sounds like you are having a problem now. Have you checked your timing to see if it has changed? Let me know your progress and if I can help.

You said you changed the heads. Maybe there is a gasket problem. A hole blocked off or something. When the stat opens does it appear that water is flowing through the radiator when you look down inside where the cap would be. If not you could have an air pocket, collapsed hose or a water pump that is not pumping.

If everything is working fine there should be plenty of coolant flow in the radiator.

I think it some how had to have an air pocket. I just did a compression check and it does not seem to be a head gasket. I have one at 180, one at 145 and the rest are between 160 and 170. The 145 is a little low but does not seem to be the cause of my problem. The plugs look good, if anything a tad rich.
I took the back cover off the water pump and it seems to have no visual problem.

I think I am going to put it back together with a new 160 stat that is drilled and see what happens. any other ideas???

You should really check your timing and jetting/plugs, especially with new heads and one more point of compression. They are easy to check and at the very least you eliminate these as possible causes..

Are you using a 400 block?

350 block. Timing and plugs look good. I am going to drop the radiator off to be cleaned out just in case. I guess I will just put it back together after that.

Richard,

I had this happen to me once, and it turned out to be the internal fan in the water pump was slipping. It seemed tight when I took the back plate off, but was not really that tight when you apllied pressure. If you start the car with the Radiator cap off, can you see the water being pushed fast, after the Thremo opens up. My was barely swirling, after the Thremo opened. May not be the problem, but just throught I would throw it in.

Fred.

I just got off the phone with my machinist. He said something that made total since. He asked me if I filled it with water with the front end as high in the air as I can get it with the air out of the back tires. He that the Darts and some other aftermarket heads he has o do this to make sure it is full of water. My car which is lower in the front is ceating a huge air void in the back of the block when I fill it sitting on the ground.

I am going to try that this week end and see what happens.

Originally posted by gearheads78:
with the air out of the back tires. ??? If you want that extra 2", why not just put a jack under the front of the car and give it 2 cranks? Do you really need to flatten your tires to properly fill a radiator and block? Park it on a hill???
Isn't your block angled downwards towards the back anyway in the engine compartment?

Just a thought but ive talked to a few guys that have said that they accedently put the head gasket on backwords and it sealed the water holes and stuff and it kept gettin hot on them...... has the car ran cool once since u put the heads on?????

if nuthing works i would give it a try.....i know it seems like its alot of work but there is no way u can get around it......

Fixed!!

I can't believe it but there was a giant air pocket. This morning I filled it with the car jacked up. The wierdest thing happened. The block was filled to the water neck and was like that about 30 seconds. I was about to put the water housing on and all of the sudden there was a gergle and it was like someone flushed a toilet. The water was gone and I was able to put another gallon in before it was full again.

Drove it around for 10 miles and no heating problems. I also went to the track tonight and made 5 pases including a new best. smile.gif

Originally posted by gearheads78:
Drove it around for 10 miles and no heating problems. I also went to the track tonight and made 5 passes including a new best. smile.gif Now that is a happy ending!