What now......

[LeDevil]

I went out and started my car today I let it get to normal temp, I drove down the street maybe half a block and it got with in a quarter inch of the red on the stock temp gauge in a 510. I pulled over let it idle and it dropped down to normal. I turned around and drove home and it did it again. It only starts to get HOTT when I drive? What would cause this? I let the car idle for 25-30 minutes in my garage after I got home and it didn't get past the normal/middle of my gauge. It has plenty of coolant, car has the stock 510 l16 fan so no clutch and it works fine.

[Skib]

add more anti-freeze non the less, just to be sure. i had the same thing happen on the Z when all the snow started on the way home from HughDogZ's house.

 

get pure antifreeze and not the 50/50 mix and just add that to what you have in there now

[LeDevil]

It is and it is completely full

[Skib]

thermostat?

 

the front of your grill or radiator isnt frozen is it?

[LeDevil]

Nope nice and dry and thermostat is new

[Duke]

What condition is the radiator in? Are all the fins in good shape? Have you flushed the radiator and block? Also, is the mechanical advance for the distirbutor working? If the dizzy is not advancing a high RPM the car can run hot.

 

Another thing to try would be to see if turning the heater on makes a difference in how hot the car runs.

[Icehouse]

Yeah run it with the heater on, feel the heater and the low rad hose after it gets into the "hot" zone, maybe the gauge is on the frizt.

[Cuts metal like mad]

Your NOT supposed to run PURE antifreeze!! THAT will make it run hot... you should never run more than 70% antifreeze. Water is what "cools" the engine, NOT antifreeze... when the bottle says, antifreeze/coolant 50/50 its half antifreeze, half water.

[LeDevil]

Duke: Radiator is good has a couple fins here and there that are bent, I have flushed the engine and block. As for the dizzy thing car seems to run fine at higher Rpms. Little hesitant some times but I have a feeling my carb needs rebuilt. Just in case how do I tell if the Mechanical Advance is messed up? If it was messed up the car should run like crap at higher Rpms right?

 

Ichouse: The heater you can feel get hotter when the car starts to get hotter, the lower hose gets real hott after I drive it

 

Zuum: I'd say I have about a 60/65 mixture, I re read my previous post and I see it seems I said yea its pure I meant yea it's mixed.

 

 

Thanks for all the help guys

[Llittle_Llama]

yeah, pure antifreeze FTL, antifreeze only thickens it so it doesn't freeze ( i know thats not the technical term) and the water cools.... cool as ice... like this guy:

[Skib]

Your NOT supposed to run PURE antifreeze!! THAT will make it run hot... you should never run more than 70% antifreeze. Water is what "cools" the engine, NOT antifreeze... when the bottle says, antifreeze/coolant 50/50 its half antifreeze, half water.

 

i was telling him to add it to the water thats already in there, not run %100 antifreeze

[Llittle_Llama]

i was telling him to add it to the water thats already in there, not run %100 antifreeze

 

i knew that, i was just saying in case someone else thought differently, lol and yes i know you didnt quote me, just saying :D

[Duke]

The easiest way to check if the distributor is advancing in to just hook up a timing light and give the motor a few rev's and see if the timing mark moves. It should move a good amount (about 25-30 degree's total advance if I remember correctly). If it doesn't advance, the car will still run ok at high rpm, it will just be down on power and tend to run a little hot. While your at it make sure that your car is timed to spec at idle.

[LeDevil]

No worries Skib I understood you

[LeDevil]

Duke: Do you know how to rebuild the Mechanical Advance or know of a link where it will show me just in case?

[Lozer]

How about a plugged coolant passage!

or you could be running too lean (more likely)

[datzenmike]

Too lean runs like crap and the plugs have bright white insulators below the tip.

[slodat]

It's not hard to disassemble the distributor and clean everything up. Lube it all and reverse.

[fastdadd]

if you take the rad cap off when and let the car warm up when the t-stat opens the water in the rad will start to flow...at least you will know if the passages are pluged or not

[LeDevil]

Lozer, Datzenmike: Car runs like crap when it's cold btu thats because the previous owner removed all the choke assembly off the Weber but once warm runs great.

 

Slodat: By chance you knwo what I need to lube it up with any thing specific?

 

Fastdadd: Yea once the Car is warm and if I remove the cap I can see the coolant streaming along nicely.

 

 

This may be dumb but a Fan shroud wouldn't just start to affect this would it? The car has never had one on it. I thought I would ask?

[slodat]

I'd use a couple dabs of grease. Whatever is handy.

 

Is your fan belt tight?

[Duke]

The fan shroud would only have an affect on low speed stuff, where the fan is doing most of the cooling, so it wouldn't cause the problem that you are having.

 

In regards to the mechanical advance, once you disassemble the dizzy, you will see two small weights connected to springs that move outward as the dizzy shaft turns faster. Just make sure these weights move easily, as I have had mine get caught up and not let the timing advance a higher rpm, causing the problem that you are describing.

 

Its just a thought. Personally I wouldn't trust the stock temp gauge very much, and would recomend a good auxilliary one so you really know whats going on.

[LeDevil]

Slodat: Yea the belt is tight I just replaced it probably 4 days ago

 

Duke: I guess I'll go yank the Dizzy off the car and start cleanign it up and see if those weights move freely or not.

 

 

Thanks again guys I'll keep you all posted

[DISLEXICDIME]

is it running lean ? is the water pump good? is it flowing through the heater and not the rad? around 3 quarters of the gauge was normal for my car be for I stole steves fan shroud and moded my thermo stat when i putt in my new engine

 

pull the valve cover off and make sure you don't have milky build up in side i blew a head gasket once and caught it just in time be for it blew all the way. when i looked at the oil in the dip stick it did not look creamy.

you could always take the hermo stat out and see what it do's gaskets are only 2 bucks.

[Lozer]

Ok i think i know whats up! If you just changed your belt a couple days ago and this just started to happen. THEN you over tightend your belt and the bearing in the water pump went bye bye. Ive had the impeller seperate from the bearing assemble in a old 2002 bmw i had it drove me nuts for a day or 2 till i played with the pully and felt the slop.