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I have a new water pump and new thermostat I put in when I did the timing belt a few months back. Then I overheated and the head blew. After seeing ETCG video on bleeding coolant I suspect part of the cause was me not checking the coolant level after the initial refill from putting it all back together.
I also suspect the radiator is plugged up. Apparently that head has been bad for a while and the overheat sent it over the edge.Anyway I think I have to take it into a shop for testing but I am asking in case this is something I can check on myself.
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Whatcha driving/ working on here Newtome? It seems that either the temp gauge (if equipped) or warning light on instrument panel would have let you know before it got that hot… If you’re going to take the head off and go to all that work, a few xtra bucks to have it tested at the machine shop may not be a bad idea. Have you confirmed the head/ head gasket is blown?
best of luck
its an 85 Ram 50 100Kmiles. The temp sensor did indicate hot when I noticed it, it was already almost maxed out. I was cruising down the highway and the motor gave no signs until minutes before the overheat. I had just enough time to get off the road.
The head is definitely bad I’ve had it to a shop and they told me it was toast just looking at it. They pointed out the big crack where it failed. I have found a replacement and while I wait for it to arrive I have turned my mind to figuring out whether or not the radiator was bad.
Since I posted I have found a used rad for $45 and its another $20 to test and flow check it but the rad guy said in his opinion just from seeing all the junkyard rads he gets and how many trips people have to make to get a good one, I should just buy new and save myself the gas and aggravation, if that’s my intent.
I think that will have him pressure and flow test the one I have, and go from there. He says the flow test is very subjective according to who is doing the work as it is essentially a matter of eyeballing it.I’d suggest getting the engine back together and fired. If that is a success then pop for a radiator.
Good advice Barney. BTW I took the rad out and it has crusting at places where it was leaking around the seems. So if it runs when its back together I am also going to have to get a new one.
+1 I think you should get the engine sorted out before wording about the radiator. Once you’ve got it back up and running and you’ve purged the air from the cooling system, you should know if you still have issues or not. It is very important you purge the air when you’re done with a job like that. If not, then other issues can crop up.
More info here.
http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/what-to-do-when-your-engine-overheats
Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.
I’m watching the videos and it occurs to me that I may have had air in the system from before the Timing belt change. The heater never worked reliably no matter how hot the motor was the heater always seemed cool. The info in these videos tell me that it is probably air or some defect on the heater core. There is also the matter of a missing fan shroud.
If it runs when it is back together I will be checking out the heater core and looking for a fan shroud too.Fan shrouds are very important to cooling system efficiency. After you get the other issues sorted out and purge the air from the cooling system I suggest you find a replacement for that. A missing fan shroud can also cause an overheat condition.
I’m sitting here waiting for the head which should come today. I have all parts except four intake manifold bolts I ordered at Mitsubishi which come in tomorrow. I am going to put new studs for the manifolds and new head bolts. Hopefully it will be running by noon tomorrow.
The head came and I put it in and torqued it. The fuel pump is bolted up and the exhaust manifold is on.
The cam has a post that sticks out to help it mount on the sprocket./ It was less than 1/16th off and I got the sprocket on and tightened up without letting the belt/zip ties move then did the fuel pump and exhaust manifold. I was closing up as I still need the 4 intake bolts and I noticed the timing mark on the cam is off. I looked closer and the crank mark is off by about the same amount. Now I’m wondering if I screwed up and should have checked if the head/cam was set at TDC. Here is a few pics. I’m hoping the while motor moved in unison and is timed.
A tooth off at the cam is not the same as a tooth off at the crank. Anyway, there is only one way to do this right and that is to make sure all the timing marks line up. Turn your back on a timing belt before it has final tension and it will jump.
Thanks you reminded me that I put a screwdriver in the sprocket and over the top of the head to put the final tightness on the sprocket bolt after I had gotten it fully on and the bolt snugged up flush and that is how I turned it so the motor did turn in unison.
ThanksI’m sure the obvious is being stated here…rotate the engine by hand and make sure those marks still line up… That’s a nice, shiny, new looking head in the picture…hope it turns out well for you newtome.
New engine parts look purdy. Thanks for posting the pics. As others have pointed out, rotate the engine to see if things line up correctly. If they don’t, then reset the timing and recheck.
Keep us posted on how this works out.
I rotated the crank mark back to the spot just that little bit and the cam mark lined up as I expected since I moved it to tighten the cam sprocket bolt.
So I’m on delay because suddenly the guy who ordered the intake bolts “Be here Wednesday!” doesn’t know if they will be in today or tomorrow. I’ve put the valve cover, plugs and wires, top timing belt cover back on.Do I need to use RTV on the intake manifold?
Should I rotate the motor fully before I install the intake and Distributor? Yea you have to remove the distributor to get the intake off on this one.
Oh yea there is a long crack in my distributor cap! its only a few months old. It doesn’t go to the metal parts so I can start it with this one but still its a bummer to have to replace new parts so soon.I want to clean the whole distributor but because I am unfamiliar with them I have just set it down as I pulled it out so that nothing moved. How do I set the distributor so its TDC if I were to move it?
Updating
Today While waiting I tried to solve the heater problem. I discovered the water valve is frozen. I took the heater out and the controls were bad too. Discovered I got ripped off 10 years ago when I paid a shop $275 to clean the heater out*. After much searching and no luck I drove out to the place that as telling me they did not have one. I walked the yard and found one in very good shape. $75 It is installed with new hoses.
* When I took it out it was too rusted up for that shop to have taken it apart and done what they claimed they did and the core was coated in an inch of nest materiel! I expect the line about there being holes in it was to cover themselves for the lack of heat.
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Found this video which shows the distributor install at about 13 minutes. Funny I forgot about it since that was the video that most helped me do the timing and balancer belt on this rig a few months ago. That’s what my motor would look like if I felt like dumping a lot of money this thing but since the body isn’t great I just like to keep it running right.When I did it the round spot on the tines on his was what looked like a center punch mark on one of the tines on mine. I marked it with silver sharpie. I don’t expect to see it again though. Went right in as shwon and the rotor lined up on number one plug in the cap.
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