Overheat-Is it my rad or???

[Chris]

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.

Topic

[EricTheCarGuy]

I don’t recommend using RTV on the intake unless the service manual calls for it. They seldom do and if they do, it’s only in certain spots.

You need to be careful installing the distributor. If you get it wrong the ignition timing will be off and it may not start or run right. Hopefully the video helps you with that part of the job.

Stop back and give us an update after you get those bolts installed.

[Chris]

I had to remove the fuel pump as the intake gasket had a gasket for it built in. I have it all back together including the distributor which is sitting dead on the #1 plug. I have not yet put the oil in.
I would recommend to anyone using this post to wait on putting the fuel pump on. You should hook up the hoses to the pump and set it on the bottom of the compartment as the bottom intake bolts are almost impossible to tighten with it in. I did it but its a huge pain.
One of the trades I worked at was welding and waaaay back in 1982 the Army trained me to repair radiators, well I got to try it once. I definitely forgot more than I realised and did more harm than help. I got a new one on order and it should be in on Monday. Hopefully the copper & brass for the OE rad and the heater coil will be worth some money. I also got a another valve cover since I had a crack in the existing one at the PCV valve.
Hopefully Monday afternoon I will be posting how it went when I started it. The shop I went to for the radiator had the spill free funnel but I couldn’t get myself to spend the $40 on it since I have no idea when I might use it again. I’m pretty sure now with the replaced heater and a good water valve it will fill properly.

[Chris]

Rad came in and I had to cut the bottom turn off the existing hose from the WP to the bottom of rad but otherwise fit exactly. In fact it has two connections for engine oil cooling or tranny cooling if I want to hook that up. I drained that quart of oil I had put in and even jacked it up on one side to get as much out as possible before I put the 4 new quarts in.

It started up with a jumper and some carb cleaner as start fluid. Just because it happened to me once, I’ll mention that belt dressing will work for start fluid in a pinch too. It threw a bunch of water out the tail pipe and made valve or lifter noises for a while. I have driven it 35 miles (10 hwy) or so and it is quiet. I do not know if the timing is dead on but it idles nicely.
Weirdly IMO it only took one gallon to fill the rad and a half gallon after I started it. In fact once the thermostat opened and some bubbles ran out several times, it was pushing water out (It looks dirty) with no bubbles for around 5 minutes when I decided to put the cap on. During this time if I revved it the water level dropped but came right back up when I let off the throttle. Temp was at halfway on the temp gauge (new sensor) while filling and when I drove it went down to about 1/3. The heater worked pretty good considering I haven’t been able to find a shroud for this thing yet. Apparently it came with a two piece metal shroud. (maybe there isn’t a direct relationship here?)
How do you drain an entire system so that all the dirty coolant is removed? I figure I’ll put a hundred miles on the oil and run some flush through and change it as long as it has no problems.

[Author]

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