nothing runs

[fordman]

i have been trying to fix up so i can sell and or drive some of my vehicles without them breaking down rattling shuddering lumping tires loose push rod rattles all this year. and i cant get one of these mother fer's completely fixed long enough to do sheat. i am fing tired of it. no it is not the nature of them either. they are just junk thats all.

[hazelnut]

Sounds like it time for you to rotate you stock.

[fordman]

that what i said i was tring to do.

[hazelnut]

I was just playing with you. my truck has been in the same spot so long im hoping it dosent pull up the asphalt when it moves again.

[fordman]

rants should never get playing. and i do know what you mean.
i sat out there and refilled the one truck after it cooled down with antifreeze. then the battery cables i had just fixed a couple of days ago came loose some how. and then the junky jumper cable that were suppose ot be better than what i had were junk. so i dug out my old supposed bad cables and it started right up. i then let it run to charge the battery. and what happens? the mother fer got hot again. for no reason. new thermostat. fan belt on correctly. it sucks it doesn't blow. no bubbles in the radiator. there is nothing wrong with this truck other than it wants to sit here and be in my way. the truck is so close to selling if i could get the battery bull to stop and the overheating figured out. it would be gone by now. spring selling season is over. i missed it again this year because this mother fer wont stop acting up for no reason. then my stupid wife didn't tell me the day it happened to her car but the brakes were making a grinding sound i found out myself. i removed all the wheels inspected the brakes and all pads were good. so now i have to figure out what the F could be causing a brake grinding noise. and the tires we bought one of them has a lump in it. and i cant feel which one it is. so the car can only go so fast because of this. and then i have three other trucks that all have problems when yo u drive them. and i don't dare try to fix them or something else will break on them. when was i suppose to have time to mow the grass or work on my bumps? 2 hours on a saturday night? i dont think so.

[papabug71]

Has the motor in the truck been bored out that you know of ? I know I had a buddy that bored a 302 out to the max, .060 ? .070? Something crazy like that & it would over heat real quick. The only way he got around it was to run it without a T stat. That being said it didnt last too long & it cracked a cylinder wall & pretty much sh*t the bed.

Even the guys at the machine shop said he was wasting his time & money. . . .

[fordman]

its stock. i has to be a cracked head or bad gasket. i just cant prove it. if it isnt i dont know what it is then. i dont think it could be the radiator but i guess it could. i know it was just sitting and not moving so air flow was definetly a factor. if i had a nice day to mess with this truck and this truck alone i could accomplish more i guess. but shouldnt the fan and shroud pull enough that at idle it wouldn't get hot like that?

[basketcase0302]

shouldnt the fan and shroud pull enough that at idle it wouldn't get hot like that?

Yes it should Craig. Been 95+ every day here for weeks with me running the "little 302" for a few hours at a time. So far no heating isues.
Do you have a pressure tester to hook-up to the coolant side of the engine?

I hear ya' about the full day to work on the truck...
Seems those are the only days I can ever get anything done on mine anymore!

[pltmgr]

please don;t get too discouraged - you are too helpful and valuable to this website. I don't have any technical answers, or philosophical. EVERYTHING is in a constant state of deterioration and the more stuff you have the more stuff breaks. Hang in there. Because of your knowledge and experience you will prevail over any piece of "junk".

[cep62]

but shouldnt the fan and shroud pull enough that at idle it wouldn't get hot like that?

I don't know about your area but up in the salt belt you can have a good looking radiator that doesn't cool because the cooling fins lost contact with the tubes, so it cant transmit heat.
If you can pull them out easy that might be one of your problems.
Or the tubes could be plugged inside.

[papabug71]

The fan with a shroud should pull more than enough air to keep a stock engine cool. I could idle my truck in the 100* heat all day & it would never move past 190*.

I bet the old radiator is gummed up. I have seen a bad reman water pump do what you're talking about. Something about the wrong impeller or something like that.

[fordman]

i am seriously thinking about pulling and swapping the whole engine. or atleast the whole head maybe. i don't know. there is a truck at the junkyard that just came in that has a new head gasket under it. and the head had been painted black with a purple valve cover. if that head has been rebuilt. it would be good to swap onto my engine. if my engine was good and it didnt have a bad cylinder or a bad piston. so far i have to move to soemthign else. i may pull that other head tomorrow to see what it looks like.

[cep62]

I have seen a bad reman water pump do what you're talking about. Something about the wrong impeller or something like that.

I've seen a neglected engine with the water pump impeller corroded away.
It would overheat for no "apparent" reason.

Also some have a reverse rotation pump made for serp belts.

[fordman]

yes this is the reverse serpetine water pump. thats why i said the belt wwas on right. and i didnt think of the pump being bad though. i guess if it isnt circulating that would be the way to tell. but i was sure it was last tiem i had it running and checking it.

[fordman]

i refilled bottle the radiator and the overflow tank. it took 1 1/2 gallons of water to completely fill both of them. and that was while it was running i had to add to make 1 1/2 gallons. so the air was out i think. so after it not getting hot with the cap off i decided to put the cap on. i messed around the yard. for 15 minutes. i then checked it. the overflow was still full and cold. the radiator wasn't pressurized so i took the cap off the water was low. i spilled a lot but i think i poured out including spillage about/4 gallon. went back inside with the cap on. ate a frozen pizza. 15 more minutes went by doing that. went back out and the overflow was unchanged. i started to take the cap off and it finally had some pressure. but not a hot spewing pressure just a hot warm expansion pressure. so i put the cap back on and came inhere to report the progress. i am going back out in a few before i click submit. so it looks like it was actually almost an hour it has been running and it isn't hot and overflowing or doing anything crazy. now the next time i start the truck it may get hot again i don't know it has been doing this to me off and on now for a few months. but everything should all be correct. unless it is burning water i can see no leaks. the exhaust is clear. no color to it. so what could be wrong. my thoughts are bad thermostat. that is what i would usually tell someone. sometimes it is working and sometimes it isnt. what do you think?