scooterstang

My problem is in the winter my car does not ever reach operating temperature. Ever. But in the summer it over heats quickly.

I have a ford racing 2 row radiator and a 185 fail safethermostat. I run an 30% coolant to 70% water mix. Any ideas are apprciated.

yellow93lx

It sounds like the thermostat is open. If it does not close the cold water will keep flowing from the radiator thru the engine and never give it a chance to heat up. In the summer the water will keep flowing and not stay in the radiator long enough to cool down. I think the "fail safe" thermostat stays open in the event of a overheat and yours may still be in that position.

getafewlives

Ya Id guess something about thermostat. I think I need to change mine. My car runs too cool. In the winter it takes a while to heat up.

mjr46

[sm=WTFsgign.gif]well that's the first I've ever heard of something like that?...did know t-stats had a fail safe mode......kinda like the enterprise does on star trek........anyway as for your won't reach operating temp in the winter and overheats in the summer......hmmm that's a new one... might have two seperate probs...just deal with the winter time issue now and try replacing t-stat and worry about the summer time prob then!!!

lxman1

Sounds like your thermostat is stuck open, put a 195 back in it and leave it.
As far as overheating in the summer, it could be the fan clutch, waterpump and do you have the fan shroud still on it.

Oh, and yes, they do make a fail-safe thermostat now.

scooterstang

the fail safe thermostat just has a small hole in it so if it ever sticks closed there is still a small flow of water to keep your engine cooler and take more time to overheat.

I have a new radiator, new fan cluth, new thermostat, and yes i still have the shroud

grabbem88

get rid of that fan clutch!...low rpms at idle and i'm sure you run an under drive set-up on it? will cause brief temp increase "if" everything else is in good working order?

i run two elecetric fans 3 core radiator high volume water pump.....with a 160 stat and mine get's warm in the city,but highway,and just cruising it stays at 173* all the time..

you didn't exactly say how hot it gets?..

btw i run no shroud. and i have a hole in my radiator!

so check timing..too much will mess with ya in the summer,but not in the winter
pressure test it make sure you don't have leaks or a slightly blown hg

also i have hot azz mac long tubes so summer gets me there also..

hope this helps a little

onee more thing you might need to put stock pulleys back on and keep the crank pulley.

scooterstang

Right now in the winter the temp guage will almost not move, it only gets to the first notch. In the summer at an idle it will continually climb and climb until i drive again and then the air cools it down.

yes i do run an underdrive on it but i don't see how that would make it run cooler? My timing is only set at 12* and i always run 91 octane. As far as leaks yes i do have a few small ones but i can't tell where its coming from even under a pressure test