ruskiegunlover

So I am likely buying a red 91 5.0 hatch tonight. Guy has 500 bucks of parts, weatherstripping, new headlights, etc. Guy had subframe connecters welded into it, had a lot of work done on it. HE installed a new water pump.....

Test driving it the other day on the highway I noticed the car running hot. Needle was towards the top of 'normal'.....My old 91' even in 100+ weather did not run THAT hot. This was 80. Guy says he put a 195 degree thermostat in it, along with the new water pump. After I drove it, radiator fluid was leaking under the thermostat housing, so he replaced the thermostat gasket but then said it looked like one of the hot water hoses going to the heater core had rested up against the serp belt, wearing a small hole in it, which allowed it to leak and thus run hot.

I am worried though. Brother in law told me there is a second type of water pump sometimes mistakenly put on these 5.0's that pumps the opposite direction, and that sometimes when installed in a 5.0 mustang it can cause the car to run hot. I am really not wanting to put a water pump in it immediatly......What do you guys think?

rmodel65

remove the radiator cap and check to see if it looks like a milk shake in there and also remove the oil cap and see if it looks like a milkshake in the pan..,

with the radiator cap off start the car and see if it pushes water out(like the combustion chamber gas are making it into the cooling system)

ruskiegunlover

As in, blown head gasket? That would cause the water to flow out? What if the water is still green and normal, but still flows....? I thought with the water pump turning it would still flow.....

Plus, the leaking fluid was still green. Did not look like a milkshake.....


Oh, and thanks for the advice.....

mattdel

The OE water pump style is reverse rotation(as in, spins the opposite way of the crank). Standard rotation is available, but you'd have to go out of your way to get it. If he walked into an autozone and asked for a pump, he got reverse rotation. It's likely overheating a tad bit because of the air being introduced into the system via the leak. Fix any and all leaks, then it should be good.

ruskiegunlover

Awesome. Haven't bought it yet, but pumped about it. WANT to buy it....He already has replaced the hose with the hole, and is going to burp the radiator when he gets off work, then drive it out to meet me. I am going to drive it again, one final time, then hopefully buy it.

I believe that if the radiator fluid is bright green that it would NOT have a blown gasket right? At least not one that is allowing combustion chamber gases into the fluid right?


Also, it has the sunroof. How bad to those things leak? It looks tight, and he has spare weather stripping for it....

mattdel

It could still be blown without changing the color of the fluid. The only real way to know without taking it apart is to do a hydrocarbon test of the fluid. Napa sells the test strips, but they tend to only come in multi packs for mechanics.

As far as the sunroof goes, there are 4 drainage holes at the corners of the glass, underneath. They can get clogged kinda easily over time, especially if it's been parked under trees, etc. They're easy to clear out though, with a long stiff wire, coat hanger, something like that... and some compressed air.

ruskiegunlover

Oh, car does not smoke at all either.