I have a 1965 mustang with a 289. recently I've been having troubles with it overheating very very badly. i don't know a lot about cars so i'm asking for your help. i tried replacing the thermostat. didn't help. i tried replacing the water pump. didn't help. i tried replacing the radiator hoses. that, too, didn't help. the radiator is still a pretty new radiator so it can't be that, either. any ideas???

 

rev it up and see if ei9ther one of the large radiator hoses are collapsing

 

check your oil too while your at it and look for water separation (if you see water in the oil, could be head gaskets = oh crap)

 

niether of those seem to be the problem. revved it up, and everything appears as normal. hoses aren't collapsing at all. my dad mentioned something about the water in the oil as you did and i've been checking that frequently whenever i drive it and there's only oil on the dipstick. anything else?

 

Cheap and easy, radiator cap. If it isn't holding the proper pressure, you won't get adequate cooling. Are you losing coolant?

Also if you start the car with the radiator cap off, do you see bubbles rising up in the radiator, white smoke (lots of water vapor) in the exhaust? Checking for hydrocarbons in the coolant would be the scientific way to check. Once again pray that this isn't the case.

 

replaced the radiator cap already. i lose coolant after it overheats all crazy and i shut off the engine. there's lots of blue smoke in the exhaust. i'll have to try starting it up without the radiator cap tomorrow morning and i'll get back to you all. my uncle also suggested just removing the thermostat... what do you all think?

 

Removing the thermostat will not make a car run cooler... an in your case, you have something wrong... i would double check.. is your thermostat installed correctly? Double check... is it flipped over... wrong side down??? Just a thought....

 

yeah dont remove it! just make sure it in the right way

 

The long nose and spring go into the thermostat housing (engine). Just make sure it is in correctly. You may also have air in your system. Burp the system.

 

How long does it take to overheat? IF it overheats fairly rapidly, Id suspect a headgasket. Also, remove the radiator, take it to a radiator shop and have them recondition it. It costs about $25-45 bux (depending on the shop), they pressure test it, fix anything thats wrong with it. Does your radiator have all the fins in place? I had a similar overheating problem when the bottom 4 rows of fins rotted out. They were cover by my fan shroud so I couldnt see em. I got a new rad, took care of the prob.
Also, what temp thermostat did you install? You might wanna try a 180*.
-P.