Runnin' HOT-- under engine pan ?

Hello All,
Thought we were getting something familiar buying a "Falcon" van... Ha! We have joined the merry world of early Vans-- a '67 to be specific.

So, on the way home we noticed the gauge crawling up to the "H" on the hills. After sitting for an hour or so to cool it off we started again and immediately the gauge went back up-- no hill! The radiator fluid was good, we removed the thermostat. Later, with a candy thermometer and a pot of boiling water it checked out fine. Was recommended we replace the under-engine pan to help scoop air into the doghouse. What's your experience with this fellow Vanners?

Secondly, when trying to get the pan back in place we've noticed the oil cooling lines from the automatic transmission (whch normally would plug into the two outlets at the bottom of the radiator-- drain-cocks?) well, on ours, these have been looped together extending out in front of the radiator completely bypassing their usual connection into the radiator. This is a problem as we cannot fit the pan back under the engine with this loop in place. What's your take on this?! And if we remove the loop (there are couplers-- easy on and off) to put things back as they belong, what can we expect, or how, rather, to go about doing it?!

I'm afraid of oil draining out of the transmission oil cooling lines as well as all the radiator fluid draining when I go to reconnect them! Please advise!

Welcome to the site!!! Sounds like other problems a belly pan may not fix. Many other things can cause overheating problems. Sounds someone made the wrong radiator work.

Ok, so what kind of automatic transmission oil cooler is there, where to get them? Where to mount them so that they're not in the way of the belly pan? How to bend the lines (they look like brake lines material, metal tubes) if need be when installing? Any pictures y'all?
Also, more on the electric fans, please!
Thanks~

Here is my tranny cooler right behind pass front tire. A rock gaurd will be added later to help protect the cooler.

The metal tranny lines you just cut to an appropriate length and attach them to rubber lines from the cooler. If you have a flairing tool you could flare the ends a little bit just to help the rubber lines stay on with a hose clamp. There should be little to no pressure in the lines, so hose clamps will be suffice to hold it all together without leaks. The fan is mounted above or below the cooler, it's a matter of preference, and depnds also if you have a pusher fan or a puller fan. The same goes for your radiator for your engine.......

... Here is my 92 taurus fan complete with fuse link from the wrecking yard. Payed $25 bucks for a couple of them. It's a tight fit but it will cool my 350 at 165 degrees. Now keep in mind I have a brand new 3 core copper rad and the fan shroud that is part of the fan covers almost 85% of the radiator. This is all stuffed into my 66 econoline van.

There are better systems in here and I am sure others will chime in soon. Fans on relays and sensors to turn them on and off...Lots of great ideas about all that you are asking about. As for the front pan, I haven't put mine back on yet as there is still a lot for me to do. But right now just driving it around on the dirt roads the heat gauge is staying around 165 without the pan. And that is also at idle as well. The rad fan doesn't no if I am driving or sitting, it just runs on high all the time. I hope this will help get you started on the cooling problems.

[i] do we all consider the fact =that when our vans were new= the belly pans & new clean cooling systems didnt give us any overheation problems?? new Radiators & aftermarket tranny coolers are THE way to go!! Likely we are making more power than the factory ever di @ that time too. Happy Vannin

Big W wrote:Here is my tranny cooler right behind pass front tire. A rock gaurd will be added later to help protect the cooler.

Big W, I was just looking at how you have your trans cooler mounted. I assume it is a puller fan so I am thinking it would be better to have the fan pointed down instead of up where the heat will be trapped.There is a discussion about this on oldeconolines.

I had to take a second look on it Mike, but it has the errow pointing down so I presume I have a pussher. Air flow from top to bottom.

it does appear that way. Here are a couple of pics of vics install. In one you can see an external filter he added which I think is a good Idea.




The cooler I am getting is like vics. I am now wondering if that arrow means to put the fan under the cooler to pull the heat away.

Hmmm... I will have to plug it in to see if the arrow means air flow direction, which is what I thought it meant. Because I want the air to flow away from the floor of the van for sure. I'll get back to ya tomorrow. Thanks for the extra eyes on it...would hate to get everything painted up under there and have to change it all later.

Let me know. I am curious. What kind of cooler did you use.

With regards to transmission coolers, is it possible to over-cool the oil...? Does transmission oil need to be up to a certain temperature like engine oil...?

Good qustion. Probably should ask that on oldeconolines since there are a lot of very knowledgeable people there like Vic who probably can explain in detail. I have heard it should stay around 180 but don't know if that is always true. The cooler I am getting comes with an inline thermostat.

I did research in bearing wear 30 years ago getting my degree
in mechanical engineering. The name of that study
is called "Tribology."

Anyways, yes, definitely it is possible to "overcool"
your lubrication fluid. Excessive wear and inefficiency
are the two main culprits.

I cannot recall the optimum temperature for most gearboxes,
but a good estimate can be derived from the viscosity and
types of friction surfaces within.

A side note. It was found that slightly acidic lubrication
fluids can almost eliminate all bearing wear! however, the
control of the narrow pH range was the difficult factor and we
never pursued it further as I went on to other projects...

SDEconoTruck wrote:I did research in bearing wear 30 years ago getting my degree
in mechanical engineering. The name of that study
is called "Tribology."

Anyways, yes, definitely it is possible to "overcool"
your lubrication fluid. Excessive wear and inefficiency
are the two main culprits.

I cannot recall the optimum temperature for most gearboxes,
but a good estimate can be derived from the viscosity and
types of friction surfaces within.

A side note. It was found that slightly acidic lubrication
fluids can almost eliminate all bearing wear! however, the
control of the narrow pH range was the difficult factor and we
never pursued it further as I went on to other projects...

Thanks for the info.