Radiator question !

Hey guys,
Wow.. I need some help with my rad..
I'm getting ready to take my van on its first road trip today down thru New England... Everything seemed to be running really good until last night .. I was out picking up some supplies and my radiator started going crazy .
It started blowing steam thru the blow out tube until there was no fluid left.. I don't have a coolant over flow tank on this rad, just the original over flow tube straight to the ground.. I'm thinking it could be a problem with my rad. cap..??
Here is some details..:
- the engine fan is still spinning full power & doing its job.
- the engine isn't particularly hot
- it wasn't hot outside
- we recently opened the rad to check the fluid
- no leaks on the rad or any split hoses

(maybe air got in and combined that with a old rad cap that has bad seals might have caused the steam show?)

Any help or ideas?

Hey Jesse

I'd change the thermostat...
cheap $5 repair
Never know, it could have stuck closed for a small period
and then opened up later.
I've known some women like that!

Jim

Believe we =ALL Have!!- Back from vacation=woopie!! will post fotos later of some vehicle colors we dont get here in usa!1

Jessetygr wrote:Here is some details..:
- the engine fan is still spinning full power & doing its job.
- the engine isn't particularly hot
- it wasn't hot outside
- we recently opened the rad to check the fluid
- no leaks on the rad or any split hoses

I don't think air would have gotten trapped because you had the cap off.

How long had you been driving before it started acting up? Extra load on the engine (e.g., mountains, heavy cargo, driving like a maniac)?

How long had it been since you checked the fluid? You said "recently", but how many miles since then? It's possible that the fluid slowly leaked out of one of the hoses (or out the overflow tube) over a few trips and you wouldn't have noticed... until it was all gone.

Did you check the fan belt? How are you sure it's spinning at full power and doing it's job?

What do you mean by "isn't particularly" hot?

No leaks or split hoses are good... but it sounds to me like maybe the lower hose collapsed. Did you check the hoses while it was still hot, or after it cooled? The hose could collapse while hot and expand again while cool. How do you know there were no leaks if all the coolant was gone?

I drove a car once that had slowly leaked out most/all of its coolant out. I took it for a drive and all was fine... until I came to a stoplight and the temp instantly pegged... until I was moving again. I figured it out quickly. The lower hose clamp had loosened and all the coolant was gone, but there was NO sign of a leak anywhere. I tightened it up, refilled the radiator, and all was good again.

Replace the cap & stat.

Ditto to above- also= if that doesnt fix the problem=?? check hoses for collapsing when running. lower -espically!!

Sounds like the thermostat to me...

Hey guys,
Thanks for all the tips about the rad.
I ended up sidelining the van and jumped in the wife's car.. Hardly as cool but in the end, I got out of the city and made my way down to New England and dropped in for a visit at Fred Carello's shop.. ( a whole other post onits own)

Hellfish, to answer some of your questions...

- It started acting up about 5 miles after the fluid was changed. It started steaming out of the radiator blow-out hose after a few minutes of somewhat normal driving.. ( pretty much as soon as the engine reached normal temp.)

When I said it wasn't particular hot, I mean that the dog house wasn't warmer to the touch than normal, it wasn't a hot day and I was driving on pretty flat roads. The van was empty except for myself so there was no real strain on the engine.

As far as the fan goes, I'm not 100% certain that its running at full revs but from what I can tell, it seems to be doing its job.. The belt seems snug and when I gas it, it's a wind tunnel in the dog house..

I double checked and it doesn't appear the lower hose has collapsed or collapses when hot…

Here's what I did find..
When I closely inspected the rad cap, I found the impression left from the rad. on the lower seal (at the end of the spring) were off centred and almost off the seal. (It seems like the seal wasn't actually.. well, "sealing"!!) This might have caused a breach when I hit a bump or something and once the fluid was under pressure and had a direct escape route thru the overflow hose, it started spraying steam like a Kiss concert! (CAP replaced!)

As I was playing around the rad. trying to figure things out, I did however find a small pin hold in the head of the radiator.. It's just below the machine lip on the front face. It's a super small hole but big enough that I can see small bubbles of fluid coming out when its hot.. I'm not sure if this could be causing the problem but needs to be fixed nonetheless… (a new fork in the road…)

- Should I try and weld/patch this hole or is it smarter to pull it out and replace it?

- A local part shop has a new 65' mustang radiator for a 200c.i straight6 .. It's a good price ( as I'm sure it's beens collecting dust).
I've some threads that say with a few mods to the mounts, it should fit on an econoline but I wanted to see if anyone has done it AND, if I need to get any additional parts to make it all fit. My engine is a 65' 170c.i... ie: any new hardware, do I need new get new larger hoses? etc..

I'm still gonna replace the thermostat. but I figure it might be a good look to work some overtime, grab the new rad and skip crossing this bridge again in a few months if I try and weld it..

Any thoughts?

You can't tell temp by feeling the dog box. What did your gauge read?

I installed a brand new 6cyl Mustang radiator in my '65 Econo when it still had the 170. All I had to do was cut off the mounting flanges, flip them, and weld them onto the other side. Worked great. This was about 5 years ago, but I think the radiator was only about $120 shipped.

Hellfish wrote:You can't tell temp by feeling the dog box.

Haha.. I didn't think the old touch test was too accurate but I'm still learning. Another problem is I recently swamped out my old gauges for some new ones from Classic Instruments and for some reason, the new sender they sent for the temp. is too small and doesn't fit so I'm not getting an accurate reading.. I'm waiting on a new sender to get the gauge to read properly.

Thanks for the tip on the mustang rad.! That's exactly what I'll do then.

I did the mount swap on my radiator. Just take it to a good radiator shop and they can unsolder the mounts from the econo radiator and take them off the mustang radiator and it will fit perfect. I can take pics if need be but it looks so much like a stock one that it may be hard to see. The other plus it the mustang radiator is 3 core instead of 2.

I recently put that mustang radiator on my 61 truck and I paid around $150 for it...Its a spectra cu 1463

My 65 240/6 rad is dead. What Mustang radiator will come closest to mounting with minimal hassle? I did a search . Did not really answer my question.Thanks
Bob

You had air lock if you just changed the rad fluid out ... mine did the same thing a couple of times until it burped the last of the air ... it's ugly to watch but it's been fine since ... like a baby barfing on your shoulder ... lol