MOPAR19 70 A100 TRADESMAN V8

Hello
Cedric from France
Sorry for my english
Last year, I bought a 70 A100 v8 tradesman  ( van is in France now)
I was the van from a member playnpossum.
It spents its life as a military and a fire truck.
It needs works (some rust on the left side but not very bad)
Actually my problem is because it runs too hot . I checked with another gauge and sender and same thing
95°c = 205 °
So what's the problem ? Water pump ? Thermostat?
Thanks for your help

Combination of age, corrosion. Is timing correct (incorrect timing will make it run hotter) In order cheapest (bandaids @ 1&2)

1. Thermostat
2. Flush cooling system/ new coolant.
3. Water pump
4. Recore radiator

Good luck...JM2C...I could be wrong...Ha

Another thing to chk is the bottom panel in place? This acts as a duct to move air from the front to the radiator.

Yes the bottom panel is in place.
What's the timing for the 318LA?
Thanks

1st today's gas is not the same as 1970
2nd once you set the timing you want to use a vacuum Gage to fine tune the timing.
3rd is there still a shroud on the van
4th the water pump on these were a longer shaft to get the blade closer to the rad, it could have the wrong water pump as well as every thing space truckin mentioned can you post some photos of the engine bay and exhaust

Do you have a temperature gun to see if there are cold spots on the radiator or feel for cold spots telling you that some tubes are plugged and not doing their jobs or have a radiator shop flow test it to see if tubes are clogged,,,,,without a good working radiator, you are done for,,,,,

still the shroud
I have a temp gun so I can check the radiator

pics

Welcome & congrats to another A100 in Europe

Re Timing: I'd start with 10° BTC and then fine tune with a vacuum gauge as mentioned above (that's what my 318 is getting right now)

My guess on the water pump is - that's not original; if I remember correctly, the 318 we have, has a aluminium waterpump housing, your's looks like its cast iron? But I'm not sure when they changed it and if that's an issue at all.

First and easiest thing to check is the thermostat (two bolts and a new gasket).

69 wrote:Welcome & congrats to another A100 in Europe

Re Timing: I'd start with 10° BTC and then fine tune with a vacuum gauge as mentioned above (that's what my 318 is getting right now)

My guess on the water pump is - that's not original; if I remember correctly, the 318 we have, has a aluminium waterpump housing, your's looks like its cast iron? But I'm not sure when they changed it and if that's an issue at all.

First and easiest thing to check is the thermostat (two bolts and a new gasket).

the cast iron water pump is more than likely correct. the one shown in the pic has the lower rad hose on the opposite side of the aluminum ones. in reference to the vacuum gauge use to set the timing, I know of 6 degrees AFTER top dead center as a known timing setting for older 318's.be sure the vacuum advance unit on the distributor is working as well. if it isn't there will be performance issues and they can cause overheating issues. also just make sure the fan blade is pulling air through the rad it could be easy to install it backwards and that's a big problem. there should be a strong flow of air through it. the tighter the doghouse is the more air that will flow through the rad so the bellypan is needed to direct air up the front and through the rad. good luck.

i don't see a shroud around the radiator ,

dix wrote:i don't see a shroud around the radiator ,

If you look close at the first picture of the fan blade. You can see the shroud , just above the lower rad hose.

What temp thermostat you got. By the way you can also get high flow thermostats. Which can improve coolant flow.

My '65 273v8 runs at about 160-180F as its preferred temp range if Im driving down the road with ambient outside temps in the 60-80F range.

If it's 90F+ and Im stuck in traffic it'll easily climb over 200F for an engine temp if I don't get moving. That's a side effect of the engine being in a box with terrible airflow.

If your engine is shooting up to 205F as a running temp something is wrong.

I'd remove the radiator cap, start the van and let it come to running temp and see if the coolant is moving well enough after the thermostat opens. Be careful, if you rev the engine it'll spit hot coolant everywhere.

In your case I'd swap the T-stat to a 160F or so and check the water pump flow and go from there, 200F is not normal for an average temp.

On a side note, my carb will boil if my engine box temps start getting over 200 for a sustained period so I'll avoid it at all costs.

I run a 180 thermostat in mine. around here that's not a big problem. it will climb to 200 - 210 in stop and go traffic and by times higher. one thing that helped about 10-15 degrees believe it or not was I drilled 4, 1/8 holes in the metal flange around the thermostat. it just lets a little more coolant flow but not to much. I tried a moroso "washer" but it actually overheated with one of them in it. they do NEED a thermostat to be efficient. and that was the 318 not the 360 in there now.
another thing is sometimes people remove their heater hoses and cap the ends off. in 1/4 blasts that is fine but the design is for the hotter coolant from the engine to go to the heater core. if they are capped off just loop the two ends with a piece of hose. it will circulate better inside the engine.

i'm running 160. my biggest change was changing from factory exhaust manifold to shortie ceramic coated street rod headers

Nice A100 you got there, buddy. It needs work but it's worth your while. Looking forward to more update.

jkr wrote:

69 wrote:Welcome & congrats to another A100 in Europe

Re Timing: I'd start with 10° BTC and then fine tune with a vacuum gauge as mentioned above (that's what my 318 is getting right now)

I know of 6 degrees AFTER top dead center as a known timing setting for older 318's.be sure the vacuum advance unit on the distributor is working as well. if it isn't there will be performance issues and they can cause overheating issues.

Service manual says 0° TDC. Today's gas is much better than back in the times. That means, you can put earlier timing. You'd get much better performance and mileage. I personally would never put a 318 after TDC. If you get detonation at heavy acceleration, retard the timing just enough to avoid detonation.

Thanks for your help.
I checked the fan blade and it's ok ( from the radiator to the motor)
I will check the radiator with a temp gun and the thermostat and let you know

I checked the radiator with a temp gun and it was ok.
So finally I fund a 195F thermostat. I swapped with a 160F and now the gauge temp is in the middle. It's good but
I will check the timing too

after 4 months it works better but sometimes it runs hot .
This week end, I changed the rear diff move autolock 3.91 to a standart 2.76 and I prefer. Less noise , better MPG ( and in europe gazoline is very expensive) and performances are still correct .