From: Clay Robinson <crobinso@sesky4102b.pl.osd.mil>
| | I have a 1961 Daimler Dart (SP-250) which overheats so much that_
| | it is no pleasure to drive. ............
| | On a hot day (over 90F) you can hear water boiling inside when
| | engine is turned off. ..........
| | Since the car is 31 yrs old could the radiator fins be so covered
| | that they allow too little heat transfer?.......
they could be but I bet that is not the answer.
| | Also the oil pressure at idle when cold is over 30psi and increases
| | upon rev up but once the engine gets hot the idle pressure is almost
| | but not quite nonexistent. Revup (over 2000rpm) when hot gives me 20
| | to 30psi. I use the Mobil 1 15w50 weight.
your oil pressure cold is not great, but it is good enough that I would look
elsewhere for the problem. Your oil pressure hot is bad enough that I would
avoid driving the car 'til you've fixed the problem.
| | QUESTION: Is my little V8 shot?
Probably not. Nothing you have said indicates that it is. Just to eliminate
a few questions though, I would suggest a compression test and a leak down
test. They are cheap and will tell you that you do not have a hole between
your combustion chamber and water jackets( headgasket not blown and no
serious cracks or warps in the head or block)
One possible answer: many 1950s and early 1960s Brit cars (and Volvos)
are supposed to use a special radiator cap. The differance is so subtile
that you have to know it's there and be looking for it to find it. I recently
examined the radiator caps on a half dozen Triumph tr3s only two had the right
cap.
I discoverd the differance on a trip to Death valley about 25 years ago.
I had replaced my functional but beatup 4 lb pressure cap with a shiny new 11 lb
cap before I started the trip. The car boiled over ever 20 miles from Fresno
to Bakersfield. At that point I found the old cap in the trunk. A careful
comparison showed that the height from the locking flange to the rubber seal
is about 1/8 inch deeper on the old British cap then the standard American one.
(the radiator filler neck is about 1/8 deeper but you have to measure it to see
it)
The American one will screw on, and the rubber seal may contact the sealing
surface in the bottom of the radiator filler neck BUT the spring is not
compressed and my new 11 lb cap was functionally a ZERO lb cap.
After putting the old 4 lb cap back on I drove into and accross Death Valley
with no problem. I've seen this simple differance be the answer to heating
problems on quite a few older Brit cars. It's very easy to miss. With out
pressure many of these cars putt around town ok, but if pushed at all they boil
easily and water is more easily lost via the overflow.
I also suggest you add a largish engine oil cooler to your car. It will
contribute a great deal to the solution and to extending your engine life.
good luck
dickn
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