Tracey,
You have described fairly normal behavior. The temp always goes up at
engine shut down. Once the engine is shut down, heat from the metal
parts will still transfer into the coolant until equilibrium is
reached, but without the fan turning or coolant circulating, temps as
measured at the probe almost always spike. Mine stays good and hot
for a long time (over an hour).
As for the sand at the freeze plugs - doesn't sound good.
You can straighten the rad fins on some rainy day.
Did you actually check the thermostat action? Put it in a pot of
water with a candy thermometer. Bring to boil. As it gets to the
thermostat rating (160, 180, 190, or whatever) you should see the
thermostat plunger pulling back to open flow.
You can check the temp gauge in a similar fashion by putting the bulb
in a pot with hot water with a candy thermometer. You can pre-boil
the water on the stove and/or use a propane torch on the pot (not on
the temp bulb!). Also, be very careful unscrewing the temp bulb from
the head or radiator. Use lots of Liquid Wrench first. The bulb is
made of glass and will break if you twist the line running from the
bulb to the gauge. The two threaded collars should turn independently
of each other. Lots of Liquid Wrench, Busty, or Kroil.
Jeff
At 4:02 PM -0500 8/20/01, Tracey Converse wrote:
>Okay gang...I've got a problem and can't figure it out. Here goes...my
>precious, little darling AKA The WENCH...is overheating. (Granted I live in
>Arkansas and temp is pushing the mid-90's.) So far, here's what's been
>replaced...
>
>Thermostat
>Fan Clutch
>All hoses are new
>The Radiator has been flushed and seems to be clear, however, the fins on the
>front are in terrible shape.
>The freeze plugs have been pulled out of the motor and a handful of sand
>flushed out.
>
>The temperature does fine now going down the road but skyrockets quickly when
>the motor is turned off. Even idling doesn't seem to cause the rise in
>heat...but once the motor is shut off the temp goes from normal to over 225
>degrees.
>
>Luckily, I haven't blown the head...yet. There are no fluid leaks and I'm not
>losing any water. The motor is still strong and I hate the thought of talking
>my husband into paying for a rebuild.
>
>Ideas???? I need a miracle here in Arkansas!
>
>Tracey
_____________________________________________________________
Jeffrey H. Boatright, PhD
Assistant Professor, Emory Eye Center, Atlanta, GA, USA
Senior Editor, Molecular Vision, http://www.molvis.org/molvis
mailto:jboatri@emory.edu
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