Thread: Overheating Mystery

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Originally Posted by 36 sedan

LOL, I was thinking the same thing! And once you get the cooling system flushed enough the real symptom will show up.

Did you think that the radiator had stop leak in it? I hadn't thought of that....and now that you mention it, that radiator was older, so maybe a mechanic or someone added stop leak to it and forgot to flush it......Now Im thinking what more shit would that have clogged up having sat like that for so long. One thing I don't know is how small any of the water passages are in this engine, and I can imagine that if small like a pencil, those could easily clog up with rust and chunks from the deteriating radiator I removed. Thoughts?

My better judgement tells me to refrain, and I certainly don’t want to hurt anyones feeling or come off as a know it all or bully again. I have been down this rabbit hole before.
So in the spirit of answering your question as it pertains to my own experience (which may or may not apply to yours). My symptoms were like yours; tried several new thermostats, new fans, new water pumps (even high flow pumps), flushed motor and had radiator boiled out at a radiator shop, even installed a new radiator, tried different types and ratios of anti-freeze, even straight water yet no difference. I had resigned myself to drive it in cool weather only.
One cold winter morning I decided to take a little cruise in the cool weather, started it up and ran for about 30 seconds then suddenly started spewing smoke everywhere, it was a real James Bond moment. The exhaust smoke had this familiar smell to it, but I could not place it, for some reason I decided to look in the radiator and as I released the cap pressure came out, way too much pressure for 30 seconds. The ahhh moment when I remember what burning antifreeze smells like. Previous owner had doctored a leaking head gasket with stop leak, all the flushing I did finally made it let go.

Originally Posted by 36 sedan

My better judgement tells me to refrain, and I certainly don’t want to hurt anyones feeling or come off as a know it all or bully again. I have been down this rabbit hole before.
So in the spirit of answering your question as it pertains to my own experience (which may or may not apply to yours). My symptoms were like yours; tried several new thermostats, new fans, new water pumps (even high flow pumps), flushed motor and had radiator boiled out at a radiator shop, even installed a new radiator, tried different types and ratios of anti-freeze, even straight water yet no difference. I had resigned myself to drive it in cool weather only.
One cold winter morning I decided to take a little cruise in the cool weather, started it up and ran for about 30 seconds then suddenly started spewing smoke everywhere, it was a real James Bond moment. The exhaust smoke had this familiar smell to it, but I could not place it, for some reason I decided to look in the radiator and as I released the cap pressure came out, way too much pressure for 30 seconds. The ahhh moment when I remember what burning antifreeze smells like. Previous owner had doctored a leaking head gasket with stop leak, all the flushing I did finally made it let go.

First of all, thanks for your comments. I am confused why you thought it better to refrain when your experience had such similarities to my situation. Your experience is exactly what I am looking for.

Thanks to you and others, we have noted that the radiator very well could have had stop-leak left inside it. You think maybe that the reason for the stop leak was for a head gasket? I only pause because I know the freshness of the engine and don't believe that could or would have happened without my cousin telling me, unless his mechanic did this as a band-aid and never told him. I guess anything is possible. My cousin is not mechanical and relied 100% on his mechanics. I figure the radiator might have had a leak, and the stop-leak was forgotten. Question is now, why does it overheat? Is it possible I have a head gasket problem that is causing the overheating? How would that work without showing water in the oil, or any smoke coming out the pipes?

I did run the car tonight as suggested earlier to check on the exhaust system, and see if the pressure was any different coming out one side or the other. I did feel a slight difference actually. I started the car after setting the choke, and put my hand over each tail pipe, and although I did notice a difference in pressure, it was not significant. I was hoping for more of a noticable difference. I would say 10-15 percent less pressure on one side. I think the two sides are set up the same way....both have headers and both have turbo flow mufflers. Maybe one side has a bad muffler? Other than the possible rat or frog (lol) being stuck in one pipe which I can't imagine would slow much flow down, what could this be or is there a pressure test to see if the exhaust is causing this problem of overheating? Or are we settling on stop-leak as the culprit and the engine needs to be opened up? Heads off and dealt with?