Thread: Delayed overheating problem

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Originally Posted by cffisher

WARNING.. those starters from China are not a good thing your better off getting an OEM starter. I have changed out those high tork starter made I china as they have a plastic arm inside to bring the gear in and they open up and quit working. They won't last under hard starting.

Oh great, ok will look into OEM starters. Any reliable mini starters? This one I bought is much smaller than the original, which was an extreme pain to remove with both headers and fuel lines in the way.

If this just started I would check the grounds and your connection at the solenoid.

Originally Posted by NTFDAY

If this just started I would check the grounds and your connection at the solenoid.

It actually happened with the original starter as well, would always fire up cold extremely easy, then once it was hot it would be difficult. If I would go in the store for about 5-10 minutes then come back out it would start pretty easy, but once it's fully warmed up if I shut it off for a second then start it up again, I get the extremely sluggish turn over.

Originally Posted by megamax42

It actually happened with the original starter as well, would always fire up cold extremely easy, then once it was hot it would be difficult. If I would go in the store for about 5-10 minutes then come back out it would start pretty easy, but once it's fully warmed up if I shut it off for a second then start it up again, I get the extremely sluggish turn over.

Too small primary battery cable, poor grounded neg cable, timing issues. Either one or a combination of the three. How far is the battery from the starter?

Originally Posted by NTFDAY

Too small primary battery cable, poor grounded neg cable, timing issues. Either one or a combination of the three. How far is the battery from the starter?

Just checked the cable, it says 4 AWG, which I assume means 4 gauge. I think it's a 45 inch cable. Will look into the grounding cable. Also tried adjusting the timing with the vac gauge, it was a little difficult because the gauge was a little jumpy (which I don't think is normal?). Just uploaded a video of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwoT7qX6j5I

Yes, that's a cheap poppet style thermostat. Summit shows the sleeve style as a "high performance" thermostat. But the local auto parts house will have them also, the last one I bought cost about 8 bucks I think..

I also agree with Mike P., ditch that fan and get a 6 or 7 blade Ford fan and get it as close to 1/2 into the shroud to stop recirculation of the same air.

And lastly, get the timing sorted out. You might be close but how can you know?? Small Chevy's have all the timing parts easily available and cheap enough that there's no real excuse to be guessing. This can affect your temperatures and your cranking to boot.

I don't think that small amount of fluctuation is much too worry about, adjust for the highest reading and back off a tad until you can time it with a light for more accuracy.
4gauge so be plenty large enough if the connections are tight, though that's almost 4 feet of length. Better would be "o" gauge welding cable. I once had a 72 Caddy that had a 4 foot run and that's how I fixed the problem.

Originally Posted by 34_40

Yes, that's a cheap poppet style thermostat. Summit shows the sleeve style as a "high performance" thermostat. But the local auto parts house will have them also, the last one I bought cost about 8 bucks I think..

I also agree with Mike P., ditch that fan and get a 6 or 7 blade Ford fan and get it as close to 1/2 into the shroud to stop recirculation of the same air.

And lastly, get the timing sorted out. You might be close but how can you know?? Small Chevy's have all the timing parts easily available and cheap enough that there's no real excuse to be guessing. This can affect your temperatures and your cranking to boot.

Ok cool, I appreciate it, going to the auto parts store soon. Will also look for timing parts, is it running lean causes the engine to run hotter?

Originally Posted by NTFDAY

I don't think that small amount of fluctuation is much too worry about, adjust for the highest reading and back off a tad until you can time it with a light for more accuracy.
4gauge so be plenty large enough if the connections are tight, though that's almost 4 feet of length. Better would be "o" gauge welding cable. I once had a 72 Caddy that had a 4 foot run and that's how I fixed the problem.

Oh that's a relief, I appreciate the advice. Will look into a bigger cable as well. Would wrapping the headers with heat shield near the starter potentially help as well?


Another side note:
I really opened up a can of worms choosing to work on my car today but I guess it's a good thing to fix everything ASAP. I noticed a lot more water coming out of my right exhaust than my left, I'm slightly terrified of the implications. I took a video of it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgeP...ature=youtu.be

My guess would be a blown head gasket? No signs of oil in the radiator or water in the oil pan though.

Water out the exhaust pipe (at that rate) is nothing to worry about its normal for cold system to do that.

That is such a relief, I really didn't want to change head gasket. Is it normal for it to be coming out only one pipe though? I mean it comes out the other pipe, but in the video you can see it's a couple drops on the ground, whereas on the other side it's more like a puddle.

That fan sure doesn't look far enuff in the shroud to me to be doing "any" good. I have been told in the past that you need at least half of the fan inside the shroud. Can you tell from the front of the radiator if it is really sucking air thru the coils?

Yes, lean mixture runs hot. Get to lean and melt the pistons!

Originally Posted by MelloYello

That fan sure doesn't look far enuff in the shroud to me to be doing "any" good. I have been told in the past that you need at least half of the fan inside the shroud. Can you tell from the front of the radiator if it is really sucking air thru the coils?

Just got back with longer bolts, bolted up the other spacer I had and the fan is further in the shroud about an inch or so.

New problem though, now the fan won't turn when I try to start it up. Is it possible that the bolts I got were too long?

Originally Posted by 34_40

Yes, lean mixture runs hot. Get to lean and melt the pistons!

The thought of that melts my heart, in a very bad way lol.

Originally Posted by megamax42

New problem though, now the fan won't turn when I try to start it up. Is it possible that the bolts I got were too long?

I guess anything's possible but that doesn't sound likely. Do you know how long your bolts and spacer are?

Originally Posted by MelloYello

I guess anything's possible but that doesn't sound likely. Do you know how long your bolts and spacer are?

I thought the spacers were longer but after looking at them they're more like 2.5 inches and .75 inch. I decided to try backing them out and adding two washers (which thankfully I bought earlier anticipating them being too long). When I pulled the bolts out they had orange paint (from the water pump) on the ends so I think they were up against the water pump. When I added washers to all the bolts and started it the fan started turning again. Can't believe I essentially locked the fan in place haha.