Thread: overheat! or not???

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hey guys im new here i have a question about my 352 fe it is rebuilt pritty strong cam intake etc i was wondering what normal coolent temp is on and fe it run 210-220 all the time no matter what i do is this ok some people say this is normal some say no way i have tried big aluminum rad elec fans does not seem to change my engine guy looked at it as well and said its ok thought i would ask the pros how hot is too hot on a fe and when to shut down also any tips too cooler running would be great thank either way and God bles

what thermostat do you have????

Originally Posted by 61galaxiefe

hey guys im new here i have a question about my 352 fe it is rebuilt pritty strong cam intake etc i was wondering what normal coolent temp is on and fe it run 210-220 all the time no matter what i do is this ok some people say this is normal some say no way i have tried big aluminum rad elec fans does not seem to change my engine guy looked at it as well and said its ok thought i would ask the pros how hot is too hot on a fe and when to shut down also any tips too cooler running would be great thank either way and God bles

Welcome to CHR. If your radiator is sized right and shrouded right then your temperature is going to be controlled by the thermostat, within the accuracy of the particular stat. Also your coolant temp indication is going to depend on the location of your gauge sending unit. What temperature t-stat are you running? Where is your gauge sending unit mounted? If it is consistent at 210-220F it sounds like it's fine.

yep its 210-220 all the time it got to 225-230 one time but itwas super hot out i have tried a 160 180 and no stat does not change anything with no stat it takes longer to get hot but then i think it wants to get hoter i was going to try a high flow pump but some say that could make it worse thank you again.oh and my guage is a mechanical and its in the top of the manafold stock location.

Cooling is one of those subjects that we all talk about a lot, but there seems to be no truly clear cut answer. I'm very old fashioned, I like my cars to stay at 180 and any time they go above 200 I get very nervous. But my daily driver runs at 206-210 and the dealership tells me that is normal, they said "when it gets to 230 you have a problem !" And that engine is aluminum, so I guess those temps aren't all that high by todays standards.

If you car was mine I would be concerned at that constant 210-220 temp, but for the reasons I mentioned above. What is it in? Do you have a shroud on the radiator? You mention electric fans, what brand ? Pullers or pushers?

Don

how good is your radiator .. ?

61 ford galaxie auto trans p/s and a/c 352fe be cool oversized aluminum radiator 2250cfm pro comp 16'' fan no shroud. I guess what you would call and rv cam (i dont remember the specs) new speed pro pistons .030 over 390 heads msd 6a and ignition, edel intake and carb 2 1/4'' exhauts equalizer pipe and glass paks. I made sure the timing is not retarded and the head gaskets are on correct the engine only has about 50 2 100 miles on it since the rebuild could i just be battleing a tite engine? Thank you abain

61 ford galaxie 352 fe oversized becool radiator 2250cfm procomp puller fan no shroud i was going to build one figured it could not hurt?

Originally Posted by 61galaxiefe

the engine only has about 50 2 100 miles on it since the rebuild could i just be battleing a tite engine? Thank you abain

yeah .. let it loosen up a bit

Originally Posted by 61galaxiefe

61 ford galaxie 352 fe oversized becool radiator 2250cfm procomp puller fan no shroud i was going to build one figured it could not hurt?

Getting the engine loosened up will probably help, but you really have to have a shroud for that fan to work, otherwise it will pull from the path of least resistance which is around the edges of the fan, not through the radiator core. Mine is a simple piece of flat aluminum with a 16" hole for the fan and the four edges turned down an inch to mount to the radiator sides.

Double Post -

How did you "make sure the head gaskets were on correct"? I was going to suggest that one might be on backwards, but you say you checked. Did you pull the heads?
50 to 100 miles, it could just be tight. As long as it isn't blowing water out of the rad, drive it some more and loosen it up. Get it out on the open highway, let the breeze get at it! Town driving will kill many a big old V8 in hot weather.

ok i will see if it gets better thanks

I also agree about the engine needing to break in a bit more, but also have a question.

Have you verified the your temperature guage is correct. It's not uncommon for a gauge to be off sometimes by a LOT. The easy way to check would be with one of the infrared temperatue guns. When checking the gauge I normally test 2 places, the thermostat housing where the coolant leaves the engine and directly on the sending unit where it screws into the engine.

My recently completed El Camino is a good example. I broke the cam in and got some run time on the engine in the shop with a known good mechanical temp gauge on it. When I hooked up the factory temp gauge it read a lot hotter so I checked with the IR temp gun. Turns out the factory setup reads 30 degrees hotter than the engine actually is.

Yep I removed the factory sending unit and installed a Mec gauge and unit and also checked it with a thermometer in the radiator still 200-220 area