[Sportsroof1970]

I'm getting pretty frustrated, here... what a dumba__ I am.

Over the weekend, I dug into my motor and replaced my hydraulic lifters, thinking they were the source of my engine that shakes and has a random miss at idle, and then is fine above idle. Well, turns out after the job was done, there seems to be no improvement in idle quality. I do still need to go back over the valves and adjust them again just to make sure, but I doubt that's going to really change anything.

So that didn't help my idle quality... big deal. I can deal with that... I'll go back to the drawing board and try to figure out the shake another day... Well, what it did do is make the normal operating temperature rise about 20-30 degrees!!! I used to average between 180-190, even on the hottest days. Today, I had trouble keeping it below 210, and when I pulled into work, I shut it down just as it was getting into the unacceptable range.

The temp will rise incredibly quick at idle, and even after driving on the freeway at like 70 mph (which usually makes it cool down completely) it couldn't get below 200 degrees.

I'm thinking I'll replace the thermostat.. maybe I got some junk in the water ports and have clogged the t-stat or something.

Oh, I used the Fel-pro 1250 gasket (the one with the blue rtv-like stuff already on the intake manifold side. It said in the instructions to cut the water ports to fit. I put them on the heads, and they looked fine as they were. I have the Performer RPM 351W intake, and I remember trying to be careful not to let a gasket go on the wrong side, to prevent a coolant passage from being blocked or something, but I was in a hurry doing this work.

Does anyone know if the Fel-pro gaskets (1250) that you use on engines with aluminum manifolds have a left and right arrangement that I could've screwed up?

I hope I don't have to pull the intake again, that would be another 21.95 for the gasket, not to mention probably another full day's work.

 

[sparky]

Sounds like maybe the head gaskets are on wrong. What about the dizzy?
Is your timing to far advanced or retarded? If it's the gaskets, then $21.95
is cheap insurance. Cheaper than an engine.

 

[66i6]

You checked the obvious things, right. Like coolant level, coolant flow, loose fan belt. Maybe an air block at the water pump. Maybe even a collapsed hose.

Like I said, the obvious things first. It's easy to second guess yourself, just think the symptoms through logically. If you're like me, the 2nd or 3rd time I redo a repair, I get pretty damned fast at it! ;-)

Good luck.

 

[Woodchuck]

I'd check not only your valve adjustment, but also to see if you've possibly jumped timing or have a cross-firing problem caused by routing wires to adjacent cylinders in the firing order close to each other.

Also, re-check your firing order. Having 2 wires swapped may give you your poor idle, but seem to clear up as it may be masked by the higher rpm.

 

[Sportsroof1970]

I didn't take the heads off, so I didn't do anything to the head gaskets. I have checked out the regular stuff, except for the air issue, since I can't really see inside the system to tell if there is air. I was planning on putting a new tstat in and hoping that I would take care of air pocket issues in the process. Don't know how to find them, or how you deal with it even if you know there's air in the system, but I'll take a look. The only thing I've heard is to drill a tiny hole in the upper ring area of the t-stat to let air go through. Thanks for helping...

any other suggestions?

 

[fordnut]

Have you checked your intake to make sure you don't have a leak??? At an idle, spray WD40along the edges of the intake while engine is at idle. See if it speeds up. Also, spray around the carb base. It sounds like a vaccun leak, causing a lean mixture. This would account for the hotter temperatures....Hope this helps.

 

[My427stang]

What are you running for a motor, or better question, rocker arm setup? Havent seen many stock Ford setups that require adjustment. Fights off with roller rockers though, if thats what you have

 

[Sportsroof1970]

351W, roller rockers, edelbrock performer RPM intake, world products heads, mild crane cam.

This engine ran perfectly cool before I messed with it. I've done something that made the temps skyrocket, since the weather hasn't changed enough to make this kind of a difference.

 

[molano65]

something similiar happened to me before, it turned out that there was air trapped somewhere in the cooling sysytem, the problem went away by flushing the system out, and slowly filling it up again.

 

[62sackmonster]

Be sure to burp the cooling system, I had a 71 mach-1 w/351c that use to get air pockets quite easily, if the system was not burped.

 

[mstngjoe]

If you put in a new t-stat, check it first to make sure it is good.

Pan of water on the stove. Turn on the burner. Drop in t-stat. Watch to see the stat is opening as the water heats up. This way, if you still have a over heating problem, you can eliminate the t-stat as the cause.

Make sure the t-stat is correctly installed in the housing too.*G*

 

[66i6]

If you take off your radiator cap with the engine running (be exteremely carefull, ehh) you should see "movement" in the water. IF you had an air block. the water would have little if any movement. You should have pretty good flow (after) the tstat opens up.

I had a Renault Fuego once that gave me fits every time I had to drain the radiator. It was always a challenge to get the air out of the system.

Good luck.

 

[PFloro]

It wouldn't hurt to double check the base timing setting.
Since the distributor had to be removed to pull the IM,
perhaps it's off tooth or it's retarded. This might account
for the hotter idle situation when there is virtually no advance at all.

Good luck...

 

[Guest]

sounds like time to me ,