Overheating need help!

[89ford]

Hey guys I have a problem with my truck haha well it keeps overheating like the thermostat isn't opening I've replaced it with a new one but I'm not sure if its in the right way can anyone give me some help? I tried squeezing the hose to see if its letting water through but its not anything else I could look for? water pump?

 

[CurtIDI94turbo]

I don’t know if its possible to install a thermostat upside down on a IDI, some other Fords you can (found out the hard way). Did you install it point up or down and if you still have the old one throw it in a pot of boiling water to see if it opens.

 

[Silver Burner]

Take the T-stat out and see if the truck still heats up. Might be a bad water pump

 

[icanfixall]

Don't try to run these engines without a thermostat. They will bypass the radiater and not cool properly. Under the thermostat in the block is the bypass hole. When the stat is open it travels downward and block off the hole. The copper end of the factory only thermostat goes into the block first.. That copper pill sees the heat and when it heats up it expands a fluid thats built into it. The expansion forces the hat open so the flow takes place... Once again... did you install a factory only thermostat or some other pos... Was the engine overheating before you did this work on the stat too....

 

[Silver Burner]

Whoops, sorry man. Figured one cooling system was like the next.. My bad

 

[idiabuse]

when the engine is hot next time rub your hands on the radiator fins/core and feel if any part of the radiator is cool to the touch, you may have a clogged radiator.

Javier

 

[gatorman21218]

thermostats are like glowplugs, unless they say motorcraft on them, they are junk.

 

[lotzagoodstuff]

x2 on using the correct tstat.

 

[89ford]

Oh ok well I might be using the wrong tstat radiator has busted a hole in it so that will need replaced anyway but yea it was overheating before I tried the tstat

 

[icanfixall]

Can you post a pic of the stat you removed... Are you running just plain house or well water or distilled water and coolant... It does make a differance...

 

[89ford]

it just depends I have been trying to fix all of the leaks so it loses it most of the time. Most of the time it has 50/50 in it until it gets low then it goes to well water

 

[Black dawg]

when does it get hot, and how hot?

 

[Black dawg]

Whoops, sorry man. Figured one cooling system was like the next.. My bad

Our cooling system does function the same as most any Ive ever dealt with. with the t-stat closed coolant flows through the bypass circulating coolant within the block creating a more average temperature throughout the engine. as the t-stat opens it gradually restricts the bypass hole, though never blocking it completely, making the coolant want to flow to the radiator. With no stat the coolant will still flow to the radiator, as it is much easier for the volume of coolant to flow through the radiator than that little bypass hole. many cooling systems function excactly this way, most all have a bypass of some sort, but not all block it as the t-stat opens

the correct t-stat is important because it flows enough to make the coolant want to flow through the radiator and not just the bypass. the generic t-stat doesnt flow as much, and doesnt restrict the bypass. this lets more flow through the bypass than should, and less flow through the radiator than should be flowing.