bluefoxamazone Posted June 12, 2017 Report Posted June 12, 2017 hello, just a quick question to the specialists on this forum.. I have replaced the radiator, waterpump, thermostat (forgot what type..) flushed the engine. Car runs fine and the temperatuur gauge needle stands upright, somewhat to the right when I drive the car in normal conditions (not too hot) . When the engine is under higher load, immediately I see the needle going towards "H". When I have less driving wind I also see the needle going up. Is this normal? I know these are tough engines but I would like to keep it in shape. any toughts..? greetings from sunny Belgium Quote
Don Coatney Posted June 12, 2017 Report Posted June 12, 2017 Did you remove and service the water distribution tube? Quote
greg g Posted June 12, 2017 Report Posted June 12, 2017 Get yourself an inexpensive kitchen thermometer not the type for making candy, and verify the actual temp of coolant in the radiator when your gauge is at "normal" temp reading. Then you are not guessing what it means. It also depends on your coolant to water mix as to what is hot is, as boiling temp increases with increased coolant. I believe boiling moves to 240 degrees to 50/50 mix. If you are swinging between 170 and 190 you are good to go, but if you are between 190 and 210 then something is not right. Quote
oldodge41 Posted June 12, 2017 Report Posted June 12, 2017 Another vote for a plugged / bad water tube. Quote
Worden18 Posted June 12, 2017 Report Posted June 12, 2017 My car has a rebuilt engine, boiled and repaired radiator, new thermostat, water pump and hoses and it does the same thing your car does. Question is: how close to the "H" is the needle getting? If its really close, or touching it then maybe you have a problem. Sound advice from Don Coatney and greg g; you need to address these things to know exactly where you're at temp-wise. Quote
knuckleharley Posted June 13, 2017 Report Posted June 13, 2017 (edited) 8 hours ago, bluefoxamazone said: hello, just a quick question to the specialists on this forum.. I have replaced the radiator, waterpump, thermostat (forgot what type..) flushed the engine. Car runs fine and the temperatuur gauge needle stands upright, somewhat to the right when I drive the car in normal conditions (not too hot) . When the engine is under higher load, immediately I see the needle going towards "H". When I have less driving wind I also see the needle going up. Is this normal? I know these are tough engines but I would like to keep it in shape. any toughts..? greetings from sunny Belgium Buy yourself one of these babies and use it to check the actual temperature of your block,head,and radiator against the temps shown on your dash gauge. One of the handiest tools I think I have ever bought. You can use it to check for hot spots where maybe your block,radiator,or hose might have an obstruction,check your tires to see how hot they are after a highway run,check how hot your brakes are getting,etc,etc,etc. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DMI632G/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Edited June 13, 2017 by knuckleharley 2 Quote
Plymouthy Adams Posted June 13, 2017 Report Posted June 13, 2017 revisit your ignition timing also.... 1 Quote
martybose Posted June 13, 2017 Report Posted June 13, 2017 Probably 10 years ago I was wondering why my engine always ran hotter than I thought it should. So I took the entire mechanical gauge out of the car and set up a controlled experiment with a pot on the stove and a couple of mercury thermometers. I found out quickly that my gauge read 30 degrees hotter than the actual water temp. It took about 3 hours to figure out how to bend the linkage in the gauge so that it read within a couple of degrees from 120 to 230. The car ran in a much more appropriate temp range after that! Marty 3 Quote
Mortimer452 Posted June 13, 2017 Report Posted June 13, 2017 knuckleharley as always has great advice - the IR thermometers are an excellent tool for troubleshooting cooling issues. Check the temp at the radiator inlet versus the outlet, you should see a difference of around 30-40 degrees. You can also use it to verify your thermostat is working by checking the temp of the inlet tube or thermostat housing versus the temp of the head. Quote
bluefoxamazone Posted June 13, 2017 Author Report Posted June 13, 2017 thanks for the info!! I will defenitely do some measurements with an IR.thermometer. But measuring is one thing. Interpreting is another. Since we are working in deg. C, i'll have to start the calculator alrready.... ;-) greetings to all! Quote
knuckleharley Posted June 13, 2017 Report Posted June 13, 2017 3 hours ago, bluefoxamazone said: thanks for the info!! I will defenitely do some measurements with an IR.thermometer. But measuring is one thing. Interpreting is another. Since we are working in deg. C, i'll have to start the calculator alrready.... ;-) greetings to all! The digital IR thermometer will measure either F or C scales. It's switchable. No math needed. Quote
bluefoxamazone Posted June 13, 2017 Author Report Posted June 13, 2017 45 minutes ago, knuckleharley said: The digital IR thermometer will measure either F or C scales. It's switchable. No math needed. haha, yes thàt I know but in de above postings I cannot find many temperatures in °C no worries, I know how it's done.... regards, Quote
Plymouthy Adams Posted June 13, 2017 Report Posted June 13, 2017 here in America, only time Celsius comes before Fahrenheit is in the dictionary hopefully, some things will never change. 2 Quote
dpollo Posted June 13, 2017 Report Posted June 13, 2017 Good advice above. A digital thermometer aimed at hot spots on the radiator of my P23 confirmed the dashboard instrument is an alarmist. I have always preferred the Fahrenheit scale because it divides "living temperature" into 100 parts.Seldom do we experience temperatures lower than zero F or (at least where I live) over 100 F. Since Canada went Metric, I have stubbornly refused to embrace Celsius (centigrade when I went to school) and buy my thermometers and thermostats in the USA. Quote
TodFitch Posted June 13, 2017 Report Posted June 13, 2017 1 hour ago, dpollo said: Good advice above. A digital thermometer aimed at hot spots on the radiator of my P23 confirmed the dashboard instrument is an alarmist. I have always preferred the Fahrenheit scale because it divides "living temperature" into 100 parts.Seldom do we experience temperatures lower than zero F or (at least where I live) over 100 F. Since Canada went Metric, I have stubbornly refused to embrace Celsius (centigrade when I went to school) and buy my thermometers and thermostats in the USA. Hot spots on your radiator may be significantly cooler than the hot spots at the back of the head. . . You might want to check the head temperature around where the sensing bulb is located. If you have a coolant circulation problem in the block (years of gunk building up in the water passages) you might have cool temperatures in the radiator while the back of the block is overheating. Meters/feet, kilometers/miles, Celsius/Fahrenheit . . . Both work, it is just what you get used to. FWIW, I've switched to mentally using meters/kilometers when hiking and camping because the UTM grids on the USGS topo maps are basically a kilometer grid but I still think of elevation gain and loss in feet. On a recent trip to Europe it only took a day before I could glance at the temperature and decide if it was going to be cool, warm or comfortable. Quote
DonaldSmith Posted June 13, 2017 Report Posted June 13, 2017 I checked for hot spots on the back of my head, but the hair keeps the sun off. The top of the head is another matter. Oh, the engine head! 3 Quote
dale Posted June 13, 2017 Report Posted June 13, 2017 Do these thermometers work on Women also ? Hummm Quote
Dartgame Posted June 13, 2017 Report Posted June 13, 2017 No but they are great fun for playing with cats. Mine has a laser pointer that our cat will chase around. Of course being careful not to hit his eye... Quote
bluefoxamazone Posted March 29, 2018 Author Report Posted March 29, 2018 On 13-6-2017 at 4:27 AM, martybose said: Probably 10 years ago I was wondering why my engine always ran hotter than I thought it should. So I took the entire mechanical gauge out of the car and set up a controlled experiment with a pot on the stove and a couple of mercury thermometers. I found out quickly that my gauge read 30 degrees hotter than the actual water temp. It took about 3 hours to figure out how to bend the linkage in the gauge so that it read within a couple of degrees from 120 to 230. The car ran in a much more appropriate temp range after that! Marty Hello MArty, just coming back on the subject...can you explain how to adjust the gauge reading. grtz 1 Quote
martybose Posted March 29, 2018 Report Posted March 29, 2018 I can't really explain it, you just need some needle nose pliers and try bending it. The trick is to adjust it so that both low and high readings are accurate; it's relative easy to get one right while throwing the other end of the scale way off. You just need to keep changing the water temp in the pan and see what the gauge does. That's why it takes so long, but after a while it kinda makes sense and you can get very close. Marty Quote
TodFitch Posted March 30, 2018 Report Posted March 30, 2018 4 hours ago, bluefoxamazone said: Hello MArty, just coming back on the subject...can you explain how to adjust the gauge reading. grtz Don't know how to do it, but the manual says you bend the linkage between the Bourdon tube and the indicating needle. Don't try to bend the Bourdon tube itself. Quote
bluefoxamazone Posted March 30, 2018 Author Report Posted March 30, 2018 so to resume my original question; if the water temperature on top of the radiator is below 180°F/82.2°C I am ok? What would the needle position on the gauge be then? Any Idea what the surface temperature of the head would be then. What is the reading on the gauge when the engine is running with standstil (car not driving) for 1 -2 hrs Thanks Quote
55 Fargo Posted March 30, 2018 Report Posted March 30, 2018 On 6/13/2017 at 8:40 AM, dpollo said: Good advice above. A digital thermometer aimed at hot spots on the radiator of my P23 confirmed the dashboard instrument is an alarmist. I have always preferred the Fahrenheit scale because it divides "living temperature" into 100 parts.Seldom do we experience temperatures lower than zero F or (at least where I live) over 100 F. Since Canada went Metric, I have stubbornly refused to embrace Celsius (centigrade when I went to school) and buy my thermometers and thermostats in the USA. I was raised and educated in both Metric and Imperial. I can do conversions instantly in my head in most cases. But yah could live without metric most of the time Quote
DonaldSmith Posted March 30, 2018 Report Posted March 30, 2018 Somewhere I picked up this jingle, for Celcius temperatures in the range of human comfort: 30 is hot; 20 is nice; 10 is cool, and Zero is ice. My Canadian cousins are at the age where they are more comfortable with the old imperial measures than the newly-imposed metric units. When I recited the jingle, they didn't get it. Quote
keithb7 Posted March 30, 2018 Report Posted March 30, 2018 (edited) With water boiling at 100C and Freezing at 0C, that works for my brain. I can't seem to adapt to elevation in Meters. With KM on the hi-way, I have a system that works for me. If I go 120 km/hr on the hi-way, that's 2 KM per minute. So any signs showing distance to next town, I cut the number shown in half. That's how many minutes it takes me to get there. That's a good one I use. 80 KM to next town? 40 mins away at 120 km/hr. I dove my flat head up a good sized hill last summer. I pulled over at the top and took out my digital laser thermometer. The readings confused me somewhat. Top of rad and bottom of rad made sense, but other readings seemed out of whack. I want do this again and see if I can make sense of it. It seems to me reading a hot cylinder head after climbing hill, is not representative of the coolant temperature. See here: https://youtu.be/ZeyG_46U6CA Edited March 30, 2018 by keithb7 Quote
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