The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop overheating 46

I have a 46 pickup that overheats. I lose the anitfreeze everytime I drive it, it takes about a quart of antifreeze. Is it possible to pressureize this radiator and how do you do it?

b51r

b51r,

I think your truck came from Detroit with a ZERO pound cap and cooling system. The best approach to your problem would be to have the radiator checked, cleaned, or replaced. This is the root cause to 99% of all cooling issues.

When the system is working properly, even with a zero cap, you should get no boil over or loss of coolant.

Stuart

Stuart's right... It's probably the radiator.

However, there a few other things you can check.

1) Belt Tension - is the belt tight enough? Does the water pump spin nice, or is the belt slipping?

2) Water Pump - is the water pump working right? This could be a tired pump, and it could also be a pulley that's too big (seems there was a problem with new pumps having the wrong pulley on them a while back).

3) Do you have the right thermostat? A 216 should have a 140° or a 160° unit in it, depending upon the use (I think that the trucks had the 160° model, but I can't remember). If you've got one that opens up at a higher temp, that could also be your issue.

~#~#~#~

I should probably mention that your radiator has that boilover tube on it, and a pressure cap won't do you much good...

I've dealt with a few overheating problems, on both my truck and on the 41 Chev sedan. In the course of all this work, Stuart mentioned that these old bolts collect a lot of sludge. Since then I have flushed both engines, and he sure was right about the sludge. You might flush yours while the radiator is out of the way.
Another odd thing we noticed on the '41 was the thermostat: we had replaced it, the one we took out was rated at 180 degrees , the FLAPS checked their books and sold us what they said was the proper stat, another 180. Since then we have bought The Service Manual, which says that the original thermostat was 140 degrees. It sure looks better on the temp gauge now with a proper rated thermostat (the book said to use 160 with glycol, I believe).
Haven't I read here not to top off the radiator?
Karl

If you put a larger pulley on it the pump will turn slower. Not a good idea on an engine thats has a tendency to run on the hot side. I put a V8 pulley on my new 6 cylinder engine for safetys' sake and no problems. Here its get sometimes in the tripple digits for two weeks or more. Need all the cooling I can get. Make sure there is no water in the oil. Anything coming out of the tail pipe other than just condensation? Check the end of the pipe to see if its wet with antifreeze or gooie. Do you smell antifreeze when it runs or sets for a while? Any steam? Leaking heater core? You can buy a radiator pressure gauge unit from Snap On or the Mac Tool man. Its nice to have one. I have seen small pin holes in hoses that don't leak until you run it then stop when the pressure is gone no more leak. Just my 5 cents worth.