> I've decided to ditch the electric fan, at least for now. I've ordered
> a four blade fan and spacer block. Until it arrives my car isn't
> moving out of the garage. I can't go back to the seven blade easily
> because it was on one of the despised fan clutches, which broke apart
> when I removed it from the water pump. I like the idea of the four
> blade better than the seven blade anyway.
Adam,
If you messed up the thermostat at all, and I think you said you did, toss
it and get a new one. Then, before you put it in, or spend possibly
unnecessary money getting the radiator redone, flush out the entire cooling
system at least with a large garden hose that'll supply plenty of volume and
pressure. Turn your heater temp control to full HOT so that the water flows
through the heater core, too.
Some shops offer a power back flush, but I've always been a bit concerned
about using this sort of thing or the do it yourself flushing chemicals, at
least on an older motor that I don't know the complete history on. I'd be
worried that either might dislodge scale and other crude built up in the
passages over the year and this junk could then easily block a passage
causing an even bigger overheating problem.
Your choice. I'd get a new thermostat of the setting recommended by the
factory manual. I suspect that a 160 will be fine for these cars. I'd
suggest a factory unit or the Stant "premium" line. Don't scrimp. All of the
above shouldn't take more than a couple of hours.
The higher temp thermostats didn't really come into OEM use until the
engineers needed to push the engine temp for emissions, went to F/I and
such. However check to make sure you get the recommended unit. If the entire
cooling system is flowing properly and the radiator isn't full of birds,
bees and other critters, you should be okay even without a fan, even if the
weather is pretty warm, as long as you are moving. Oh yeah, use the "proper"
50/50 mixture of water and antifreeze and you might add a bottle of RedLine
Water Wetter. This stuff really works, but it's not a band aid much less a
cure, for a cooling system in poor condition.
For some reason the (electric) fan on my '92 Buick Skylark driver decided to
go on walkabout a couple of weeks ago and I've not had time to dig into why.
It's a sealed system and even when it was 95 a few days ago I was okay, as
long as I kept an eye on the gauge and routed myself so I could keep moving.
Guess what this weekend's main project's gonna be? It's starting to get warm
here, folks!
I'm using electric fans on both of the 510s. In fact, on the autocross car
I'm going to see how it does without a fan. You want the oil and coolant
temps up to operating levels for runs and no fan should get them there
quicker. The key will be if they will stabilize for the duration of a run
without going too high. We'll see. BTW, I'll be using the large 2 5/8 inch
Auto Meter gauges for water and oil temp. I just don't trust the 30 plus
year old factory gauges to be accurate.
Please don't feel that I'm getting on you case or saying that there aren't
things wrong with your cooling system that may need more than a simple
driveway fix. What I am suggesting is that you be logical and take things
one step at a time. Be methodical and make notes if you need to.
HTH, Ron
Ronnie Day
ronday@home.com
Dallas/Ft. Worth
'71 510 2-dr (Prepared Class Autocrosser)
'73 510 2-dr (Street Toy)
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