Overheating Chieftain

[The_Handier_Man1]

From: waylonsway53  (Original Message)
Sent: 3/21/2005 9:22 AM

Besides needing help and advice on how to remove a Genreator from a 1974 Chieftain I also need some inputs on what would cause it to overheat.We moved this beast from Panama City ,Florida to Fort Walton Beach which is 70 miles distance and had to stop about 6 times before we finally got it home.At one stop we removed the Thermostat hose and tapped around it and when I cranked the engine water gushed out like crazy so I assume the thermostat is working.PLEASE HELP ME WITH BOTH ISSUES..Once I remove the Generator from it I'am selling it for 500.00.It need alot of work though but the engine and trans seem to run perfect except for overheating.NO SMOKE.Would love to keep the engine but I have no room for it.



From: Slantsixness
Sent: 3/21/2005 9:46 AM

The common thing is a bad water pump, next is a clogged radiator or water passages. Don't be suprised if the guage is just wrong, either! a bad guage regulator (that little silver thing on the instrument cluster) can do that too, but the oil pressure guage would also be wrong....!

Tom



From: denison
Sent: 3/22/2005 7:26 AM

    I would suspect a dirty radiator, a weak fan clutch, or more likely both.  The fan clutch should be one of the viscous drive units, and they dont last forever.  Little by little they weaken, not driving the fan as well.  You cant really tell by observing them with the engine cover removed whether they are okay or not - the fan on an idling engine will still be a blur.  But after you put on a new clutch I wager you will Definitely notice the difference in air flow, from an idle on up.
    Viscous drive fan clutches are designed to keep the fan running at water-pump-pulley speed up to about 2000 rpm, beyond which they allow progressly more slip - so the fan roar doesnt increase, nor the horsepower to spin it faster.   There are thermostatic types that have a bimetallic spring to sense the air temp coming through the radiator - and drive the fan faster when the air is hotter.
    With the engine cover off and engine stopped; if you try to spin the fan with your hand, it should stop in about the width of  one blade, no matter how fast you try to spin it.   The one I put on was the combined viscous/thermostatic type, and cost about $90.  Man what a difference it made in air flow!
  If the radiator is clean, the fan clutch is healthy, then having the incorrect type of thermostat wont matter so much.  With an otherwise marginal cooling system, you need the thermostat which looks like the attachment.
    Radiator caps also die of old age, as do radiator hoses.