A very thin coating of crud on the inside of the radiator tubes can cause a huge loss in heat transfer capacity. Corrosion products, water-borne minerals, deteriorated glycol, failed corrosion inhibitor packages and doses of Stopleak will produce an insulating film that can only be removed with other chemical flushes.—and a flush of the block and heater core also. Unbelievable amounts of crud can be removed from a system that may not appear too bad. Then refill with low-ion water and an appropriate coolant for the type of engine and radiator you have. Fram and maybe others used to market coolant filters to remove solid particles, at least. I think they were installed on heater hoses.
Timing errors can also make an engine run hot. Verify timing at idle and the action of centrifugal and vacuum advance/retard systems. And, the temperature-controlled fan clutch must be working. Generally, overheating typically occurs in slow traffic with the A/C on and the radiator breathing hot exhaust from the vehicle in front. When MOVING down the road, airflow is much higher and overcomes cooling problems that only crop up in slow or stalled traffic. Our C-300 did not like parades. Even on cool days. At 90+ MPH on hot days-no problem.
Don’t forget that inlet air to the radiator may be pre-heated by the hot air from the A/C condenser and the coolant will also be heated by waste heat from the tranny. I’m not aware of whether tranny problems can cause excess heat but it seems possible. And carefully clean the bugs and birdies out of the external side of the radiator. Don’t bend the fins. There are even “fin combs” to straighten out bent-over fins. Race cars have screens in front of their radiators to keep the track garbage out of their coolers. Radiator screens made good sense in the 40’s and 50’s and still might make sense if in “buggy” areas.
Rich Barber
Brentwood, CA (Storm moving in tonight for the first day of Spring)
There is an outfit in California that advertises in a Mopar magazine out of Louisiana ( if you get by the political rants in that magazine) that is reproducing early mopar radiators . Pricey but appears to offer 4 row original type cores . If you get a new core installed should be just as good , but hesitant about “cleaned out or reconditioned “ radiators .
Good luck with cooling it off !
Sent from my iPhone not by choice
Great news. Does anyone know of a real radiator shop in California? It seems like they’ve all disappeared. I’m in Northern CA but can get my radiator to SoCal. Thanks!
I lived in Phoenix (120 degrees, not including heat coming off pavement, etc) and my G was overheating at idle when at a stoplight. Had the radiator redone and added some extra capacity for good measure and never overheated again.
Joe
Normal? I've sat parked on hot, just-laid asphalt on an 87° afternoon with the engine idling and the A/C on. The engine temp went up about a one needle-width over about a 10-minute period.
Mike Reed - "F" in Hastings, Michigan
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