Both ideas are correct here. Adding anti-freeze up to 50% mixture will
raise the boiling point (to about 258 degrees, if you have a 14 pound cap
and it is in good shape), but taking out all the anti-freeze will make the
car run cooler (slightly) because pure water is a better heat transfer
agent.
HOWEVER: In any Imperial with the cooling system in such a marginal state
that you have to worry about things like this, you need to clean it out,
including the block (see IML archives for procedure). These cars were
(OVER)-designed with a cooling system that tolerates years of abuse and
accumulated crud, even in severe environments (like Texas), so if it is
telling you there is a problem, it is in really, REALLY bad shape. Clean
the poor thing out before you warp a head or worse!
I did this when I first got my Gold 68, in 1987. Since then, I have been
using it as the family trip car in the desert Southwest for 15 years,
including going through Las Vegas on a Sunday afternoon in August, idling in
very heavy bumper to bumper traffic down the full length of the "strip",
with the outside temperature at 118 degrees, with 6 people in the car, with
my wife still complaining that she was "too cold; please turn the AC to a
higher temp", with the temp gauge at the low end of normal, as usual!
Dick Benjamin
----- Original Message -----
From: <mopar2@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, April 20, 2002 1:07 PM
Subject: Re: IML: coolant system, overheating?
> actually, adding more antifreeze will raise the boiling point of the
coolent & it
> won't boil over so easily. The ideal ratio is about 50/50.
> John
>
> dardal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
>
> > A suggestion for potentially overheating car. I learned that from my 68
sedan,
> > that due to rust in the cooling system, tends to run hot in the summer.
Here
> > is one of the things I learned. The antifreeze necessary in the winter
to
> > prevent freezing and corrosion is reducing the heat transfer
effectiveness of
> > the coolant. So, when summer comes, I reduce the concentration, and
that helps
> > the car stay a little cooler. Also, since I am too lazy to attempt to
clean
> > the block from rust (actually I have tried, but not as good as I could
have, or
> > as DB has suggested) I have done the following. I installed a
motorcycle
> > radiator behind the grill and a series of valves. In the summer, I turn
off
> > the heater valve (Autotemp obviously not working, [yet!]) and turn on
the valve
> > that deviates the heater flow through the auxiliary radiator. That
keeps the
> > temperature bellow 210 in the hottest summer day driving at high speed
> > (surprisingly, my overheating problem was not at idle).
> >
> > D^2, 2x68's
> >
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