Poor Heat

[80' 427]

Well I have the k30 back up and running and it worked great in the snow but when I drive it down the road the heat from the heater gets worse and worse. I know is has a small leak (i can smell it) but could could half of it be plugged? It was a farm truck but I looked in the box when replacing the fan and saw nothing. It has a 160 thermostat but every chevy before this has a heater that would run you out. the gauge goes about a needle width from the straight up mark on the gauge. If it matters this is a heat only truck.

 

[Fordum]

Are you low on coolant? If the rad gets low, it usually starves the heater first.
If you have enough coolant, feel the two heater lines when the engine in hot and running. If only one is hot, then either the core is stopped up, or something is blocking the flow.
Some trucks had a heater cutoff valve, not sure if yours does or not. They were prone to stick.
If the core is clogged, you can remove the two lines and backflush the core with a water hose.
But, be warned, if its leaking now, odds are the clog is preventing a worse leak. So if you backflush it, it may start pouring.

 

[mudmobeeler]

Just as Fordum said it could start gushing after doin the backflush. Had a so called friend tried to blame his heater core leak on me. Another friend told me it was already leaking before he done the backflush and it got worse right after. Guy bought a new heater core and had me install it then tried to make me pay him for the new heater core and the "professional detail job" that his brother did on the interior who does not do detailing for a living at all. Needless to say I didnt pay for this stuff and know he wont even speak to me, its all on him cause I'm over it and have tried to be friends again. Oh well he can work on his own crap now.

 

[4xcrazy]

In colder weather, I have never had "good" heat running a 160 t-stat, I quit experimenting with them in my early 20's..

also not sure how the temp gauge can read that warm/hot with only a 160* t-stat in it, my burb back in in Indiana doesn't even get that hot with the 4 core radiator, 195* t-stat and cardboard in front of the grill... Yes, I replaced the t-stat as well, it just cools THAT well now, I installed all the heavy duty cooling equipment to keep it running cool in Phoenix, AZ summers.

 

[mudbuggy]

I'm with TJ on the 160 degree tstat especially in Indiana right now. They are great for running around on the farm pulling grain carts around the field but once you get any air moving on the radiator you freeze until you get to a stop light. Change it out to a 195 and you'll be nice and toasty

 

[diesel4me]

GM put a 195 degree t-stat in all their engines factory,starting in 1969....there is no advantage to running anything cooler ,I dont know why people think lowering the thermostat opening temp will reduce overheating,it wont,and in many caes engine damage gets done by running it too "cold"--............................................................................................................oil will sludge up badly,get diluted by gas,carbon will build up in the combustion chambers,and increased wear in the cylinders will occour from gasoline dilution,especially on carbed vehicles when the choke stays closed longer....a computer equipped vehicle wont go into closed loop at all,or more slowly also,killing gas mileage and increasing engine wear............................The one and only time I ran a 160 degree T-stat was when I was 18 and had a '56 Chevy pickup....I was too poor to buy anti-freeze for its leaky radiator,so I ran a 160 T-stat and used Methanol & water,which I could get at work for free...I dam near died when the fumes from it seeped into the cab thru a pinhole in the heater core too!...I froze all that winter too,the 160 T-stat just dont cut it when its below 32 out!...

 

[SwampLife]

Same here, I have one vehicle running a 160 degree and thats only cause i have pinholes all over my radiator.

Also if a blocked heater core was the problem I dont imagine the speed of the vehicle would make much difference in the heat.

 

[4xcrazy]

Basically what I have learned through the years, is if the engine won't stay cool at all times, highway, city traffic or idling for an hour straight, while running the factory t-stat (usually 195*) there is something wrong with the cooling system.

I drove my brothers Ford Taurus for awhile as work related transportation, driving around inspecting foreclosed homes, that engine would heat up while running the AC if I idled too long or just didn't drive enough, electric fans running constantly, still heated up... Ended up needing a new radiator, and being that it's an Arizona car, we tossed in a severe duty radiator,,, Maxi-cool is what they called it, basically wider cooling tubes, still two rows but equivalant to a standard 3-row unit. Never heated up again.

Same with the '94 pick-up, another 2-row Maxi-cool unit, heavy duty fan clutch, can sit & idle all day long in 120* weather, with the AC blowing and never go above the 195* t-stat, this is also the way my Burb is setup except it has a full on 4-row radiator with a heavy duty fan clutch.

My old '89 IROC used to get hot, replaced the electric fan switch controller to a lower setting, from the factory 205* down to a 190* and it stayed running cooler, that was a weird one though, it seemed that once it got to a certain point of "HOT" it just kept climbing in temperature faster,, new switch, fans kicked on alittle earlier, stayed around the t-stat or slightly higher, but nothing dangerously high,,never got around to putting a bigger radiator in that one, was traded off for the Burb.

I tried once installing a 180* t-stat in the Camaro, I did notice alittle more performance out of it, but also as mentioned, it used more gas doing this so it was pretty much a trade-off.

Had a few carb'd engines in the past, they didn't mind the 195 t-stats, but seemed to run better on a 180, again this may be due to climate though, like mentioned, it gets hot here so air intake is already pretty warm, 160's were always too cold, even in this hot climate during summer, even the mild winters, I still had no heat from the heater running one. Haven't bought one in 20 some years.

Anyway, I guess I'm just saying, that in the years I have been tinkering with vehicles, troubleshooting cooling issues and whatnot, I think I just finally got tired of screwing around with "standard" stuff here in Arizona's extreme heated summers, and go bigger when it comes to cooling, but keeping the factory 195* t-stats, they always work right as long as everything else in the system is working right.

this post turned into a Fordum post..

 

[Fordum]

this post turned into a Fordum post..

And thats bad how??

But this give me an opening to mention this stuff.

http://www.evanscooling.com/

I have been studying this stuff for a while now. When it first came out, I figured it was some kind of snake oil.
But, its been around for several years and no one has shot him or run him out of business, so maybe there is something to it.

In my post, found a friend,

http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=293954

I did not mention that not only was he running his diesel on cooking oil, but he was also running the waterless coolant.
I made a comment that his coolant needed changing because it was dark and rusty looking in the overflow tank.

This surprised me, because he is as, or more, diligent on maintenance than I am.

Even though the engine was running and at full temp, he just reached out and took the cap off.
Showed me the hole where he had drilled out the check valve so that the system did not hold pressure.

He said he had been running the coolant for several years with no problems. It turns dark after a while, but does not need changing, because it does not turn acid or deteriorate.

Hoses seem to last much longer, since there is no pressure on them. There is no water in the system, and no corrosion or rust. He said that it comes up to the thermostat temp, and never overheats.

According to the website, it helps prevent damage if the engine should overheat since it does not boil or flash into steam at hot spots inside the engine.

Plus, even though if freezes at -40, if it should freeze, it shrinks when it freezes so it does not break anything.

I have not gotten up the nerve to try it yet. Partially because it is expensive, and because I did not know of an actual user.
Now that I have a first hand report, I am toying with the idea of changing something over.

The logical one would be my genset. But that big turbocharged engine uses about 20 gallons or more, and the cost would be tough.

I was wondering if anyone else here has used the stuff. I probably should have posted this in a separate thread, but since we were talking about cooling, I figured I would drop it in.





Now, thats a Fordum post!!

 

[80' 427]

First it used to have a 195 and second it is on propane so a cooler thermostat is an advantage because if you get it too much hotter you will loose some of the light ends of the fuel. I may put in a 180 just to see.