SAVE YOUR K-CAR FROM OVERHEATING.

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SAVE YOUR K-CAR FROM OVERHEATING.

Postby 89ARIES » Mon Aug 11, 2014 7:04 am

SOLVING THE MYSTERY OF THE K-CAR COOLING SYSTEM ONCE AND FOR ALL!
Folks, the K-car cooling system has always been a mystery to me, and one that has left me at times staring at the gauge, praying I wasn't going to overheat. Not cool, not fun, not acceptable. We had a member help us out with the knowledge that these thermostats for Chrysler engines MUST BE DRILLED, not just replaced. I even ran across a MOPAR nut at the show that suggested not ONE, but two holes be drilled in the thermostat, one on the northend, one on the southend. A caddy owner next to me with an 83 Cadillac Eldorado suggested I buy a special pink coolant called Evans that supposedly cools faster. Now, my temp gauge was going a bit close to the top before coming down. Replacing the coolant sensor seemed to solve that partly. I notice two things. It was a cool day three days ago, the needle did struggle to come down to half, with the fan running, like it is supposed to, but it took like 5 minutes. Sitting in 101 degrees in the desert today, the needle did come down, but would not come down to half, in fact it came down to just shy of 2/3rds with the fan constantly on, and nothing happening. It made me a little nervous, but at least it was not overheating. Proof that my car at least would not make it to Death Valley. Also, the 2.5s seem to not cool as well as the 2.2s, with more of these nerve wracking temp swings. A temp needle should stay at half, like it does in modern cars going uphill. So what to do about it? Experts, chime in please. We had a member also suggest we get a double cord big ass radiator. Should we get a big ass radiator, pink coolant, drill two holes in thermostat, so these damn engines don't overheat over an expect climb. I have also found that even driving uphill at slow speeds can make the needle go above where the fan is suppossed to come on? Need tech savy checklist to save any more cars from overheating. All of you with a pre 85 K-car need a temp gauge installed. Also, a MOPAR guy told me that when you take a head off, you often warp or damage it just by improperly taking off the bolts or improperly torquing it.
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Re: SAVE YOUR K-CAR FROM OVERHEATING.

Postby Pete in NH » Mon Aug 11, 2014 12:55 pm

Guy,

I've never had a problem with either 2.2's or 2.5's overheating. I don't buy your statement about 2.5's being more prone to running hot. I've always run a 50/50 mix of plain old green anti-freeze and water. The thermostats were not drilled. The radiators were factory stock. Like I said in a previous posting , I would check the fins on the radiator between the cooling tubes. The only the car started to run hot is when those fins started to corrode away and a new radiator made everything right again. These cars are now 25 years old or better. How many are running around with original radiators that are shot?

Also, you need to get all the air out when filling the cooling system. I've never had a problem with that either if you follow the service manual.
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Re: SAVE YOUR K-CAR FROM OVERHEATING.

Postby K-CAR_WAGON » Thu Aug 14, 2014 2:14 pm

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Last edited by K-CAR_WAGON on Fri Dec 19, 2014 6:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: SAVE YOUR K-CAR FROM OVERHEATING.

Postby 1987dodgearies » Tue Aug 19, 2014 12:13 am

I had experimented with drilling a hole in my thermostat and ended up plugging up the little hole.
Maybe its because I have a slight head gasket leak and I'm (getting light bubbles in my radiator) but when I drilled the hole.... I had absolutely no heat in my car last winter. I froze driving around.
I closed the hole back up and instant heat. I understand the idea of bleeding off trapped air, but in my case (maybe because of the head gasket leak) that tiny little hole resulted in heat ( no more then just mildly warm) blowing out from my heater core. I plugged the hole and it was blowing hot once again.
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