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.