Engine Overheating!

[Thedjacob12]

Hey, I recently bought a 1995 Ford mustang 3.8L base, I new it had some issues, it overheats all the time, will idle fine for about 20 minutes before getting up there, no cabin heat, only cold air, I’m a-wear these specific models have a head gasket issue, not an official diagnosis but there’s no smoke out exhaust, no coolant or oil leaks anywhere, no muddle oil, did coolant flush and it looked clean, coolant doesn’t smell, no bubbles in radiator or overflow tank, no check engine light, new water pump and thermostat but wasn’t bleed after thermostat change from last ones, drives well, idles a bit rough but only 87k miles on it, 5speed manual, SOMEONE HELP!!

 

[ttocs]

is it overheating just sitting at idle, or while it is moving?

 

[Thedjacob12]

is it overheating just sitting at idle, or while it is moving?

It overheats at both, it takes a lot longer to overheat at idle say around 20 minutes, if you drive it immediately and go above 30 or so it takes somewhere around 10 minutes maybe a bit more

 

[95opal]

Bad water pump, bad thermostat would be my first two guesses

 

[Thedjacob12]

Bad water pump, bad thermostat would be my first two guesses

I could see both… the water pump was replaced by the previous owner say with in the last 6 months but that doesn’t mean it can’t go bad, all the symptoms lined up with a bad thermostat but when I replaced it, it didn’t seem to fix the issue, however that being said i replaced it with the cheapest one I could find by duralast, I’ve had parts fail right out of the box three times over from them, i probably should of tested it prior but just wanted to get the install over with

 

[ttocs]

I would also check to see that the fan is going into high speed mode when it should. The CCRM's are known to have some leaky capacitors that can cause problems.

 

[95opal]

Another thought would be the rad cap not holding pressure

 

[Terrorist 5.0]

You positive the thermostat is in the right way? When you say there is no heat that means no coolant is getting to the heater core, which means (if it is still connected and functioning which most likely it is) there is no coolant flow, hence over heating. It could just be a plugged heater core but the simple stuff should always be checked first.

 

[cobrajeff96]

Engine overheats, no hot air in the cabin....how's the radiator feel? Is the upper hose of the radiator getting hot and full of coolant or is it easily squeezed by hand after the engine is fully warmed up?

Sounds like the classic thermostat malfunction.

 

[cobrajeff96]

Although, I must say that if the cabin has no heat then there's something really wrong, because as I understand it one of the heads (usually the passenger side) pumps coolant to the heater core which returns it right back to the other head. At least that's how it is on my Coyote mod motor.

 

[Terrorist 5.0]

Updates?