i will try the 180 degree therm and switch back to regular antifreeze and see what happens. so far i don't see any coolant loss but after it reaches 230 then cools i will check it and it is always a little low. i have checked the oil and no water there so it must be steaming out and i just don't notice it. i am not impressed with the 40 below either. very expensive and does nothing special.i think i might have found the shroud i need too. i'll know in 25 hours(ebay) i have also ordered a transmission cooler so that should help
ithink i found the problem. some dummy put the 160 degree thermosat in backwards. i replaced it with a 180 degree and regular antifreeze with the heat and air cranking for 30 minutes and it never went above 190. i am still waiting for my trans cooler. this storm has stopped the mail and shippers so it will probably be here next week. thanks for the sugestions and advice. especially scooper. if it wasn't for your dear old dad i would still be scratching my head on this one.i also checked and the guage is accurate p.s. i lost out on that shroud. someone bid in the last minute. oh well
Jason, glad you found the problem and glad you got that very good info to us. I have been watching this thread, with some very very good advice for things to look for. Once again a lesson to us all, the simple things can go overlooked when we are troubleshooting. An incorrectly installed thermostat is something I have done many years ago, luckily I figured what I did wrong quickly and reversed it. Dan
Some additional things to be awhere of. With a high stall convertor and A/C use, the heat generated by the extra trans slip and the A/C condenser can be too much for the radiator to drop temp accross it's area, especially at lower traffic speeds and high outside temps. A 2.79 gear would aggrevate the heat problem even more because your trans would be operating well below it's efficient lock up point and generating heat from 'fluid shear' when cruising below about 2800 rpm. The Mav/Comet engine bays are very tight. The air can get dammed up behind the radiator and begin to restrict any more air from passing through the radiator from the front because is cannot escape out of the engine bay fast enough. Adding a large capacity fan often does not help as much as expected because of the dam-up effect. Same for a larger capacity radiator. This is a lot like blocking the hose on a vacuum cleaner. You hear the motor actually speed up because it cannot move anymore air (do work). I have a minor problem with this very issue on my car. It can be seen everytime I use a little hp. The rear of the hood raises up from the pressure developed in the engine bay. I use a full shroud, 3 core new radiator, trans cooler, 2200 stall conv. and have used both the A/C and a clutch fans. What has been proven is the pure fact of the frontal air pressure for the higher road speeds is the biggest reason the pressure in the engine bay builds up and not just the use of the large capacity fans. To add to this problem, the change from stock iron exhaust manifolds to headers has taken up physical space that now is lost to air escape, further restricting airflow out of an already tight engine bay. I have arrives at a point where in 95+ degree outside temps, the engine will stay cool at 190 but will climb if power is called on for to long at a time. I would strongly reccomend you use a seperate trans cooler in the 24000 GVW range for the trans with high stall convertor. Use a pressure cap in the 16 to 18 lb range and a catch can bottle to be sure that coolant is not lost and can return to the system when it cools. Without a coolant recovery can, the system can slowly loses coolant and the temp starts to climb with use now that the amount of coolant in the system is going low in addition to any other issues that are present. Short of making extra air passages in the engine bay side panels there's not much else to be done. There are a lot of Mav owners that have cooling problems especially in the hotter climates. Some owners though do seem to have better luck for some reason. This is presented as possible thought for those that are trying to solve heating issues.
Bluegrass; if I was to open up the holes in my grabber hood, to let air out, will that help, or hinder cooling? Seems like it should help. Thanks,
Earl, I would think it would help if the total areas were large enough. One way to test this out is raise the rear of the hood for about a inch or so of open area. If cooling is greatly helped, it should prove the air dam problem is there. My hood raises the full width of the hood lip but that does not provide much air pass area. I changed the hinges to stop the raising but it still does it. I don't spend much time on the car anymore due to to many other things going on. I have been running a supercharged Mark VII and now spend a large amount of time wrenching a 500 + hp 351w powered sprint car with my son for a few more weeks to the end of the season. Take care.
