JimKueneman
Well-Known Member
For those that followed me restore my '68 318 Coronet they know that I went through _everything_. The 318 was rebuilt very mildly to factory tolerances. New GlenRay reproduction radiator, GlenRay recored heater core (factory A/C car), new... well everything else, hoses, water pump, H valve, restored temperature control valve and the list goes on.
I have noticed something weird in the 6 weeks that I have driven it and yesterday I was really able to do some experiments since it was hot in Tucson and I was alone so I did not get the family complaining in my ear.
The first thing I noticed was in the mornings it seems to be hit and miss if the heater would blow hot air. I could drive 40 miles to work get off the freeway and the heater would blow luke warm. I would hit the off ramp and all of a sudden my feet would be on fire as it started to blow hot. This happened several times. A few weeks ago it was about 100 in Tucson and I drove it in traffic and I could not keep the AC on. Even with it off it was hard keeping it under 205F and it would creep to 208 at the lights at times. We got a cool snap and in the interim installed a new fan clutch as the original would spin numerous times after I shut the engine off when hot. The new one comes to a quick halt when I shut it off hot.
Yesterday was interesting. Driving down a 2 lane country road at 65 it leveled out at around 199F, bit more up hill, bit less downhill. Hit the freeway and it crept up to around 203 (note the AC was on all this time). Got into Tucson and as I went from light to light it crept up to 206. I turned off the AC and it went down a bit but it was clear it was heat soaking and slowly crept higher. At about 208 I flipped the heater on and it dropped to about 200. I then realized that the air ALWAYS flows through the heater core so I fired up the AC with the temperature on HOT. With the cooled air blowing through the heater core it dropped immediately to 197F. Of course only the car was happy, I had 200F air blowing on me in 100F traffic......
Then I went to a car show and left around 9pm. The windows were down and the temp dropped into the low 60's upper 50's so I wanted to run the heater. Guess what, it would not blow hot air... It did not blow hot the entire way home. This is getting a bit perplexing. Anyone have any thoughts?
Jim
I have noticed something weird in the 6 weeks that I have driven it and yesterday I was really able to do some experiments since it was hot in Tucson and I was alone so I did not get the family complaining in my ear.
The first thing I noticed was in the mornings it seems to be hit and miss if the heater would blow hot air. I could drive 40 miles to work get off the freeway and the heater would blow luke warm. I would hit the off ramp and all of a sudden my feet would be on fire as it started to blow hot. This happened several times. A few weeks ago it was about 100 in Tucson and I drove it in traffic and I could not keep the AC on. Even with it off it was hard keeping it under 205F and it would creep to 208 at the lights at times. We got a cool snap and in the interim installed a new fan clutch as the original would spin numerous times after I shut the engine off when hot. The new one comes to a quick halt when I shut it off hot.
Yesterday was interesting. Driving down a 2 lane country road at 65 it leveled out at around 199F, bit more up hill, bit less downhill. Hit the freeway and it crept up to around 203 (note the AC was on all this time). Got into Tucson and as I went from light to light it crept up to 206. I turned off the AC and it went down a bit but it was clear it was heat soaking and slowly crept higher. At about 208 I flipped the heater on and it dropped to about 200. I then realized that the air ALWAYS flows through the heater core so I fired up the AC with the temperature on HOT. With the cooled air blowing through the heater core it dropped immediately to 197F. Of course only the car was happy, I had 200F air blowing on me in 100F traffic......
Then I went to a car show and left around 9pm. The windows were down and the temp dropped into the low 60's upper 50's so I wanted to run the heater. Guess what, it would not blow hot air... It did not blow hot the entire way home. This is getting a bit perplexing. Anyone have any thoughts?
Jim