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Big heating-problems with 400ci on PLymouth Satellite

Breth

Breth

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Switzerland
Hi all,

We do have a 72`Satellite with big overheating problems.
The owner told me everything was running good before. But now the stack-temp gauge shows 220F° after only a short time of running wich would be ok but there is no more thermostat in). Then i was trying the car on the autobahn were i was driving around 50mph. The gauges showed 250F° after only 4-5minutes of cruising. The temperature dont go down. It dosent matter how easy i cruise. The car has a electric fan wich is controlled by a switch inside, the temperature also dont go down if i pull the switch. It looks like the system can not remove the heat anymore. It dosent matter if i cruise, stand still or have the fan running. It jsut stay at the same temperature.

We checked or replaced following parts:

-Was removing the hose from the thermostat housing and run the engine to check flow. So there is alot of water comming out.
-new highflow thermostat (for now there is no thermostat installed)
-removed heads, plan them, check them for cracks (engine builder did it)
-new headgaskets (with the correct thikness because of the planing of the heads)
-new highflow waterpump
-there is a big aluminum raidator installed wich i cut open and checked all tubes and clean them and weld it back together)
-Welded a breather to the radiator to be shore there is no air in the system.
-Electric fan with shround is installed
-Disconnect the heater core (because it burtset ones under pressure, because there was somthing wrong with the customers radiator catchtank, a valve was closed, thats why the pressure of the system couldnt go free)

The only thing i wasnt checking or replacing is the radiator-cap. But the system make pressure how i can feel from the hoses. And when everything gets to hot it spits out over the overflow hose on the radiator wich goes in a overflow tank on our system and finally outside over a overflow hose.


Need help. Thank you very much, regards from switzerland.
 
Last edited:
I’m sure some people will chime in with better info.. but since you’ve tried everything else, try a new cap. I was told once that a cap with a higher pressure rating can cause issues. If your cap is over 16 psi, drop it down and see if any difference. If it’s already lower, try new one anyway..
https://www.amazon.com/Stant-10328-Lev-R-Vent-Radiator-Cap/dp/B000B8LKYQ

No sense making the changes you’ve done without trying the cap too.

Good luck!
 
Quick update:

We tryed out a new stock cap. We didnt changed it becasue it allreaddy was a "newer" one with 16psi. Now with the 100% working stock one we have the exact same problems. it goes over 250F° on the gauge and when i came back from the testdrive (about 10min) incl. Autobahn with bit of load and 3500rpm there were hard radiator hoses and when i turned off the engine it startet to spill out water over the hose on the cap.
 
Ok, updated update...
I just put the thermostat back in because i red in the forum that its recomended to run a thermostat. Its a high-flow one, but the result is complete the same as without. I also checking the timing. Its around 8-10° at idle and around 34-36 total. Messured with disconneted vacuum-hose on the distributor.
 
What you mean with colapse? Like fold up?
I could check, but from what i saw the hoses upper and lower alwalys were tight and under pressure
 
I can order a spring or maybe do a hardpipe out of aluminum when i dont get one asap. But all i can say is that when i rev up when the car stands still, the hose will not co-laps, it stays hard.
 
Breth said:
What you mean with colapse? Like fold up?
I could check, but from what i saw the hoses upper and lower alwalys were tight and under pressure
Click to expand...

That's the next thing I'd check is that lower hose, if you squeeze it really hard you shouldn't be able to collapse it if it has a spring in it. I also didn't see any mention of the carb tune, did you check your plugs to make sure it's not running really lean? Also didn't see a mention on radiator sizing? As for the electric fan, at 50mph it's not even in play since the air flow is already adequate. Once you have it running cool at 50mph flip the fan on in traffic to see if it's up to the task.
 
There is no spring in the hose for sure. But how i see i cant get one fast enought, so i think i build a hardpipe quickly.

Yes i forgot.

We did check the carb with a wideband. The AFR locks pretty ok, so i dont think we have a proeblm there.
 
I fought a similar problem years ago. I replaced everything that I could but nothing fixed the issue.

I finally determined that the head bolts were bottoming out inside the block and not allowing the head gasket to seal properly. This resulted in combustion gases getting into the coolant. There is a quick chemical test for those gases in the coolant at NAPA or what ever stores you have available in Switzerland.
 
Kinda sounds like a blockage somewhere. Also, make sure your fan is turning in the right direction it might be wired up backwards
 
I agree with mopar chuck is the fan going the correct direction, is the water pump pumping the correct direction and are the head gaskets correct, not upside down etc. Water is not flowing like it should.
 
Have you verified the gauge is accurate, factory gauges are known for being "off."
I would try a mechanical gauge or get a temp. gun and see what the motor measures on the thermostat housing, heads, radiator, etc. See what it says compared to your gauge. At 250 I would think it would puke coolant all over the ground once you shut the motor off, does it do that?
 
Yes my first thought was also that there is something blocked. It feels like the radiator donest get rid of the heat.

Yes, the fan is sucking in the right direction, it pulls the heat away from the radiator. (its mounted on the engine side of the radiator)

We did put in new headgaskets, but i didnt do it by myself, but i think my mechanic did it correct. The issue is the same now even after the head gaskets were replaced.

I checked with the Temprature gun on the thermostat housing and it was 220F°

And yes, when i shut of the engine starts to push the water out of the overflow hose.

I will now check the chemical in the water and then i will do a hardpipe to replace the hose.

Pretty strange everything........
 
Would rust in the engine block be restricting the flow? Has it ever been hot tanked and rebuilt?
 
Also, what pulleys do you have on your engine? mismatched or wrong diameters can over or underdrive the water pump creating issues.
 
I didnt checked the block that far, but we flushed everything out. But it wasnt that dirty. Also we running just on water in the moment, and it stays clear more or less.

We did this chemical test now, and the tester says that there is no CO2 in the water. We did 2 different tests, so now im shore that nothing is internal leaking.

I dont now about the pulleys but how the customer told me it worked before with this setup. So i dont think there is somthing wrong.

I also have noticed that in idle the temp all the time stays at 180F° (from what the gauge telle me) We also did 15 high revs (for the chemical test) and it allways stays at the same temp.

My last hope is now that the hose is co-lapsing.......
 
Use your heat gun to check the temp difference between the upper and lower rad hoses. A big temp difference indicates a plugged rad. A small difference would indicate it was too small or not rejecting the heat. I’m guessing there should be about a 20-30 degree difference???

Experts, feel free to correct me if I’m wrong
 
If everything else mentioned checks out good, I would look toward the water pump and thermostat. This is an area that you DO NOT want high flow. In cooling systems, you have to get the proper amount of dwell in the heat exchanger. The longer it can sit in the radiator, the more efficient it becomes. Of course there is a sweet spot on how long it can dwell, however when people put on high flow pumps and remove thermostats, the coolant moves through the system too fast causing temp creep. That is also where proper thermostats come into play. Most engines with proper clearances are made to operate most efficiently around 195 degrees. The thermostat is there to do two jobs. 1. Get the engine up to its proper operating temp as quick as possible to reduce wear, and 2. MAINTAIN that temp throughout operation. It will open and close due to the vehicles demand to keep that optimum temp.
 
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