Re: 1950 Packard 288 Auto overheating HELP
Posted by gone1951 On 2010/2/3 20:21:28
Quote:
My thought of changing to a 160 degree thermostat is to see if the resultant engine temp goes down to 160 degrees or remains higher. If the the engine stays over 160 after the change than the cooling system is not good enough for whatever reason /radiator/pump/clogs/transfer tube/ blown head gasket.
All things being equal changing to a 160 degree from say a 180 degree thermostat will not change the engine temp at all. This does not mean the cooling system has anything wrong with it. The best gauge as to the status of the cooling system is weather the thing boils over on a really hot day or not. If you can drive at say 40 MPH when the outside air temp is 100 degrees without loosing water out the overflow tube you don't have a problem no mater what the darn gauge says.
Note: a blown head gasket alows coolant to be lost by it being ingested through the cylinder and dumping it out the tail pipe. The engine overheats because of the loss of water not directly because the head gasket is blown.
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