Re: 1950 Packard 288 Auto overheating HELP

Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2011/2/18 12:33:27

No, you shouldn't use telfon tape on the temperature sensor in the cylinder head, though many folks do. A "few dozen turns? - 2 or 3 is adequate if you must use it. It's an electrical resistance unit so it needs a ground to the head, but that probably has already happened as the tape isn't strong enough to resist cutting by the sharpness of the threads. Anyway, your UV gun confirms the temperature so you should be able to discount that unless the UV gun is in error. Have you ever simply put a good laboratory glass/mercury thermometer in the radiator tank to verify the temperature? Even a good kitchen meat thermometer would be useful to confirm the other observations.

Of course the flow in the top radiator tank should be minimal at idle and increase as the pump speed increases.

Are you absolutely certain you have an adequate radiator? Was it "flow-tested"; i.e. measured for the gravity flow in gallons per minute? Probably 90% of all over heating problems are radiator, fan belt or water pump related. I suspect something very, very simple has been missed, and/or we have an erroneous piece of information somewhere.