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Hi, have a heating issue, i think.
Our 1940 110 strated running a little warm 190+degrees at 50miles an hour.
The outside temp was 100+ or -2degrees.
Proir to today the temp had always been in the dead center of the guage when driving .
So i removed the bottom hose and the top hose and flushed the engine block and the radiator until everything was clear.
Checked the thermostat in a pot of hot water, with a thermometer, and put all back together.
Filled with 50% antifreeze and water.
No noise from the water pump.
Disconnected the orgional temp gauge and replace with a Napa mechanical gauge.
Still ran at 190+never boiled over.
So do i need to worry or is this nomal in 100 degree temps.
Would a radiator fan help?
If so can anyone recommend a 6 volt fan?
Thank You
John Miller

Another item to check is the vacuum advance chamber. Make sure it is not leaking. A leaking chamber will result in retarded ignition timing and can contribute to a hotter running engine. This may be the problem since it came up abruptly.

(o{}o)

My own feeling is that driving in 100 deg. F. temperatures is a reasonably stressful situation for a car more than a half-century old and to be able to do that and still maintain more than 20 degrees below boiling is not indicative of a serious overheating problem, though of course I can understand you'd like to have a bit more of a cushion. At 50 mph or so an electric pusher fan will not offer much if anything, it's effectiveness drops off rapidly with road speed, as does the conventional fan.

For a little incremental improvement you might look to the usual things, fan belt tension and proper fit in the water pump pulley, cleanliness of the radiator core air passages, possibly excessively thick paint on the radiator core, and possibly use a "water wetter" (I assume you run water and not antifreeze in that climate), water pump impellor clearance, and the like.

Thank you, the radiator was recored 2yrs ago I will check the vacuum advance this weekend.
thanks
John Miller

Thanks, just checked the tension of the fan belt and the water pump and adjusted. The radiator was re-cored two years ago and seems to be clear.
This weekend will add water wetter and see how it goes.
Thanks
John Miller

Hi John:

The number on the thermostat is the temperature at which the unit begins to open. Full open is usually 20 degrees warmer.

If the gauge is now visually reading higher than before that could be the gauge itself. If you have been using the car a lot then lower compression will cause hotter running as will lean burning or retarded (excessive) ignition.

That aside, 190 at 100 degree ambient air temperature is pretty good stuff.