Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Some time back we talked about overheating in parades or long stretches of hot traffic standing still.

I have had the radiator and water pump checked and have flushed the system. My belts are new and properly tensioned. My thermostat is right side up and functioning correctly. Still overheats in those scenarios, sooooooo

Thinking of installing an electric pusher fan. on a switch, with a relay.

Is there a one stop solution here? Inexpensive? What is it?

or

How would you mount it? Any particular brand catch your eye?
What did you do on your car?

Is your answer based on your experience, or are you speculating?

Thanx!

One last question: If caught in such a situation, does it make sense to put the car in neutral and rev it somewhat, or does that just make things worse?

and another thought....

has anyone sourced a lower tempurature thermastat for these cars? that would circulate the water faster.

i have one of these on my z3 and it works great being the z3 is supercharged. stock is like 190s and i have a 160 on it. not the best for cold weather, but it keeps things cooler.

just a thought as then it would be hidden unlike an electric fan.

Hank

I haven't used a fan but the aftermarket AC guys seem to have quite an assortment for problems that come up with their add ons.. Old Car Air is one Fans and accessories that has a nice selection of fans and also thermostatic switches you could use in conjunction with your manual switch. They may have even have a suggestion for the best combination to use. Believe Vintage Air also carries them.

I've had my 55 Pat in stop/go traffic in 110F in Las Vegas without a problem and it has the stock 4-bladed fan.

How did you have your radiator checked? The only sure way is to remove it and take it to a radiator shop. Maybe it is partly clogged -- not an uncommon problem on old cars.

Craig

Quote:


I would think by now with all the talk on here about thermostats and overheating that the suggestion to install a lower temperature thermostat has been proven useless. You should know by now that the thermostat sets the low limit not the high. Putting in a lower temp thermostat will not help the problem indicated in the original post.

I had a 56 Patrician with an aftermarket air conditioner and an aftermarket seven bladed fan. The car tended to get hot (but not boil) when the air conditioner was on either in a parade or traffic jams. I installed an inexpensive pusher fan in front of the radiator wired to operate whenever the air conditioner was on. I had no overheating problems after that.

What evidence is there of this overheating claim????? Just because the FACTORY temp gauge goes to the left further than u think it should???? FACTORY production temp gauges can not be trusted.

If the radiator is not puking out coolant to any significant extent then most likely the car is NOT overheating.

Install a REAL temperature gauge instead of depending on the lousy production gauge. I'm not pointing tis at Packard specifically. I'm pointing this at ANY ALL EACH AND every production car ever built with FACTORY electric temperature gauges.

Just asking, have you done a thorough flush on your block and radiator?

What I usually do is buy a can of the FLAPS radiator flush, pour it in, run the engine for a while. Previously, make a fitting to adapt a garden hose to the radiator draincock hole. Usually the drain is 1/8" or 1/4" NPT. I put a garden hose connected to the bottom draincock on my hot water heater. Running pressurized hot water in the bottom of the radiator, through the engine and out the top of the radiator will bring out an incredible amount of rusty sludge.

Refill with 50/50 and see if it lowers the idling temp.

jack vines

Radiators need two functions to lower the temperature of the cooling system. The flow must be sufficient and the surface of the fins must radiate heat sufficiently.

Flow can be checked (but not perfectly) by removing the radiator cap, warming up the engine to operating temperature so that the thermostat opens. Then rev up the engine and if the water level rises it probably means that the flow down through the radiator is insufficient meaning it is clogged. If the water pump impeller has too much clearance it will not pump enough but this cannot be diagnosed this way.

The best surface finish on a radiator for heat dissipation is a very thin flat black finish. Glossy or thick finishes reduce efficiency. With the current trend of over restoration and the indiscriminate use epoxy finishes, sometimes restored cars look great but are not "cool".

HINT. If your car is running hot in traffic turn on the heater and put the blower to HIGH. The heater is actually a radiator.

HINT. If your car is running hot in traffic turn on the heater and put the blower to HIGH. The heater is actually a radiator.

That makes me overheat--badly.

In somewhat random order....

I have a mechanic who does most work for me, He wouldn't claim he's perfect, but he has always been honest--and I think he is normally competent. He tells me the radiator is functioning properly.

As to overheating, normally the car runs cool according to the guage; it also runs smoothly, which seems to support the idea that the temp is ok. On two occasions last summer, the temp gauge got up to and slightly past 12 oclock; more importantly the car ran rough for several miles until it cooled down. Guage accuracy may be dubious; running rough isn't. One situation was in a parade which was tthree miles without touching the gas on a sweltering day. The other was stopped by road construction, during which we went possibly a mile in an hour with no place to turn off (between those lovely concrete barriers).

As far as I could tell, there was no boil-off.

Radiator is flat black and is definitely not over restored.

Where did you get the seven bladed fan?

Coming back to the pusher fan, how would you mount it? I can't see using any kind of mount that involves anchoring to the radiator tubes or fins. Questions like this are why I ask for as many specifics as possible: who the good brands are, which vendors can be trusted, which are pricey: all that stuff.