1995 Ford Mustang - 3.8L Overheat

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nickscarcare
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1995 Ford Mustang - 3.8L Overheat

Post by nickscarcare »

I have a 95 Mustang that the customer put his own radiator and thermostat in last summer, and couple of months later it started overheating.

I put in a new Motorcraft thermostat and new radiator cap. The system does not build pressure, I can just pull the cap off at anytime with no pressure. Has anyone seen waterpumps on these that the fins rot off of? It now seems to only go up to 210 and then comes down when the fans kick in, which seems ok when it is idling. Customer says that is still warmer than it used to be. I can watch the flow when I rev it in the radiator tank, and it seems to be good flow there, good heat out dash.

Is this normal now, or is the customer right in it never read around the m in normal on the gauge before?
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liljoe
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Re: 1995 Mustang 3.8 overheat

Post by liljoe »

Sounds like normal operation to me, but yes I have seen several of these with nothing more then a star on the shaft where the impeller used to be. But it does not sound like that is your problem. Let me rephrase that; I don't think you have a bad water pump or any other problem for that matter.
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nickscarcare
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Re: 1995 Mustang - 3.8L Overheat

Post by nickscarcare »

Thanks liljoe, thats what I thought. I didn't figure to many were going to reply on this either. I don't know what the customer took out for a thermostat, it could have been a colder one and that is why he was used to it running lower on the gauge. Does not overheat on the test drive, I figured it was "normal".
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brianp87
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Re: 1995 Mustang - 3.8L Overheat

Post by brianp87 »

210 is pretty good for me. In the az heat with ac on 210 would be ok. Gauges on the dash are not always accurate especially 17 year old ones. I always let the vehicle idle for a long time then take it for a long road test to verify operating temp
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steven kiser
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Re: 1995 Mustang - 3.8L Overheat

Post by steven kiser »

been a hectic couple of days here or i would have replied sooner. got the ok for 5 major jobs that have been sitting waiting for an ok. the first words out of my mouth when a customer comes in with a problem like this is "no one knows your car better than you". sometimes i set myself up but as a rule something is different. why were the original ones replaced. was this something that he read in a magazine for added performance or cooling issues? if so he needs to be made aware that this may be a normal occurrence. the radiator may cause the gauge to act differently but it isn't wrong. an oversized radiator will make the gauge react slower, faster, etc. is the fan the correct one for the radiator? i've seen oversized radiators installed where after a while the fan can't keep up with the temp and even though all is well it will run hotter than normal. it's like if you stir a pot of water hard enough it will exceed the boiling point (in temperature) and not boil. :shock: these situations we need to become teachers and the customer a student. my dad comes from Missouri and like him i need to be shown something as well a s explained to me. this may be the reason i can explain to my customers so they full comprehend it. i feel if they can't they will look to others for a viable explanation.
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