Over the weekend my Taurus fan on my 65 Elky gave up on me. I happened to have a fan with clutch from an 80's Chevy pickup with me and I got my self home. Ok here is the question. I'm running a stock 350/350 combo, 2 row aluminum radiator, with the Ford Taurus fan in town never heats up 190 fan kicks on down to 180. on the hyway it just slowly keeps climbing to as much as 220. If I turn on the factory a/c Well you probably know the answer. Running the mechanical with no shroud, a/c off 97 degrees outside, it was running 212 then back off to 207 or so, that was on the hyway as well. It isn't an air flow problem. is it the fact the radiator is just small ? Thanks
It kind of sounds like an air flow problem. Especially when you say in town it runs cooler than on the road at highway speed. In my experience it is usually the opposite. I had a friend that had a similar issue and found the fan was pushing and mounted on the inside. Idling around and in town it was able to push air through it and cooled alright but when he hit the road the higher volume of air flow coming caused issues with the pusher fan. Or you might have something going on in the nose that at higher speeds is diverting the air away from the radiator. Sometimes at higher speeds the water pump is running the water through so quickly that it does not have time to cool as much....just a few thoughts.
Mine acts the same way. 350/350 combo with a mechanical fan and shroud. Rad is original that use to cool a 394. Hiway is always 10-15 degrees hotter. Staying tuned for answers as well!
Something odd going on, to be sure. Highway cruising should have the most cool temps, esp with mechanical and shrouding. I'd be checking the fan clutch and engine timing, if the engine timing is retarded then it'll run warmer than it should. Lean will do it too on the highway.
Rule of thumb. Runs hot at highway speed- not enough radiator. Runs hot at low speed -not enough fan. wreckfixer, looks like a radiator problem to me. You don't need a fan at highway speed.
Old guys rule !! If it heats up going down the road you need a bigger radiator. If it heats up in town you need more fan!! Simple
Have you checked timing? I've to little timing cause this. Last car was around 2°, bumped it up to about 10° and its been fine since
Horse power is heat. The engine consistently makes more hp going down the highway even with the added airflow not enough radiator. You should check the radiator with one of those infared temp meters see if all of the radiator is flowing.
This is what I'm thinking also. I can slow down some and watch the temp come down, speed up or start pulling hill it warms up.
I'm tempted to say...Slow down but oh well. Not rocket science The fan needs to be as close to the radiator as possible. You need a fan shroud Same as above the suction hose needs to be in good shape. Corregated or have an internal spring. I believe in stats Radiator needs to be clean and run as little anti-freeze as possible As above check timing More HP more heat...
Is the Taurus fan a pusher or puller? It sounds like a air flow problem to me. I would keep the mechanical fan and use a shroud with the center of the blades at the edge of the shroud. When looking from the side.
Yes I'm running a 160 t-stat, the Taurus fan moves air like you wouldn't believe, and it is fully shrouded around the core, it would cool in town but not the hiway. After changing over to the mechanical fan it was running 215 going down the hiway at 65 mph,96 degrees, I didn't even try the a/c I was just ready to get home.
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