I just drove to the cottage and when I got in the driveway and shut the car off a bunch of steam started billowing from under the hood. The radiator has packed it in. The core in mint, except for one small spot of a few square inches where the fins are rotted. Guess where it's leaking? And I'm 60 miles from home. And I gave the can of Bar's Leaks I had in the shed up here to the neighbour to put in the radiator of his welder a few eaks ago. The trip hoome tomorrow should be pleasant - it's supposed to rain and I'm not sure the car will make it. I'll carry a few gallons of water with me, but I swear if that fvcker starts to break down or won't hold its water I'll drive it until that 302 is nothing but a molten glob of iron before I let it strand me :mad:.
The alternator last week, the radiator this week... sometimes I wonder why I like that great white beast so much...
Ford............. constant maintenance. That sucks, man.
my 3.8 did the same thing and its running fine...youre 5.0 should be just fine
While it does indeed suck that you're having a run of bad luck here, I must point out one funny thing:
It's amusing to see you dodging the profanity censor of your own forum. :p
How big is the hole? I assume the rad will be changed at the first chance. You might want to try a trick I've done in the pass that got me out of trouble. You're at the cabin so you should have some black pepper handy. Give a half-dozen shakes of pepper into the rad. The pepper will find it's way to the holes and plug them up once the motor has been running for a while.
I heard that egg whites do the same thing. Dont feel too bad, I have a waterpump go and had to drive 40 or so minutes stopping every 2 or so minutes and waiting 10 for it to cool off. Then the next day, when I changed from my 3.8 to the 5.0, my 5.0 threw the belt without any lights going off. I made it home just before I realized that it was over heating. My belt tensioner went out. First the berrings seized, and about 5,000 miles later the spring or what even holds the spring in broke. Now I cant get my black 5.0 going until I buy another belt tensioner. Its a good thing I have like 4 of em.
I know breaking down always sucks, but at least a rad is not too hard to change and only costs about $150.
If would almost be a sin to blow up such a low mileage engine block like yours :nono:
I have been having a similar string of problems with my car, but I let them all accumulated untill now. Tonight I have to change both struts, both strut mounts, both from coil springs (broke both), the RH lower ball joint, all four tie rods, the LH front bearing, change the oil, and fix a surging problem I hope is the TPS.
After all that the car better run for a long time.
I've used the pepper trick myself before, in my old '80 Firebird, with disastrous results. On Highway 102 going into Halifax at 140+ km/hr (the speedo only read that high) the radiator split wide open where the tank was soldered onto the core. Granted, I was probably pushing it by travelling so fast with a known weak rad, the experience soured me on pepper. Besides, it also tends to plug heater cores (it did on my Firebird), and given the difficulty in changing the core on these cars I'll take my chances. Truthfully, I'd rather change the engine (besides, it would give me the kick in the arse I need for the HO swap).
In the end, though, I won't push it too hard. It's only a pinhole, so I should be OK as long as I keep my eye on the gauge and take it easy. I know the enginie is OK now because it didn't overheat - as soon as I saw steam I looked at the gauge, which was about up about 3/4 of the way, still well below the red zone. The steam was just from coolant all over the hot rad core evapourating.
I'll be carrying water, and if the weather forecast holds true the ditches should be full if I need to refill it. I'm not mad enough at it anymore to risk ruining the engine - not so much because I don't wanna ruin a low mileage engine, but because if I did ruin it I'd have to drive the Dakota until it was fixed - a fate worse than death. Well, not death, but close anyway.
I could have done without having to spend the $$ for a new rad, though - on the bright side, if it's not too much more expensive I may have a 3-row core installed in it. The funny thing is that I was going to install a tranny cooler today that my father gave me because I occasionally tow a utility trailer (this morning I towed the snowmobile home so I can sell it, in fact). I guess the cooler will be easier to install with the rad out...
How far up from the bottom of the radiator is the leak?
I've driven my thunderbird 40 miles home with a hole in the radiator (it was only a few inches from the top of the radiator but the car was over 210 degrees by the time I got home and shut it off). Also last winter, my Tempo's water pump went south while I was at work...pulled out of work and made it less than a mile when I realized something was up because the temp gauge was almost all the way up. Turned around and went back to a store to get some coolant & water, poured it in the radiator, heard the sound of water hitting the ground...look under the car and it's g it all over the place. I had to stop 2 or 3 times on the way home to dump more water in the radiator, ended up using over a gallon to get me home.
Shhhhhh... don't say tempo water pump out loud!!! Thats probably whats gonna go on my tempo next. In addition to the above list of parts, I now need new CV boots.
Thunderchicken: I musta misread. I thought you had a gapeing hole in that rad.
take pliers and pinch of the offending rows.
come on man since when did rads have anything do do with ford...hey shiznit happens
Yeah, wait'll you get to replace the water pump. It's a ball... :yuck:
I had the water pump and starter go out within a month of each other last winter. I sure hope nothing like that happens this winter. I just need that car to make it through to the spring and then I'll probably junk it (it's rustin out like crazy anyway...there's a couple spots in the trunk where the floor is rusted through)
dude, stick of gum, chew, apply to cold rad, let harden, and you're home free. works great.
loosen the cap on the rad so it doesnt build pressure. and you should be good. . the gum isnt a bad idea works good i heard. i had my pad blow up on me in traffic last week in the mustang. and looked down at the gauge was at 260 (wow) but the police clutfan helped. i thought the gage was screwed up till i got off the road and saw a puddle of coolant infront of the car after a few seconds. i soon got watter and left the cap off and was good. i also knew the rad was going it spewed coolant everyonce in a while.
Well the new rad is in. It's still two row but the core is much thicker, and there are way more tubes. It looks much more efficient
Pic#1: The old rad. You can see how rotten the upper right side is and how much the fins have disappeared. This is where it was leaking. Note, too, how relatively sparse the tubes are compared to:
Pic #2: The new rad. Shiny, black, and many more tubes
Pic #3: The core is much thicker as well
Not a bad rad,
I need to get my rad recored i will take a few pics of it and its missing fins,
But mine is a 28inch wide 4 core custom rad made to fit my cougar and i have had it for over 5 years so recoring if for 150 bucks is no big deal to me i got my moneys worth out if it.
The car is on its third pump. Been there done that, got the t-shirt.
I complain but, all and all this car has been very reliable for all the abuse it gets (gravel roads, the pot hole filled streets of manitoba, ideling for days at -40*)
Sorry for the thread hijack.
That's because you bought a high diff rad, you know, like the TV's :)