Overheating

Ford SportTrac Forum

Help Support Ford SportTrac Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Apats77

Member
Joined
Dec 16, 2019
Messages
67
Reaction score
9
Location
Loudoun, VA
So. I flushed my radiator and notice it didn’t seem full at all. I filled it and bled it to what I thought was sufficient.

I have a possible blown head gasket that is leaking gases into the coolant. I used Bars HG-1 as a bandage since the truck has 213k miles on it.

I have an issue with the coolant res getting constant bubbles in while the engine is warm and pressure has built. I replaced the rad cap with a duralast cap and still have bubbles. I then replaced it with MC cap and no bubbles

but at no point with any of the caps did the coolant in the res ever transfer back over to the radiator after the engine cooled. The radiator always had a small amount of fluid to be added.


well today it overheated in traffic (250*) I shut it off and added a gallon of coolant and 1/2 gal of water as well as let it sit high idle (1600rpm) for a half hour. It continuously burped.

It never overheated with the duralast cap that let it bubble constantly. So I’ve added coolant, burped it and put the duralast cap back on.

What the actual F is going on.

Typical idle temp is 185.
 
Maybe, Tstat not opening all the way or fan clutch not working properly or Rad is partialy pluged and need new, or as you said head gasket. Do you have white smoke in the exhaust? That would be the sign of coolant in the compression of a cylinder.
Do you have a check engine light on.?
 
I have an intermittent CEL but no stored codes and no white smoke. Fan seems to be working fine.

But how does it manage to stay cool then all the sudden get hot?

I guess I could do a new Tstat and housing. Zabtech has a metal one. Might as well attack the cheapest option first.
 
Update.
Overheated to the point of boiling today. Burped it again and decided to try something different.

I put a duralast rad cap on that I had been using before but switched to a motorcraft one because it was allowing bubbles from the rad to constantly go into the overflow tank.

now it isn’t overheating anymore.

my guess is that there is air getting in from somewhere either head gasket or thermostat housing and that inferior duralast cap is allowing it to bleed off the air.
 
I had an issue about 5yrs ago. My T-stat was the intermentant problem. Around town at 40mph and idle, all was well. Sometimes on the highway at 70 to 80 mph it would start to over heat. I have a scangauge II. I bought a 180 t-stat that solved my problem. I live in TX.
I tested the oem t-stat in boiling water. It was only opening 50%..
Btw I test all my t-stats before installation. I got a burned with a bad new one yrs ago. I dont like doing things twice.
 
I had an issue about 5yrs ago. My T-stat was the intermentant problem. Around town at 40mph and idle, all was well. Sometimes on the highway at 70 to 80 mph it would start to over heat. I have a scangauge II. I bought a 180 t-stat that solved my problem. I live in TX.
I tested the oem t-stat in boiling water. It was only opening 50%..
Btw I test all my t-stats before installation. I got a burned with a bad new one yrs ago. I dont like doing things twice.

Interesting. I might just bite the bullet then and do the whole housing and stat with Austekks aluminum one. Just eliminate that all together. I wonder if the stat they send with it is OE temp? I’d like to go a step cooler with all the miles this thing has.
 
OK,

FIRST you need to do two things...... Compression test the motor Every cylinder....... THEN do a cooling system pressure test, WARM and cold.....

Letting it get that hot is damaging the motor more and more every time !! The t stat is like $8 !!! that's a lot better then 80 for a housing and 4,000 for a motor !!
 
OK,

FIRST you need to do two things...... Compression test the motor Every cylinder....... THEN do a cooling system pressure test, WARM and cold.....

Letting it get that hot is damaging the motor more and more every time !! The t stat is like $8 !!! that's a lot better then 80 for a housing and 4,000 for a motor !!
Well I have to replace the whole housing because one of the bolts broke free and just keeps spinning so that’s gunna get done either way.
What will the compression test show?

Also if the system is over pressurizing what is that caused by?
 
Compression will show if you have a blown head gasket. That 170 PSI cylinder pressure will leak into the cooling system causing bubbles and other problems. You could have other things going on but the basic tests are needed prior to just throwing parts at it.
 
Why does it not overheat at idle/high idle but it will driving around?

that to me sounds like thermostat/water pump/restriction.
 
Why does it not overheat at idle/high idle but it will driving around?
Todd, is correct about the compression test. A leaking headgasket, will buble into the coolant.
Also when you start over heating. Leave the motor running and check that the bottom rad hose, is not colapsed. If collapsed, that can indicate a t-stat restriction or a radiator restriction. Restricted flow will suck the inlet hose flat. That hose should have a wire coil in it. To prevent colapse. Some cheap replacement hoses, do not have the coil. Also, long term water or too much water over coolant. Will rust away the coil, long term. Motor cold cap off you should be able the feel the coil in the full lengt5h of the hose.

But bubbling coolant is a sign of compresion into the coolant. And or air getting in somehow.
 
If your housing is not secure with that 3rd bolt then your coolant is steaming off just slightly and with that slight leak as the engine cools down is sucks in air from around the housing instead of coolant from the reservoir. You could also have a slight leak in the line between the radiator and the reservoir resulting in the same, no coolant in the radiator but the reservoir is full. You should look for white or tan powder around the cooling system.
 
You can and should have a compression test done if you believe there is head gasket damage. Do you see coolant in the oil?? You cannot properly diagnose the cooling system with bad or failed parts ie: broken thermostat housing bolt. However slight, that broken bolt is not allowing the cooling system work properly (leak) or build up the correct amount of pressure due to a leak. If you are having to add coolant. Where is the coolant going? Do you see a leak on the ground? When the thermostat housings leak, they usually drip into the valley between the cylinder heads, and you won't see a "leak" until that level gets high enough to spill out. If you are handy replacing the thermostat housing and water pump are not that difficult. If so here is a tip. Remove the alternator, then remove the alternator bracket as well as the idler pulley. It will make it MUCH easier to access the thermostat housing AND the water pump. ALWAYS replace EVERY rubber hose you remove!!
 
It was in fact the head gasket. I have since replaced..... everything. WP, stat, housing, head gaskets, flushed radiator.

the gases I was getting was exhaust gases, one cyl was completely washed, evident by the misfire and a like new looking spark plug. When I opened everything up it was even more apparent
 
Yup, Glad its fixed...
 
Top