At 06:28 PM 4/20/2002 -0700, you wrote:
>HOWEVER: In any Imperial with the cooling system in such a marginal state
>that you have to worry about things like this, you need to clean it out,
>including the block (see IML archives for procedure). These cars were
>(OVER)-designed with a cooling system that tolerates years of abuse and
>accumulated crud, even in severe environments (like Texas), so if it is
>telling you there is a problem, it is in really, REALLY bad shape. Clean
>the poor thing out before you warp a head or worse!
Thanks DB. The "auxiliary" radiator (from a BMW motorcycle) keeps the
temperature below 200 most of the time in the summer. Sometimes, it
reaches 210 on a continuous high speed drive if I have not flashed the
system for a while. After I flash it, and let much of the rust out, it
runs cooler. These temperatures are well within the tolerance limits of
the old and still very powerful 440. This is the Sedan engine with the big
cam. My guess is that once I repair the AC, the little auxiliary radiator
will not be sufficient, and the temperature may start rising again. But
till then, my unusual conversion protects the engine. Until I installed
the BMW radiator, the temperature would often exceed 220 (I had seen
temperatures as high as 240, in which case I would pull over and slowly
poor cold water on the radiator with the engine idling, this would cool the
engine down). The only damage the overheating did was to kill the valve
stem seals (I think the two were related). So since then, the car puts two
good puffs of blue smoke when started, but the smoke disappears within
seconds of running. The problem is certainly NOT from the rings, since I
have not had to replace/cleane the plugs since 1996 (over 40,000
miles). Also, the engine has enough power to keep up with ease on the open
road with an Audi A-6 2.7 twin turbo!
D^2, 2x68s
Back to the Home of the Forward Look Network