The good old radiator

[Flyfisherman128]

I know this has been discussed to death but here goes. '92 Winnie 454 overheats. I did all the things suggested right up to replacing the radiator i.e. replaced the fan clutch, changed the thermostat, flushed the radiator, cleaned the radiator, replaced the aux fan. I am at that point. I am tired of watching my temp gauge running on the edge of red. I am about to replace the radiator. My question is..radiator shop rebuild or DIY replacement? I have the tools, skills and garage to do it myself. I only want to do this once, I want to do it right. I haven't brought it to a radiator shop to see what that will cost verses ordering up a new one.

[PUCampin]

This is a long shot but you are looking at all possibilities,

There was a thread a couple years ago where the owner of a 454 powered Class A discovered the part store had sold him the wrong water pump. The van application, not the MH application. Something about how the belt was routed different on the MH meant the pump ran reverse the direction of the van, so the MH pump had the impeller blades reversed to compensate. With the van pump, the impeller was turning the wrong way way and not working.

Not sure how to link to an old thread, just search "Overheating 454", it is from 2010

[Gjac]

trpwire wrote:
Had exactly the same problem with my 454 Dolphin.

Temp gun revealed fan clutch was not engaging until 250 degrees, replaced with NAPA part to yield maginal cooling. Removed the Aux fan and voila, perfect temps. Aux fan was blocking good air flow.

Wally C.

Flyfisherman128 wrote:
I know this has been discussed to death but here goes. '92 Winnie 454 overheats. I did all the things suggested right up to replacing the radiator i.e. replaced the fan clutch, changed the thermostat, flushed the radiator, cleaned the radiator, replaced the aux fan. I am at that point. I am tired of watching my temp gauge running on the edge of red. I am about to replace the radiator. My question is..radiator shop rebuild or DIY replacement? I have the tools, skills and garage to do it myself. I only want to do this once, I want to do it right. I haven't brought it to a radiator shop to see what that will cost verses ordering up a new one.

Are you saying the the Aux fan was blocking air flow when it was engaged and spinning ? or disengaged?

[trpwire]

Had exactly the same problem with my 454 Dolphin.

Temp gun revealed fan clutch was not engaging until 250 degrees, replaced with NAPA part to yield maginal cooling. Removed the Aux fan and voila, perfect temps. Aux fan was blocking good air flow.

Wally C.

Flyfisherman128 wrote:
I know this has been discussed to death but here goes. '92 Winnie 454 overheats. I did all the things suggested right up to replacing the radiator i.e. replaced the fan clutch, changed the thermostat, flushed the radiator, cleaned the radiator, replaced the aux fan. I am at that point. I am tired of watching my temp gauge running on the edge of red. I am about to replace the radiator. My question is..radiator shop rebuild or DIY replacement? I have the tools, skills and garage to do it myself. I only want to do this once, I want to do it right. I haven't brought it to a radiator shop to see what that will cost verses ordering up a new one.

[LVJ58]

Long shot, but with what you describe, your timing chain may be worn to the extent cam timing may have been compromised. I had an 84 coach with the 454 and had to replace timing chain, however it had high mileage on engine, 92k miles.

[Dachristianman]

Mine had some stuff between the condenser and radiator, but the majority of my issue was that the radiator was clogged with cottonwood fibers. They were more embedded in the fins of the radiator. It was a mess. That is a good idea though, to make a tool to get the larger stuff out from between the two units. An ounce of prevention goes a long ways to needing cures.

[Gjac]

Dachristianman wrote:
My 92 Brave 454 had some overheating issues, and I went ahead and pulled the radiator. (As a note, it can be done without draining the A/C condensor). Anyhow, mine was caused by plugged fins, but since I had it out, a radiator shop flow-tested and pressure tested it. He ran it up to about 25 PSI just to see if it had any weak areas. It held the pressure. It wasn't flowing at 100%, but he did get it flowing better by using pressure and who knows what else. He didn't have to crack it open, and I didn't want to spend the $450 to have it recored. I'm back in business and no overheating. In fact, my clutch fan hardly kicks in any longer.

$50 and a day's work well spent.

Tom

I made a tool to clean the fins without taking the condenser off. I took 1/4 plastic tubing and drilled 1/8 holes in the end of the tubing radially around the dia. I plugged the end with a screw and put a std garden hose on the other end. The hose is about 3 feet long and can reach between the radiator and AC condenser to clean bugs and other debris from the fins. I was surprised at the buildup of stuff in between.

[Dachristianman]

My 92 Brave 454 had some overheating issues, and I went ahead and pulled the radiator. (As a note, it can be done without draining the A/C condensor). Anyhow, mine was caused by plugged fins, but since I had it out, a radiator shop flow-tested and pressure tested it. He ran it up to about 25 PSI just to see if it had any weak areas. It held the pressure. It wasn't flowing at 100%, but he did get it flowing better by using pressure and who knows what else. He didn't have to crack it open, and I didn't want to spend the $450 to have it recored. I'm back in business and no overheating. In fact, my clutch fan hardly kicks in any longer.

$50 and a day's work well spent.

Tom

[olfarmer]

noleakman wrote:
I have had a Radiator shop for 25 years and my opinion would be first I dought you could get a new radiator for that old of vehicle and factory fan clutch is so much better but most people don't want to pay the price any orignal radiator is junk at that age weather you flush it or what ever! Flushing does nothing except changing old coolant with new! If you Rod out a radiator you know it is cleaned but old radiators just dont take a rod out with out alot of patching and repairs! Get new core from a good shop!

I agree, that is what I did with my 87 Itasca and no problems after that. I couldn't find a new radiator either.

[BrianinMichigan]

noleakman wrote:
I have had a Radiator shop for 25 years and my opinion would be first I dought you could get a new radiator for that old of vehicle and factory fan clutch is so much better but most people don't want to pay the price any orignal radiator is junk at that age weather you flush it or what ever! Flushing does nothing except changing old coolant with new! If you Rod out a radiator you know it is cleaned but old radiators just dont take a rod out with out alot of patching and repairs! Get new core from a good shop!

Right on.

[noleakman]

I have had a Radiator shop for 25 years and my opinion would be first I dought you could get a new radiator for that old of vehicle and factory fan clutch is so much better but most people don't want to pay the price any orignal radiator is junk at that age weather you flush it or what ever! Flushing does nothing except changing old coolant with new! If you Rod out a radiator you know it is cleaned but old radiators just dont take a rod out with out alot of patching and repairs! Get new core from a good shop!

[John_Joey]

Just wondering has this done it ever since you've owned the rig, or just recently. Reason is maybe a prior owner replaced the radiator with an undersized one. If that is the case, then a recore would not solve the problem.

[down_home]

Flyfisherman128 wrote:
funny that you say the motor sputters when this happens maybe the motor is running to lean lean motors have higher combustion temp. does the motor idle fast if it does you may have vacuum leak low fuel pressure can make it run lean bad o2 sensor can make it run lean

My guess with the back fire is the fuel gets so hot that it vaporizes and pre ignites in the combustion chamber. The back fire is out of the throttle body. I believe that in a carbureted engine the fuel line pressure is 7 psi, in a throttle body is around 18 psi and in a fuel injected engine its around 60 psi. In the old days of carbs we used to get vapor lock. This sort of acts like that. I would have thought that with the higher pressures it couldn't be that. All of the fuel lines are away from hot surfaces and are well insulated.

Could be burned gasket between cylinders.

[C350amg]

Have you checked the water pump ? is it making the water circulate?

[FEDowner]

The factory fan clutch was the only one that worked on my 68 Corvette, the aftermarket ones took out 3 water pumps before we figured it out.