1978 Ford Fairmont over heating problem

Tiny
BRIAN351
  • MEMBER
  • 1978 FORD FAIRMONT
  • V8
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 78,600 MILES
Hi there I have a ford fairmont 1978 351 Cleveland Australian car with overheating problems, after running the engine for about a one minute I take off the radiator cap and cover over with my hand when I take my hand off a hole heap of coolant comes out there seams to be a huge amount of pressure and the engine is not even hot yet, when I go to the tail pipe there are small water droplets coming out of it is it condensate or coolant, after running driving the car for 30min I turn it off because is over heating sometimes there I steam coming out the back of the engine cant see were and every thing is red hot to touch, there is also orange yellow gunk on radiator cap, the engine is worked 11:1compression on gas only it runs twin impco vac carbbys, I have replaced new cast iron water pump, 50/50 coolant mix, new 160 thermo stat, new hoses, new oil automatic cooler, new spark plugs, new air filter, new desert cooler alloy radiator, new 16 radiator cap, new twin au10" thermo fans with manual and thermostat control, have checked timing is spot on, have done a pressure test on cooling system it holds pressure for days no leaks that can see, did a cylinder compression test reading:
left bank right bank
165psi 150psi
165psi 160psi
165psi 160psi
180psi 170psi
temp gauge OK
have checked air flow is OK
have checked if water in oil or on oil cap is OK
have checked if bubbles in radiator when running is OK
no white smoke out of tail pipe
oil level good
could it be the cylinder heads or gaskets?Only thing haven't checked.
i have no history of this problem before because I just bought
please help me
Saturday, February 16th, 2008 AT 4:42 AM

3 Replies

Tiny
DAVEMAYWOOD
  • MEMBER
  • 8 POSTS
Try running it without the thermostat and see if that works they can be bad out of the box
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Saturday, February 16th, 2008 AT 5:38 AM
Tiny
BRIAN351
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
Yes have tried running no thermo stast, the car came with no thermostat, but with no thermostat it graduily built up heat over a longer period of time and did not come down, but with the thermo stat the temp goes up and down as it opens, but once it heats up it stayes over operating temp
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Sunday, February 17th, 2008 AT 3:16 AM
Tiny
Z28
  • MEMBER
  • 1 POST
Have you looked at head gasket orientation to see if maybe one of them is on backwards? It would also be easy to put on a 351 Windsor head gasket, but I think you have one on backwards as it is blowing water out before it heats up to operating temp. Good luck!
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Monday, November 10th, 2008 AT 8:05 PM

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