VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 Running hotter than "normal"

Hello all,
The last couple of times out the '50 has run up to 220 Deg. and overflowed when shut off. Also, it wouldn't cool down like usual when getting air through the radiator by driving steadily with no traffic lights. Today I noticed the bottom hose was pinched so I changed both hoses and the thermostat (160 deg.) 50/50 water and new Prestone coolant. It helped some (180 to almost 200)but the car always ran before at 160-180. The weather has been 80-85 degrees here lately.
Also, today I noticed my vacuum advance is not working for the distributor when revving the engine. I pulled the line and blew it out but no change. What else can I do to fix this, and would this contribute to the car running hotter?
Thanks for any help.
Dean

Sounds like you need a new vacuum advance. You can order a new vacuum advance from the Filling Station. They have them listed in their catalog. You can also order one on line at: www.fillingstation.com

Put a hand held vacuum pump on the vacuum advance .... see if it holds the vacuum steady or leaks down. If it leaks down, indicating the diaphragm is ruptured, replace the vacuum advance unit. An engine with retarded timing will run hotter.

Bob

Thanks for the tips, guys. Probably auto parts or Sears etc. would have these pumps?

Harbor Freight has the pump.

Unlikely the small amount the vacuum advance has on timing will cause the problem. in most cases the timing would have to be severely retarded to cause over heating.

Give the radiator a good back flushing.

Was the lower hose pinched or collapsed? If the pump is moving coolant faster than it can flow thru the radiator the bottom hose can be sucked shut if it isn't wire reinforced

I would suspect rust from the block has "moved" to the radiator.....Remove radiator and have cleaned. The water jackets in the block are probably filled with rust and the block should be flushed out. May be necessary to remove the "freeze plugs" on the left side to do this.

Thanks Dads31 and Gene,
Picked up a pump at Sears.
I know this is probably elementary to most of you guys but how are the freeze plugs removed? I would think I can flush the block while the radiator is out being cleaned. Thanks for your prompt replies.
Dean

You could also be having water pump problems.

Thanks thutch7244,
The mixture seems to be circulating pretty good, through the heater etc.
Dean

Dean 50,
Use the pump, determime if the advace is bad, if so, replace the advance and go from there. It's too easy to replace a pile of components for no good reason. Take baby steps .... one item at a time. It works so much better that way.

Bob

Thanks bobg,
I ordered the vacuum advance today from Filling Station. Vacuum test showed no vacuum.
Dean

Dean50,

Give us an update as to what corrects your overheating. Advise how the vacuum advance helped you and the performance of your car.

Bob

Will do Bob,
The advance kit didn't come yet, but I got a reverse flush kit and and some radiator cleaner and will do some scrapin' and flushin' this weekend.
Dean

At the very least remove the ENTIRE drain cock from the block and probe around in side the opening with a wire. You will be surprised what you will find.

Thanks Gene
I plan on doing that. I did it a couple of years ago just for kicks. You are right about finding stuff. I also picked up a 1/4" snake to try and get around inside there. I got some freeze (core) plugs but I'm not too sure if I can get the old ones out with the engine in the car.
Dean

i have installed filters in the outlet hose on all of my chevys you will be surprised at what it will collect . hope this helps

Pushrod what type of filter do you use.

That makes sense, Pushrod.
I have good news to report. Spent the afternoon flushing the radiator, heater and block. Removed the rear petcock fitting and dug around in there as much as I could. Got a mess of black boogery stuff out of there. Then reverse flushed the system until I got a good solid stream out of that rear petcock opening. Took a 25 mile or so jaunt and the little black Chevy seems happier. 160-170 mostly -up to 180 and cools right back down when you get rolling. I couldn't bring myself to start messing with freeze plugs, but if this didn't do it I would have. When it's back up to 85 or 90 outside I'll know for sure, but so far, so good! Thanks to everyone for the tips.

that's good to hear




just part of owning these relics.

i use the gano filter you can find the adress on line . on one after having the radiator cleaned and flussing the block several times there was a hand full of stuff that collected in the filter . a whole lot easier to clean the filter than the radiator . hope this helps

Pushrod,
The clear one looks like a real good idea. Where in the system do you install yours?
Thanks,
Dean

the clear one looked like a good idea but after a while the clear one becomes cloudy not much use i used the other one . the first one i cut the hose and clamped it the others i took the hose off and slipped it in the hose cant go anywhere . hope this helps

Hey Bob, Gene and everyone
I got the replacement vacuum advance today.It's a unit with the octane adjuster and it sure looks like I'll need to pull the distributor to replace this. That sound you hear is my knees knocking. So far this season every time I try to "fix" something, I screw it up worse. Any tips for this operation? It sounds pretty easy from the manual (P. 12-35) and I know that's not likely.
Thanks,
Dean

Dean,
Tie your knees together and then make a mark on the edge of the distributor body at the location of the rotor tip and also put a line on the body next to the engine casting. Put an corresponding mark on the block. Chalk, pencil, masking tape will all work as marker(s). Pull the distributor (take note of how far the rotor moves when removing), install the plate with vacuum advance and then with the rotor in the position that it was when removed push it back in place. If the engine was not rotated the distributor should fall back in place. Align all the marks to where they were originally, tighten the distributor and you are done.

BEFORE you remove the distributor note exactly where the rotor is "pointing". I usually stop the engine and/or tap the starter so the rotor is pointing straight forward or straight back for example. Then note where the grease cup on the distributor is located. Also note how much of the lower part of the distributor is sticking out of the block.
Loosen clamp screw at base of dist. and remove bolt holding octane selector to block. Pull dist. straight up slowly and note the rotor moves due to the sprial dist. gear. Change advance and reinstall dist. When all the way down the rotor should be pointing to the original direction. Dist. will not always go all the way down due to the slot in the oil pump be turned a little one way or the other. May take several attempts to turn the pump with a long screw driver so the dist. goes all the way down. The timing will need to be reset after all is in place and you get the engine running.
DO NOT TURN OVER THE EGINE WHILE THE DIST. IS REMOVED.