Plymouth Satellite 440 Mopar Cooling Q

topcatcustom · Post by **topcatcustom** » Wed Jul 11, 2012 12:58 pm

My cousin has a Satellite with a 440 Mopar which seems to struggle keeping cool.

He bought it maybe a couple of years ago and was fine until it boiled up one day during a steady drive along the A12 back from North Weald with me along side in the Mazda. We stopped at a garage and it boiled, topped it up with cool water and got home ok.

Since then it occasionally gets hot, we also tried replacing the viscous fan with a big electric one but even sitting on tick over yesterday it got towards the hot end so he shut it down.

He has tested the thermostat and it works, flushed the radiator out and doesn't seem to be any restriction, and topped it up with anti-freeze & water.

We don't know the actual tune of the engine, it made something like 300bhp on the rollers and a mountain of torque, but unknown history- I also found a disconnected nitrous line going from the boot to the engine bay (I'm sure it is a N20 line) so I assume it's got some trick bits in it or had gas in the past.

Do you think it could be a head gasket issue or any other ideas? Wants to get it on the road before harvest as he will be flat out until much later in the year soon but not much good overheating!

ian.stewart · Post by **ian.stewart** » Wed Jul 11, 2012 2:24 pm

because its irregular, I would be possibly thinking the coolant level is dropping over a period of time,

topcatcustom · Post by **topcatcustom** » Wed Jul 11, 2012 4:45 pm

Only irregular over short periods of time Ian, although he hasn't used it lately and the problem is definitely worse.

ChrisJC · Post by **ChrisJC** » Wed Jul 11, 2012 7:00 pm

Does it lose water?
Are you sure the temperature gauge is working properly?

Chris.

topcatcustom · Post by **topcatcustom** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 6:51 am

Doesn't lose enough water (if any) to be noticeable, and we have assumed the temp gauge is working ok, when it boiled up the temp gauge was reading high, haven't actually checked it though!

DEVONMAN · Post by **DEVONMAN** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 7:34 am

I would first go for the cheap option and replace the thermostat.
I have had a stat which opened some day and stayed stuck closed other days.

Maybe if your cousin thrashed it at North Weald that day some thing got damaged like the water pump impeller but unlikely if it's an intermittent fault.

Cheers Denis

topcatcustom · Post by **topcatcustom** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 5:26 pm

He likes to light up the rears, but being a lazy auto I doubt anything has broken.

I'll suggest a thermostat change although I think he ran it without one to test it and still overheated.

What else can it possibly be?

SimpleSimon · Post by **SimpleSimon** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 6:40 pm

Clogged radiator as in the the tubes have scaled up, seen this more times than i care to remember

teamidris · Post by **teamidris** » Sun Jul 22, 2012 4:23 pm

As Above. It fixed my pinto transit

It's easy to assume a rad is good inside if it is clean on the outside? (I design them with fouling-factor in mind). They can easily exceed the rad limit if its had rad weld in there or the like

Well worth taking it off for a swish about to see what comes out.

topcatcustom · Post by **topcatcustom** » Sun Jul 22, 2012 6:48 pm

It has been flushed through with a steam cleaner already, first thing he did after it over heated the first time... Not had a chance to do anything much this weekend but will have another look at it soon.

Eliot · Post by **Eliot** » Wed Jul 25, 2012 11:13 am

I dont really see how "flushing" a radiator will make any difference tbh. Once furred and clogged, its furred and clogged.