Thread: overheating ?
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Old 07-12-2008, 11:06 AM   #9 (permalink)
rocketraider
Oldsdruid
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Danville Vajenya, the Last Capital of Dixie
Posts: 543
Quote:
Your engine IS going to run hot because of the lack of air flow, or the really hot ambient temp mixing with the already hot underhood conditions.
Olds uses shrouds, rubber seals and fixed air dams around the radiator and core support as part of their cooling system design. These components ensure maximum airflow across the radiator core, both under road speed conditions when a ram air effect does the majority of cooling, and in traffic when the fan does most of the airflow chores. If you have a clutch fan (which most Oldsmobiles since the late 50s have had) it has to function correctly too. If it free-wheels all the time instead of engaging (indicated by a distinct roar), you're going to have temperature problems.

That's why a lot of later cars and ALL transverse-engine cars have electric cooling fans mounted to the radiator. They're engineered to start at a certain temperature, and most all I know of also start any time the A/C is turned on.

If you're overheating under normal conditions, check the fan clutch and the radiator seals. The factory engineers took a lot of extreme scenarios into consideration when they designed your Oldsmobile's cooling system, so it really shouldn't have any trouble cooling itself unless something is not working per design.

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Viking, you shouldn't have any trouble fitting a factory overflow jug to your car, even with the vapor recovery canister in place. The jugs are identical on all 1971-73 Oldsmobiles (except Toronado without anti-lock brakes, and 1973 A and X body cars). If junkyarding, get the tank and all its mounting brackets.

You can get a closed system pressure cap about anywhere, though I am very partial to NOS AC caps. I'll use a Stant in a pinch, but that doesn't mean I like them. Never mind Stant has been making AC-Delco fuel and radiator caps for a while (ever wonder what that "S" in the cap means?), they just don't look as good as an AC cap.
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Just ask the owner of Oldspower.com
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