Help with CA overheat

A friend of mine bought a CA last year and while using it to cultivate it would overheat. He put a new T stat in it and also tried no thermostat with the same results. We took the head off and did not see any evidence of blow by in the head gasket. The head had recently been rebuilt, we sent it in to a machine shop and had them check it. They said no problem with the head. Water pump is spinning, fan is blowing air back towards driver, radiator seems to pass water top to bottom ok. We found that the engine was baldly wore out so we did a complete rebuild. I just got it put togather and running today, runs great, still seems to heat up fairly quike just sitting still idling. The guage went to 220, I used a infered thermo and checked temps at the water neck--208, at the top of radiator --208, bottom of radiator -- 170, engine block at water jacket 208, bottom of block  crankcase, --150. Did not boil over or even seem realy hot but it is not being worked yet. Also dont detect any exhaust or pressure in radiator. I tested the thermostat heating it up with a lighter and used infered to check opening, about 190. What is normal temp for a CA? Maybe this thermostat is to hot. What are we missing? My C that is rebuilt will only run 170 on a hot day pulling a belly mower. Thanks for any help, JM.

What are we missing? Well with all you have done it must be the rad. I would have gone there first.

When everthing is right even with a thermostat that engine should run pretty cool.

We did check the radiator for flow and it was ok, fan pulls air strong, tried different radiator caps. Still runs hot. What thermostat should it run?

We always test thermostats, old pot on the stove.  I would think you can run it without a thermostat.   We always cover the rad. in the winter to get them warmer. Keeps some of the cold air off of me.

All the thermostats I have purchased where 170F ones. Recommend testing the Thermostat in hot water (use your temp gage and a known one to correlate your gage); using a lighter only tells you that it will open. Tend to agree with those suggesting coolant flow issues. All the CA's I have rehabbed ran cool; it would take a lot of work (plowing) for any to exceed 170F.

If still have issues with overheating, check out your radiator. Blow compressed air thru the fins to remove dust and staw that have collected there over the years. I have also had to immerse the radiator in a tub of soapy water (TSP) and agitate it to remove the crud that collects in the fins that did not blow out. Also check that the fins are open. Check the flow thru it as described as Jeff described (some times the repair people block off too many tubes to repair a leaky radiator). If possible, borrow a known radiator.

Could be mud gunk in the block but like Steeve said the radiator sure could need rodded. You can have seemingly good flow by just dunping warter on top and watchiing it come out the bottom. However it the center tubes are plugged where the fan pulls the most volume of air thru it can still over heat. You have to remove the top and bottom tanks to run a rod thru the tubes If the tube are plugged flushing will not clean them out. A blade/rod needs to be pushed thru the tubes to clear them.  

I agree with Steve and Dick. When I overhauled a 60 Oliver (about same displacement) I couldn't believe the amount of junk in the water jackets, especially around cyl #4.

CTuckerNWIL wrote: I had an old Chevy truck once that started over heating on me. I finally found out the impeller was wore down so bad it wouldn't pump water anymore.

Thanks for your respones. This engine was completely tore down and rebuilt. Block was hot tanked and line bored. I have the time set, carb dialed in. We are going to have the radiator rodded out, check water pump flow. We were told the pump was new, I checked to see that the impeller was spinning when I put it on. If that doesnt work I think we will have to do a carbon monoxide test in the coolant. I wonder if it is possible to get a crack from the exhaust port to the water jacket and not have any water in the exhaust. I noticed when I first started the engine and got it running straight, it did seem like the engine was building heat fairly quick. It ran about 20-30 minutes before it hit 208.

Could you some how or ever got a head gasket without the holes between the head and block.  Those head gaskets will bolt on end for end. I have a few new head gaskets along with a few engines blocks in my home shop. I never checked the water holes in the gasket when I laid a gasket on the block end for end. When you put them on end for end the gasket is slightly short on one end and slightly long on the other. That is all I ever look for. I had noticed in the past that the bolt holes line up both ways though.

I just remembered that I have a radiator in my stack of used radiators that might get repaired some day that the baffle at the top to keep the flow from going out the over flow came loose. I didn't use that radiator on a tractor to know if it would have cause over heating but thinking about it, it might could maybe restrict flow thru the tubes to cause overheating. I had it on the tractor long enough to see that the water level would go down as it run at high idle. Still back to the radiator would need to go to a radiator shop.