1995 5L getting hot

BlakesStang · Aug 2, 2020

So my 1995 mustang GT 5.0 is getting hot under pretty much all driving conditions. Interstate driving, slow speed and even at idle eventually. I've swapped out the radiator cap. Also replaced the thermostat and then took it out completely. No joy, still gets hot. Bought an IR thermometer. Let the mustang warm up and started poking around. The water inlet to radiator was about 200 degrees. The radiator coils themselves were about 90 degrees with the engine still running. Does this tell me the radiator is plugged? Oh, and turning on the heater blows very warm air. I assume that indicates the water pump is functioning.
Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated!

jdaj · Aug 3, 2020

i have an 89 gt and had sort of the same issue. car used to run at 185-200 after full pulls with a 185 stat then started to hit 210-220 under normal driving. wound up being old coolant. did a coolant change and came back to 195-200 but before that i did this : with the car cold remove the radiator cap and start the car. when it warms up and the thermostat opens you should see the flow in the rad. that will tell u if the pump is working. also if the pump isnt leaking out of the weep hole then its probably ok. is the belt routed the way it should be ? i ask because if u recently changed it and installed it incorrectly it could be spinning pump in the wrong direction. does the coolant look rusty ? is the sending unit/gauge problematic ? you have to see if the coolant is circulating through the system if it is check sending unit/gauge

BlakesStang · Aug 3, 2020

jdaj said:
i have an 89 gt and had sort of the same issue. car used to run at 185-200 after full pulls with a 185 stat then started to hit 210-220 under normal driving. wound up being old coolant. did a coolant change and came back to 195-200 but before that i did this : with the car cold remove the radiator cap and start the car. when it warms up and the thermostat opens you should see the flow in the rad. that will tell u if the pump is working. also if the pump isnt leaking out of the weep hole then its probably ok. is the belt routed the way it should be ? i ask because if u recently changed it and installed it incorrectly it could be spinning pump in the wrong direction. does the coolant look rusty ? is the sending unit/gauge problematic ? you have to see if the coolant is circulating through the system if it is check sending unit/gauge

That is actually a good thought and I should have mentioned we have flushed the radiator three times and the water looks pretty bad still. Rusty and cloudy. I will also try to look into the radiator with it running. See what I can see. At this point I am thinking of pulling the radiator and taking it to a shop and have it flushed. I'll let you know what happens.
Thanks for the advice.

jdaj · Aug 3, 2020

no problem. glad to be able to help a little

1995 5L getting hot

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