Bought an 87 GT...problems and questions!!!

1FatPony · Sep 17, 2006

I am pretty convinced that something bad is wrong. The last time it overheated it was less than 10 minutes after I filled up the radiator. When it overheated the temp was way up so I couldnt even see the needle anymore. I checked under the hood and it was overheating into the overflow tank. No leaks. i waited until it cooled off, filled the radiator back up and finally got it home (5 more minutes). When i got there it was hot but not overflowing yet. this morning i drained the radiator and barely any water came out. Less than one bottle of the collant was in the radiator. and there was barly any water on the ground.

jete · Sep 17, 2006

Sounds like a case of terminal head gasket failure.

Foxfan88 · Sep 17, 2006

ninety15.0 said:
Well thats your problem right there. You need a t-stat or else that water does not stay in the radiator for long enough to effectively cool down. Replace it with a nice mr. gasket 180* t-stat and see what happens. If you are consistently blowing white smoke i would also look hard at a cheap rebuilt/gasket set. you can just re-ring and bearing it for well under 1.5k...like u said u could afford. Even make some improvements...good luck

i dont think having no t-stat would cause the engine to overheat. it would just take forever to get up to temp, but it shouldnt have any overheatting problems.

JChalfan · Sep 18, 2006

1FatPony said:
this morning i drained the radiator and barely any water came out. Less than one bottle of the collant was in the radiator. and there was barly any water on the ground.

I agree with jete, sounds like a likely head gasket failure.

I also agree with vristang that pressure testing the cooling system is in order before you go tearing the engine down.

Out of curiosity, what all has been done to the engine that you know of? Does it have a stock intake, heads, and headers? I'm just curious if the guy you bought it from was BSing you about the cam. Usually people don't put a bigger cam in an otherwise stock engine.

Good luck, let us know what you find.

Jeff

1FatPony · Sep 18, 2006

the engine mods include crane cam, k&n, flows, and I think thats it. Im pretty sure there is an aftermarket cam in there. When the engine is on the whole engine shakes but when reved up sounds smooth. It also has the crane cam sticker on the fan shroud.

I will try to get the heads off today and see how the gaskets look.

dastang2 · Sep 18, 2006

won't the gaskets just look split apart, it won't show that it is blown in all cases. maybe you should also look for the cause of the blown gasket also.

Foxfan88 · Sep 18, 2006

if your going to go as far as "check" the head gaskets, it would seem it would be a good idea to go ahead and swap em out while your there lol.

1FatPony · Sep 18, 2006

Foxfan88 said:
if your going to go as far as "check" the head gaskets, it would seem it would be a good idea to go ahead and swap em out while your there lol.

yea thats what I was going to do. Arnt you suppose to change any gasket once it is opened? I will probably change the valve cover gasket and maybe the exhaust manifold gasket. I think they sell them in kits.

Philstang · Sep 18, 2006

Rather than a cam, the rough idle may just be the timing off, that's what was up with my 5.0 when I bought it. I set it back to 10-12 and it smoothed out and idled much better.

1FatPony · Sep 18, 2006

Philstang said:
Rather than a cam, the rough idle may just be the timing off, that's what was up with my 5.0 when I bought it. I set it back to 10-12 and it smoothed out and idled much better.

Its funny that you say that. While I was taking the engine apart to look at the head gaskets, I noticed that the distributor was a little loose and I could turn it with my hand. I am not sure if that got turned at some point but that would definitly be a cause to the rough idle.

Phatt_daddy · Sep 19, 2006

I know you said that you have alot of problems with the car but is it still speed density or did the previous owner convert it to mass air? with an aftermarket cam that could also be the culprit of the bogging.

1FatPony · Sep 19, 2006

im not sure. how can you tell?

JChalfan · Sep 19, 2006

1FatPony said:
im not sure. how can you tell?

If you still have speed density, there should be a plastic tube that runs from the air box (where the filter is) to the throttle body. If it has been converted to mass air, there should be a cast aluminum peice right after the air box, with a electric sensor bolted to it and a wiring harness attached. I'd post a picture, but I don't have any before my SC install.

Jeff

1FatPony · Sep 19, 2006

its has the aftermarket k&n

JChalfan · Sep 20, 2006

1FatPony said:
its has the aftermarket k&n

Here's a picture with the MAF circled in red at the bottom. Ignore the chrome intake pipe and stuff. If you have that sensor between your air filter and engine, then it has been converted to mass air. If you don't have that sensor, you still have speed density.

BTW, I just snagged this picture from google, don't know whose it is or where it came from.

Jeff

1FatPony · Sep 20, 2006

I dont think I have that. Is is easy to convert to mass air? Where could I buy the conversion? I will most likely buy a rebuilt 302 and will probably convert that too.

Flavadave4 · Sep 20, 2006

white smoke is prolly the water leaking into the cylinder......definatly would cause a rough running scenario. Good start would be to tear it down and see what the head gaskets look like

dastang2 · Sep 20, 2006

that's BS did this guy know anything about anything.

Mustang5L5 · Sep 20, 2006

Something tells me the previous owner installed the cam, did a poor job reinstalling the heads, probably didn't torque them right, popped a HG, and pulled the t-stat out in an attempt to cure the problem, then yelled obscenities for a couple days and decided to sell the car to 1FatPony

BTW, speed density setups don't really respond well to some cams. Do you know which Crane Cam is in it? If it's running like crap it's probably not a speed density friendly one

Synned · Sep 20, 2006

Note if you have a stock intake, you wont be able to directly see the MAF sensor.

Bought an 87 GT...problems and questions!!!

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