Finally got my first 7 running! Slowly overheating/starts when it wants to
 

I've been taking it out for the occasional drive, not going too far since I've done so much work to the car I'm scared of breaking something lol. So, it runs fun and I'm really loving the car, but i've got 2 problems. Stock 12a w/ 120k miles on the clock, Rats nest and a/c removed, cat replaced w/ straight pipe.

1) It overheats. It's not a fast overheating, and it really takes a long time to warm it up even just over the C line. I'll just occassionally look down at the gauge and it slowly climbs up as I drive.. and during cruising it seems to go up very slowly, and when idling it cools back down, also very slowly. Could it just need new coolant? I can't remember if the girl who was supposed to fix it up flushed the coolant or not :dunno:

2) It starts when it wants to, and it's an electrical thing. When it wants to make me happy, I climb in, pull the choke, hit the key and it fires up with a couple pumps of gas. When it feels like it, it'll only showing about 8v on the little gauge. It's not a problem with the alternator, cuz sometimes if I just kinda turn the key off, wait a second, and retry it'll fire right up. And when it is being difficult, it fires right up with the help of a jumper pack. I'm thinking a loose connection somewhere? I replaced the clutch before I got it into DRIVING condition so maybe I f'd somewhere?

thanks for the help, I love this car!

I would recommend checkin the clutch on your motors cooling fan to see if it has decent resistance when you turn it, also recommend replacing your thermostat as well. As far as the electrical goes, just start checkin connections under the hood, positive and ground on the battery, starter solenoid, etc. Cant promise thats your problem but thats where I would start on a 120K motor.



-Shawn

if the fan clutch was shot to begin with it would warm up quite fast and overheat. If for some reason it continues to run then you might have a problem. Also your stock gauge might not be too accurate.

A bad fan clutch will usually extend the warm up period, not shorten it. The engine could overheat with hard driving highway speeds due to it impeeding flow through the radiator, but not likely.

Test the fan clutch, check the timing, do a full service on the cooling system, i.e. flush and fill, new thermostat, (oem only), chek the water pump and belts.

Since you have done the rats nest removal, are you running a yoohoo belt or dual sheave alt pulley. If not then a bad fan clutch and slipping waterpump belt are your most likely culprits.

so how can I go about checking the fan clutch? timing is set with new cap/rotor/plugs/wires

and to be honest about the air pump.. i basically disconnected all the hoses to it, so it's still running w/ the belt (but the rest of the rats nest shtuff is gone) I was wondering, is that belt really necessary when removing the air pump?

I've also got a pair of small electric fans so I need to do some research on whats involved, so if the fan clutch is the problem it can be easily fixed.

With the engine off, the fan should have a slight resistance to spinning by hand, It should neither spin freely on it's own or be hard to turn, (good sign the clutch is bad). With the engine running, but not up to operating temps, using the working end of a broom, it should stop the fan from spinning with moderate pressure. If it does not want to stop, clutch is locked.