cooling issues,... i think?

[shelby zed]

ok so the car is an 89 dodge shadow with a 2.2 t2, srt4 fmic, stock t1 rad, and a 180 t stat with the tiny hole. basically, if i sit there and idle it will heat up, i let it idle earlier today and it was past half on the guage, yet the top rad hose was hot, bottom was cold. if i rev the car at about 3 grand for say 20 seconds, it goes right down. i did this for about 45 seconds even after it cooled down and the bottom rad hose got warm. im thinking water pump or something? it doesnt use any coolant, and its fine when driving down the road, oh and i have a manual fan switch cause the stock wires touched together for a second and stopped working, tried to replace the relay but no power to the relay at all even with the temp sensor unplugged. also all fuses are good, anyone know what it could be? newly rebuilt engine, new temp sensor for the computer and guage, 60/40 coolant mix, and fan is drawing air from outside the car in.

[shelby zed]

anyone?

[chilort]

Well, if you have control of the fan, then about the only things I can think of are the water pump or a clogged radiator. Some people have those little laser temp sensors and can find the clogged up areas. I replaced a water pump in my 140k+ mile '86 Daytona a few months ago and the original (stamped '86) looked fine. I now have it in storage in case the replacement goes out because the stocker was fine.

[shelby zed]

hmm well the car had a 2.5 originally and the rad worked fine in the car, then with this motor it doesnt, this motor was heating up before the second rebuild in the other car too, but it had a blow head gasket. water pump hey... hmm what goes wrong with them?

[turbovanman²]

My 4 choices are-

Clogged rad

You have the wrong year waterpump in the car and its turning the wrong way or the impellers are erroded.

Don't laugh but is the thermostat installed the correct way?

[JDAWG]

my 4 choices are:
its normal
its normal
its normal
its normal

[chilort]

If you have a stock t-stat housing, at least in '86, it is impossible to put the t-stat in backward, it just won't fit.

[shelby zed]

1 could be clogged, any way to check?
2 it is an 89 water pump with the pulley running off the backside
3t stat is installed the right way, 180 with the hole.


anyone know how i could get the fan working again off the relay? is there a fuseable link?

[JDAWG]

ground the blue and pink wire

[chilort]

You can check for clogs by looking for cool spots. You can use a laser temp sensor or thermal camera. You can also use CLR to try to clean the radiator or take it too a shop.

The temp on these cars does fluctuate quite a bit (depending on your cal), but with manual control of the fan, you should be able to keep it in check even at a stop.

[shelby zed]

well its holding at just above half, when i got the car with the 2.5 it was about a quarter, then when i put a 180 t stat in it was about 1/3. j dawg, i looked for a pink and blue wire as i had done that in my daytona but i couldnt find it, my daytona was an 88 and this is 89 and uses diffrent relays and stuff

[chilort]

1/2 should be good. But when my fan kicks on it goes below 1/2 if I sit long enough.

[JDAWG]

my 90 has a blue and pink wire

[shelby zed]

mine just kinda holds at where it was when i turn the fan on and if i rev it it goes down, j dawg ill have another look. the relay isnt even getting any power to it, thats why im wondering if theres a fuseable link

[turbovanman²]

If you have a stock t-stat housing, at least in '86, it is impossible to put the t-stat in backward, it just won't fit.

Wanna bet, I've seen it done, lol!

1 could be clogged, any way to check?
2 it is an 89 water pump with the pulley running off the backside
3t stat is installed the right way, 180 with the hole.


anyone know how i could get the fan working again off the relay? is there a fuseable link?

Yep, check for power at the relay, it should be the biggest wire, red maybe?

Warm the car up, then put your hand over the rad, you will notice if its plugged that there are hot and cold spots. If the top rad is hot and the lower hose cold, then I would say your rad and also the heater core is plugged. CLR the heater core and replace the rad. With those working and a 180, the temp will stay fairly stable but in traffic or the city, all bets are off.

mine just kinda holds at where it was when i turn the fan on and if i rev it it goes down, j dawg ill have another look. the relay isnt even getting any power to it, thats why im wondering if theres a fuseable link

Yep, check the fusible links by the drivers strut tower, I'll bet you'll find it burn't out.

[shelby zed]

well turns out the water pump on the car was an 88 pump with 89 belt... 89 pump fixed the problem, thanks everyone

[chilort]

I guess I should never say impossible, "hard as h-e-double-hockey-sticks" maybe.

Either way, I'm glad you found the issue. I'd still be looking at it thinking "Dodge only made one of everything, this can't be my problem."

[turbovanman²]

well turns out the water pump on the car was an 88 pump with 89 belt... 89 pump fixed the problem, thanks everyone

Ha, nailed it,