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Dear Eric,
i own a 1988 Ford Ranger and the problem that i constantly have is that it keeps overheating. I replaced the radiator because it went out on me also replaced top and bottom hoses with new clamps, new thermostat with gasket and still keeps overheating. the heater core does not work on the truck because its shot and leaks very bad…i am asuming that who ever owned the truck before i did, never replaced the heater core was due to living in florida and they thought it was not necessary to replace…what do u think, should i replace it or leave it alone…after is said and done i was wondering Eric if the fan clutch is bad, how do i test it to see if its bad and also is its bad i was thinking of replacing it with a flex fan…what do u think…plz give me some feedback…i use this truck for work and the last thing on my mind to be woring about if its going to blow on me again.
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Hey man. So, have you bypassed the heater core? Or is it still leaking? Regardless, the FIRST thing you should do is bleed the cooling system, as demonstrated in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUpXgAJ1gjU
Don’t worry about the part about the bleeder valve, your truck most likely doesn’t have one. Just follow the rest of the procedure. Since you don’t have electric cooling fans, you can tell that the thermostat is fully open by feeling the upper and lower rad hoses. When the lower hose is noticably cooler than the upper hose, the thermostat should be all set. Top off the system, and you should be good to go. If you haven’t already though, and you don’t intend to replace the heater core, you will need to bypass it first. Good luck.
first bypass the heater core with a loop of heater hose. that will stop the coolant loss. second top off the coolant and bleed out the air as suggested.
3rd pop the hood and see if the fan is spinning. once the above check out see if the overheating goes away.C8-)I’ve actually done a video on overheat issues that covers a great deal about problems like yours.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUzOTnsWImIDon’t skip any steps because you don’t have tools, many times you can ‘rent’ a pressure tester from your local auto parts store. That said you need to take a systematic approach here and don’t just replace parts because you think they’re bad. To test the fan clutch grab it and check for play, there shouldn’t be any, then try spinning it by hand to see if it spins freely, it shouldn’t, there should be some resistance, lastly observe it when the engine is hot, the hotter the engine the more it should lock up and move air through the radiator. Also know that you need a fan shroud in order to help with cooling, if you don’t have one you should find and install one because this is actually a critical part of the cooling system. As for your heater core I suspect that it’s been bypassed as suggested above, this is not a problem because the heater core has nothing to do with engine cooling it’s just there for your comfort.
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