overheated again

[jsomedaysoon]

okay for the second time i took the truck out on the beach and it over heated on me. it was pretty bad this time i saw some smoke coming from the hood and i figured it was the leaked oil burning off or something. when i parked it and opend the hood the antifreeze was boiling out of the resevoir and after looking a little closer i realized that it was actually on FIRE haha. i'm not sure how or why but one of the spark plug boots was toast! the second one from the back on the drivers side was completely ash. i splashed some water on it and left the hood open for a while and everything settled down to normal and it did fine on the way back off the beach. to make matters worse my girlfriends mother came with us! its only the second time i ever met her and i thought it would be a fun family thing to do haha.

so i'm curious if anyone could tell me what i might check to find out why its over heating so bad when it strains. i understand straining a motor would make it hotter than usual but not to the point that my truck gets. i mean guys strain there trucks all the time and they dont over heat. i feel like something isent working quiet right. oh and the guage doesent work! haha thats on the list of things to fix this weekend though.

 

[black beauty]

ok first what kind of shape is your coolant in? is it dirty or clean. If it looks like muddy water the radiator needs to be flushed a few times to clean all the gunk out of it and the pump. that being said your spark plug wire boots being fryed is what im pondering about. sounds almost like too much current being sent thru the wire from the distributor. im not totally sure if im headed down the right path on my way of thinking so if im wrong someone please correct me. all i can say is check the fluid to make sure its clean and that their isnt some kind of object or buildup clogging the hoses. go from there and tell us if you find anything. and if im wrong about his wire boots being toasted someone please steo in and correct me

 

[jsomedaysoon]

the coolant is definatly a rusty orange but i'm thinking i topped it off with my gm dexcool antifreeze left over from when i did my car. i guess i should just flush it and put all regular antifreeze back in it. as for the boot, i'm not sure why that particular boot caught on fire either.... the night before i had tried to top off the oil in the dark and missed the oil hole with my funnel and dumped a quart of oil all over the side of the motor and on the manifolds. i let it idle for a while that night to burn most of it off but maybe thats what could have caught on fire. not really sure. i plugged the wire back on with no boot and it seems to be running fine if not better than it did before haha. i guess i'll add a fire extinguisher to the list of things to get for the truck.

 

[Mike G]

What temp thermostat are you running. It could be sticking closed on ya. Also is one installed? I've heard that people that have taken there thermostat out thinking that the engine will cool better. But the water flows so fast through the system that it has no chance to cool.

Just a thought

Mike

 

[jsomedaysoon]

i didnt really check that because when you're driving on pavment its fine... it never has any problems over heating its really only when you stress it out. i guess i could replace the thermostat while i'm flushing the system. at least that way i know it'll be new.

 

[black beauty]

yes ok details help. since you spilled motor oil the most likely ting to happen is that the arc of the plug has ignited the oil. if you think back you probably be able to smell burnt oil. now for your coolant being orange..... ive seen that a few times and that from what i have seen is where the radiator core is rusted and the rust particles have turned the coolant form neon green to the orange you speak of. and like mike g said check your thermostat to make sure its not stuck in the closed position

 

[jsomedaysoon]

yes ok details help. since you spilled motor oil the most likely ting to happen is that the arc of the plug has ignited the oil. if you think back you probably be able to smell burnt oil. now for your coolant being orange..... ive seen that a few times and that from what i have seen is where the radiator core is rusted and the rust particles have turned the coolant form neon green to the orange you speak of. and like mike g said check your thermostat to make sure its not stuck in the closed position

yea the thing that baffles me is that i never have a problem with it over heating when i'm driving on pavement. just when it reallllllly strains like when we go off road. i'm goin shoppin tomorrow for parts so i guess i'll get a new thermostat, some plug wires and some antifreeze to flush the whole system and make sure the green stuff is back in there. it also kinda baffles me why that one particular plug wire caught fire. it was kind back far away from where all the oil leaked out but that had to have been what it was. all in all i think it was just my babies way of telling me she needs some love haha.

 

[jsomedaysoon]

i finally got an aftermarket temp gauge the other day and i plan on putting it in this weekend. it looks pretty easy exept i dont really know how to get it though the fire wall. i dont remember seeing any openings i could slip it though. is it okay to just drill a hole in the fire wall? also whats the normal running temp for a bronco with a 302? this gauge has numbers on it unlike the factory one that just had the c-h. thanks !