Inliners International Forums General Discussion Engines can't keep my 292 inline cool...please read

Dear Members,

I currently own 5 vehicles (vans) with 250 and 292 engines from the late 60's and early 70s

My chevy P-10's are all equipt with the same drivetrains for the most part.

Inline 6's (either 250's or 292's) with a turbo 350 tranny.

A while back I had a 292 inline 6 given to me that was removed from a 1967 chevy truck.

I had the motor sitting around for a while and then I had a local machine shop rebuild it.

$1600.00 later I put it in one of my step vans and since day one it has run HOT....I'm talking almost into the red all the time.

I have tried all the obvious...timing, waterpump, thermostat, radiator, gauge, mixture,

I even took the engine back out of the truck and had the machine shop disassemble it and they found nothing.

HAS ANYONE EVER HAD THIS HAPPEN???

now remember...I have one other 292 in my other step van and it runs cool...and all my other 250's all run cool too.

See if you can rack your brains on this and let me know what you can find out.

Thanks so much

Mr70s

Dear Mr70s;

Did you check for CO in the cooling system when running??

If not; Make this test when It's back together.

Welcome to Inliners Int & good luck.

are you running the hose from the drivers rear bottom of the block to the water pump? if not that is one reason gm put it there. what temp t stat are you using? how much have you run it? tom

had the same problem and made a shroud for it and that made a tremendous difference,dropped temp to 180.May help!

A couple of things. Any starting or performance issues on this motor could lead you to think it is too tight and generating too much heat through friction? (doubtful, but had to ask) Similar to the CO test, have you put a cooling system pressure tester on the cooling system to see if you have any kind of internal leak? Any chance there is air in the cooling system? Is the temperature sensor in the same place and the same type as on your other trucks?

When does the overheat condition occur? Is it any difference between just idling (sitting ) then it is at speed? As strange as it may sound,the bottom hose can collapse from the suction of the water pump and restrict coolant flow to the rad.Thats why lower rad hoses either have a wire coil in them or are made with ribs to prevent collapsing.

Last year, a friend bought a Ford Pickup with a 300 six. Soon after warm-up, the temp gage went to full hot! He had been going through every idea he could come up with, like new radiator, shroud, cap, water pump, thermostat, timing, etc, etc. The gage showed it was still running hot, although it ran and idled well.

I installed a mechanical Stewart-Warner gage and it indicated much lower temp than the factory unit did. The gage is sometimes the last thing folks look at! Who woulda thunk it?

Good point Dennis.

That's usually done when the radiator/stat are being checked, along with a CO test. An accurate thermometer is placed in the radiator neck etc.

I hope this isn't a riddle placed here as a lark.

Happy trails.

Well gang,
I'm going after the cylinder head first.....I should have an answer to the problem soon...I hope

Mr70s