Overheating

[Paul from Maine]

Originally Posted by whirnot

As I mentioned above, I had the radiator completely cleaned, inspected, and some minor repairs done, by a good radiator shop. It is a triple flat core radiator.

An engine is only going to produce a certain amount of heat! The total heat output does not rise that much if the cooling passages around a cylinder are clogged! Sure there will be additional friction which produces heat, but how much can that be compared to the heat of combustion? In the case of clogged cooling passages, less heat would be transferred to the coolant, not more! The heat not absorbed by the coolant because of the clogging, would have to be absorbed by the block and radiated to the atmosphere via the outside surface of the block and the oil pan or escape via the exhaust. A radiator with adequate capacity should be able to handle the reduced heat transfer because of a clog! I suspect your radiator even though you have clogged cooling passages! I took my problem radiator to a competent shop and even though they worked on it, they made it clear to me that it was old and might not work! It cost me forty five dollars to learn that lesson!