Wow, I don't know why I didn't even think to bring this up earlier. Well, some of you know that I only get the chance to drive my Riv' about once or twice a year, since I'm in Hawaii and it's in Missouri. Before I left MO last year, I had quite a problem. I drove the car about 150 miles with absolutely no problems. I get about 5 miles from home and the temp light comes on. I have no guages yet. I stopped to let it cool for a bit. Everything seemed fine. Then I pull into the driveway, smoke (well, steam) everywhere and the oil light comes on. I didn't really get a chance to check everything out, because I had to leave for Hawaii the next day (bummer, huh?). When I go home for good in July, what do you think I should check first? Is this going to be a costly repair, or maybe just a cloged radiator, stuck thermostat, etc? Let me know if I should elaborate on the subject. Thanks, guys! :TU:
Usually if antifreeze mixes with oil it makes kind of a white, soupy mixture, right? Possibly indicative of a blown head gasket?
First thing I would do is check the obvious like, antifreeze level,water pump leak, fan\water pump belt, fan clutch,something stuck in front of rad. like a bag , oil color\texture ect... If all looks ok then go for the cheap thermostat and gasket. The radiator cap can be checked by any local shop with a tester. The oil lamp will come on because of the extreme temp. and the oil thinning and bearing clearences expanding. This will all be fine after you fix the problem. It sounds like you have a minor problem because of the nature of running ok one minute and poor the next. Do you have steam with odor from tail pipe? Good luck. I ran a 8.40 super comp car for years with no fan and a grouted block ect..and each pass would see the 240'and up temp zone alot never had a problem. You wil be fine!!!!!!
Carl, JUNK IT??!? A 455?!? NEVER!!...haha. Yeah, those were the first things I was going to check out. Heck, I'm going to rebuild the thing anyway. I just wanted to drive it to go get the parts...haha. Thanks, guys. Always appreciate the help on here!
Check water level, hoses, and fan clutch. You can run a quick compression check to look for obvious signs of a blown head gasket. Did you have water vapor coming out of the tail pipe? Also, any noise coming from the water pump? Bearings going or vanes shot? Lastly, take a look-see down the radiator fill port - my '67 did something very similar to what you described when the radiator finally clogged up enough to overheat. Solution: recore, which in my opinion is better than buying "new" b/c the OEM original end tanks are better and thicker metal in comparison to the newer aftermarket stuff. Then of course there is the obvious "whole nine yards" solution of replacing everything that touches the water: pump, hoses, heater core, radiator, thermostat, fan clutch etc, after flushing the system of course...
And one more thing: check / replace your freeze plugs - my 69's were corrosed and leaking steadily when I bought the car.
