To all,
Fans may be a problem. It has 1 single speed and 1 2 speed they appear to work testing not driving but what they do moving who knows.
I have had the setup weighed and measured regularly . A van towing a 9mt. yacht is bait to the boys in blue (and other colours). The most it has ever weighed is 2290kg , nearly max.
Can someone come up with an idea to keep it cool other than leaving the boat at home? I wont mention buying a olden , a mate tried towing it with his dunnydore, had to get a tow up the ramp.
Peter.

Colder thermostats don't help. It's a myth. If the engine overheats with a 91deg thermostat and the thermostat is fully open when it overheats, then exactally the same thing will happen with a colder thermostat. It's just that the thermostat will be fully open at a colder temperature.

The flow through the thermostat is the same at any temp after either thermostat is fully open and either thermostat will be fully open when the engine overheats.

The problem with an overheating engine is not what temp the thermostat is TRYING to maintain, it's simply that more heat is being generated than can be dissipated to the atmosphere.

Phum, you could try a high flow water pump IF they're available for the I6, or you could try a davies craig electric water pump. They are extremely good at keeping an engine cool, but their temp control unit leaves a lot to be desired, as does the reliability of their water pumps. I have heard bad things about the water pumps failing very quickly even though they're rated for 2500 hrs continuous use @ 80C. I've heard of them failing after 3 or 4 hours.

Edit: I have personally used davies craig electric water pumps on one of my other cars that had overheating problems. With the pump running full bore with no temp control, the car, which used to overheat in 20 deg days in traffic, never saw any engine temp above 40C. Of course this was far too cold for the engine and since I couldn't get the davies craig temp control unit to work properly, I went back to the old engine driven water pump.

OK then.. So explain to me how the needle on my temp guage sits at a lower constant temperature (around the 80deg mark) when using a 72deg thermostat, but replace it with a 91deg one it will run at the "normal" temp (around the 94deg mark), doing the same work under the same circumstances.

How does my mates EB, which has a seized open thermostat, always sits on the bottom most line of normal on the guage, even after a 200km trip. But replace it with a good thermostat and it sits more in the middle of the gauge, again under the same driving circumstances.

See, I figure that if the thermostat opens early and floods the engine with cooler water earler, it wont get to a point where the cooling system is almost at is max temp. Once it gets to that much higher temperature, its alot harder to bring the temp down.

Funny how most taxi operators and owners of cars in high temperature climates seem to agree with what you say is a myth.

unclewoga,
i will investigate hi flow water pumps. I have had to replace the origional and the replacement didn't look the same internally. Maybe there are different types or maybe aftermarket pumps are just poor imitations
Peter.

Aftermarket pumps are a very poor imitation of the factory pump... Fewer fins, that a smaller in width and thickness.

The aftermarket pump in my car doesnt do as good a job in cooling as the factory pump did.

Its one part that Ford designed well, and is worth every cent over the aftermarket pump.

arm79,
This could well be the problem.
I baulked at paying double for the genuine, maybe they are worth the money.
Peter.

I'm not going to get into any debate, but sufficed to say that the hotter the coolant temp is, the MORE efficient the coolant system becomes. So if it's not efficient enough @ 100C, then it won't be anywhere near efficient enough @ 70C.

Also, the situations you're describing are not engine overheating problems. I am not saying that a colder thermostat will not drop the engine temp under normal circumstances, I'm saying it won't drop the temp in unusual, overheating circumstances.

make sure the bottom radiator hose hasn't gone weak and could suck in. Seen it happen before and when they get hot and the pump is trying to draw they'll nearly turn themselves inside out... could be a cheap fix???