Overheating 350 - 1969 4wd K5 CST

[CJ5 Convert]

Well first there is no shroud so I know I need to find one that is long because my 350 is in the rear mount position and it has the short water pump. This site is freakin awesome I learned all of that here. ( I hope it's right) The thing is I don't know much about engines and am trying to learn but this engine puts of a lot of heat just sitting ther and ddriving around the block is rediculous. The radiator hasn't popped but i can feel the heat maybe it's just old. The guages don't work because of a wiring hack job. So I thought maybe I could get a t-stat and put it right on the block till i could get to the wiring. Also how can I tell if a water pump is bad or the fan clutch and where the heck is the fan clutch? Can anyone tell if this is a 3 core radiator I think it is?. How do I know where to start. I don't know if it's good or not but a lot of heat going into the heater hoses.

Thanks for any help I loaded a few pics. and can someone tell me what those two things are in the boxes on the where the water goes out. Thanks for any help, Over my head.

[CJ5 Convert]

I just realized I guess I should have put this in the general discussion stuff on engines. Well I'll post it there too. I hope thats not bad manners.

[Blazer1970]

The very first thing I would do is pull the radiator and take it to a shop and have it flow tested. A plugged radiator will is common on old vehicles and will cause what you are seeing. It is not advisable to start messing with other parts of the cooling system until you are SURE about the radiator.

[Yukon Jack]

Looks like a 3 core radiator and the fan clutch is the round finned piece attached to the front of the fan.

Do you have a meat thermometer that you can borrow from the kitchen without your wife knowing? If so, take your cap off your radiator and set it in there and see what actual temp you are getting at the radiator. Won't be accurate for what the actual temp of the motor is but will give you an idea on whether it is actually getting too hot. Make sure you clean it real well before putting the thermometer back in the kitchen!

Somewhere I read a good post on how to verify if your fan clutch is working but I can't remember what the exact advice was.

After you check the radiator as mentioned above - you might want to consider throwing in a new t-stat.

[hgs_notes]

It will usually be pretty hot under the hood, and the heater hoses will be too. Remember that the temp for normal operation is upwards of 180 - 190F. If the gages dont work, get a cheap set at the parts store or ebay and hook it up. It may be running normal, but because of your inexperience, it seems hot. If the cap on the radiator isn't lifting, even after you shut off the engine, it is probably OK.

The electric choke can be hooked up to any hot lead that is energized with the key on. The other do-dads are likely temp sensers for dash lights. The engine is not likely original and some of the sensers were on from the donar vehicle. The gas filter is not a bad unit. They are easy to see the filter condition and easy to replace. You can get them at NAPA for a few bucks. The smaller inline filters will clog much easier and you never know if they are clogged until you can't get any upper end power while your driving because the engine is starving for fuel.

[CJ5 Convert]

Question. I looked down in the radiater while it was running and i could see a few of the rows at the top there were three across. BUt the question is I know the t-stat opened and startedd pushing water but I couldn't see a lot of flow coming out of these. Just a trickle. Should I be able to see the flow. How much flow should there be through the system?