Pinto 2.0 overheating

[Jonty Wild]

Overheating Issue 2.0l Pinto – your thoughts please.  Last year it seemed to running too hot and consequently the electric fan came on early and stayed on for ages, never boiled over though. Most of the time I got bored waiting and disconnected then reconnected a terminal to stop it.. I haven’t yet completely ruled out a faulty control thermostat and have another one ready when I can work out the wiring (it has 2 terminals instead of 1).

This year, I have only just got round to getting the car ready to drive (I know, don’ ask!) and after leaving it idling, it overheated with water coming out of the hose ends, so the radiator cap might be wrong or has failed, so I will routinely replace that, and I will as soon as I can find a small; one of the right pressure that fits - any suggestions for sourcing one? 

Tried it again yesterday and it seems to get to temperature too quickly and the rapidly starts to move to overheating without the electric fan coming on unless overridden. 

I am thinking failed engine thermostat or possibly failed water pump, all of the jobs so far are easy jobs and relatively cheap, but before I start taking things apart, I believe that I have read about air blockage being a problem (I don’t have header tank), with these engines, so any advice on checking for this first? 
 

Edited June 16, 2023 by Jonty Wild

[Foz]

Stuck thermostat does sound a likely culprit - I had that on my pinto when it hadn't been run for a few months.  Luckily I had a spare knocking about.  I also drilled a small hole in my stat (about 2mm) which prevents it getting air locked. 

You should be able to see if the top hose gets hot when it get up to "normal" temperature, before it overheats - if not it's probably the stat not opening.

Hope this helps,  Steve

 

[Jonty Wild]

Thanks, this mirrors my thinking and is probably the easiest fix so definitely what I am hoping

[Jonty Wild]

Ford 2.0l Pinto 1990.

Only just got around to having a look at this problem, too much else happening! Guess what? No thermostat in there, so I guess the suggests a more longer term problem - the guy a bought it from told me definitely no overheating issues!

I pretty sure the rad is fine as it looks like new. I have a new rad cap, but to be fair they both 'feel' the same spring resistance. The electric fan was working fine so I presume not the problem - although I will double check that still is blowing/sucking in the right direction. About to remove the water pump to have a look and probably replace that. I suggestions for the best place to get a new one and any other suggestions for the reason for overheating?

Additional: I now have the water pump out, nothing obvious wrong, but I will be ordering a new one. The pump is a viscous one (with no fan attached) Does any one know, are the viscous and none viscous pumps the same engine block fitting (Burton Power pictures look very similar) and is anyone running both normal fixed and electric and if so has it helped or is it pointless if the electric is working?

Edited August 10, 2023 by Jonty Wild

[Foz]

As far as I can remember (old age is a wonderful thing ................. what was I on about ????) oh yes, I'm pretty sure both types of pumps are the same block side. 

Can you drop the bottom hose off the radiator and then pour water through the rad ?  If it only dribbles out of the bottom your rad's blocked.  With no thermostat in there you can probably also pour water down the top hose and see how quick it comes out of the bottom hose to get an idea of the flow through the block.

[Jez Morton]

When you say hose ends, are you talking about the hose that is on the side of the rad cap? If so this is just expanding coolant due to heat and you need a catch tank so it can drawn back in when it cools. If you don't have a catch tank the expanded coolant gets replaced with air which could cause your over heating.

One thing I found is the impeller on the water pump, some have a cheap folded metal one which isn't very good, go for a cast impeller pump.

I believe the viscous part of the pump is for the fan and can be removed if you have an electric fan.

[Jonty Wild]

On 8/11/2023 at 4:25 PM, Foz said:

As far as I can remember (old age is a wonderful thing ................. what was I on about ????) oh yes, I'm pretty sure both types of pumps are the same block side. 

Can you drop the bottom hose off the radiator and then pour water through the rad ?  If it only dribbles out of the bottom your rad's blocked.  With no thermostat in there you can probably also pour water down the top hose and see how quick it comes out of the bottom hose to get an idea of the flow through the block.

Very sensible suggestions, I will certainty try both before I reassembly. Should have done that routinely. I am a little rusty re car maintenance, since my Triumph car days.

[Jonty Wild]

18 hours ago, Jez Morton said:

When you say hose ends, are you talking about the hose that is on the side of the rad cap? If so this is just expanding coolant due to heat and you need a catch tank so it can drawn back in when it cools. If you don't have a catch tank the expanded coolant gets replaced with air which could cause your over heating.

One thing I found is the impeller on the water pump, some have a cheap folded metal one which isn't very good, go for a cast impeller pump.

I believe the viscous part of the pump is for the fan and can be removed if you have an electric fan.

The main hose end that I was talking about (original post) was the top rad 50mm hose and the bottom one (I think)  that was a surprise because I would have expected it to have raised the rad cap thermostat spring and come out of the overflow first. I have fitted a new cap anyway, but obviously yet to be tested. Got to order a water pump and debating which type to order as I have no need of the viscous bit.

After reassembly, if it comes out of the overflow I will look at fitting an expansion tank. The previous owner did use the car, so if that was the problem I would have expected it to have been sorted - his brother ran the local BMW garage and they did the work necessary, e.g. servicing and fitting windscreen washers etc. Also, it didn't overheat on quite a long test drive, but it has sat for a while.

It may yet prove to be a combination of issues, e.g rad cap and faulty electric fan thermostatic switch. On my old Triumphs I used spend ages trying to solve one problem only to find out it was 2 - it's all beginning to come back to me now!!! Oh the joy

 

[Tickover]

How did you get on with this issue? Have you sorted it out yet?

[Jonty Wild]

Not yet. Got all the bits, got to find time to fit them - next dry day - this year is is a RH write off in terms of use I am afraid. I will make more effort next year!