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Clogged rad hose - overheating - coolant leak

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    Clogged rad hose - overheating - coolant leak

    I'm an idiot.

    I installed a tefba filter into my upper radiator hose to filter out all the crud from my cooling system. You've got to check it periodically or it will get clogged and your engine will overheat... you probably see where I'm going with this...

    My wife has been driving my car lately and she has a much longer commute than me which would explain the excessive buildup and my neglect. I've been busy as hell lately with family issues, financial issues, car issues, job issues, health issues, (maybe even some mental health issues lol) and even with all these excuses I still can't forgive myself for forgetting this I feel like I've left my baby sitting in shitty diapers until it developed a flesh eating bacteria...

    Sorry for that, on to the details.

    I had been driving down the freeway in my 1990 Mercury Grand Marquis for probably fifteen to twenty minutes when I noticed the check engine light came on (FEAR) in the rear view mirror I could see smoke/steam coming from my car (PANIC) then I saw the temperature gauge all the way up and started hearing the steaming coolant gushing out of the engine (!TERROR!) so I pulled over and immediately noticed that I was leaking coolant. It was kind of dark outside and the coolant looked dirty but as far as I could tell it didn't look like it had oil in it and I couldn't see any coolant dripping from my exhaust.

    I opened the hood and I could still see coolant spraying from what looked like the front lower driver side of the engine drenching the coolant reservoir and pretty much everything in the front left corner of the engine bay. It wasn't coming from the water pump area or the upper radiator hose where the Tefba filter was preventing coolant from flowing into the radiator. It wasn't leaking from the radiator either. I couldn't get a good look at the lower radiator hose but what I could see seemed to be intact and not clearly leaking. It was too dark and dangerous to look any closer. It was towed and is now sitting at my mechanics. My guess is (hopefully) the leak sprung from the lower radiator hose and sprayed upward, or (hopefully not) pressure from overheating caused a gasket in the engine to blow spraying the coolant from that.

    What do you guys think? How bad did I fuck up? Could the ole 5.0 put up with my idiocy or should I be comparing estimates on an engine replacement? What kind of damages could I be looking at from all this pressure and overheating?

    It's ironic that something I installed in the hopes of increasing engine life has most likely drastically reduced it and I have no one to blame but myself. The worst part is people are gonna look at me like "oh he needs to get rid of the POS and get a reliable car" when it's the other way around! I'm the POS, my car is reliable as FUCK! It didn't fail me, I failed it. The only good thing about this is that I'll be spending more time screwing around on GMN. As always thanks for any and all comments or suggestions. Where the hell would I be without this place.


    #2
    Well on a positive note, these 302's are known for surviving overheat situations. Plus it sounds like you were able to immediately pull over and stop once it overheated.

    Best thing is to give it a good look in daylight and find where the coolant finally relieved its pressure.

    Comment


      #3
      My guess is that you probably built up enough pressure in the system to blow the lower hose at least partially off, maybe put a hole in it. Or you may have sprung a leak in the radiator near the lower hose location. But I don't think you let it get to the point where real engine damage occurred before you shut it down.

      Comment


        #4
        Thanks for your comments, they are encouraging. If it's a new hose or (another) new radiator I'm fine with that, as long as my engine isn't falling apart, knocking, throwing rods, or whatever bad engines do lol. I wish I could get a better look at it but with only one borrowed car in our inventory I don't know when we'll get around to it.

        I hope you're right mcninetyone. So then I'm assuming/hoping the check engine light simply came on because of the overheating and not because of something caused by the overheating.

        If I get Bison through this... never again.... never again. That hood is coming open on every refuel for now on.

        Comment


          #5
          Do an oil change too, over heated oil breaks down quickly.

          Sent from my '85 Lincolin Town Car
          Using Tapatalk

          Comment


            #6
            Fix up the issues and STOP altering the design (I would NOT be putting "filters" in the heater hoses)! Keep an eye out but not time to panic.


            "Hope and dignity are two things NO ONE can take away from you - you have to relinquish them on your own" Miamibob

            "NEVER trade your passion for glory"!! Sal "the Bard" (Dear Old Dad!)

            "Cars are for driving - PERIOD! I DON'T TEXT, TWEET OR TWERK!!!!"

            Comment


              #7
              Originally posted by miamibob View Post
              Fix up the issues and STOP altering the design (I would NOT be putting "filters" in the heater hoses)! Keep an eye out but not time to panic.
              The filter was in the upper radiator hose trying to catch all the gunk from the engine block, the only way to really fix up that issue is to rebuild/replace the engine. I knew it was risky putting the filter in and I still did it, what can I say.

              I will definitely be getting an oil change soon as well.

              Comment


                #8
                Do a good engine/coolant flush and skip the filter.


                "Hope and dignity are two things NO ONE can take away from you - you have to relinquish them on your own" Miamibob

                "NEVER trade your passion for glory"!! Sal "the Bard" (Dear Old Dad!)

                "Cars are for driving - PERIOD! I DON'T TEXT, TWEET OR TWERK!!!!"

                Comment


                  #9
                  +1 coolant flush until it comes out clear.

                  Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -- Albert Einstein
                  rides: 93 Crown Vic LX (The Red Velvet Cake), 2000 Crown Vic base model (Sandy), 2003 Expedition (the vacation beast)

                  Originally posted by gadget73
                  ... and it should all work like magic and unicorns and stuff.

                  Originally posted by dmccaig
                  Overhead, some poor bastards are flying in airplanes.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    I've tried flushing the coolant multiple times myself and at two different places and they both said the shit just keeps coming out so i replaced the radiator, heater core, and all the hoses and put in the filter to catch more debris. I think the filter is great and if it hadnt caught that crud then the heater core or radiator wouldve, im just the dumbass who forgot to check it. It kind of snuck up on me though cause every time i've checked it it only had a little bit of stuff in it but this time... Woah.

                    But i will definitely be giving it a coolant flush and oil change.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      I had an overheating problem that forced the coolant to spew out of the overflow bottle. Ended up being the spring in the lower hose rotted and the lower hose collapsed, making the engine overheat. This happens more when cruising at higher speeds, like on an interstate. WagonMan
                      89 Colony Park
                      90 Colony Park
                      70 HEMI Daytona Convertible

                      Comment


                        #12
                        That filter is like putting a unsecured manual shut off on a fire suppression system. To easy to forget and very bad things happen when you do.

                        Sent from my '85 Lincolin Town Car
                        Using Tapatalk

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Originally posted by kodiak View Post
                          That filter is like putting a unsecured manual shut off on a fire suppression system. To easy to forget and very bad things happen when you do.

                          Sent from my '85 Lincolin Town Car
                          Hence my comments.....


                          "Hope and dignity are two things NO ONE can take away from you - you have to relinquish them on your own" Miamibob

                          "NEVER trade your passion for glory"!! Sal "the Bard" (Dear Old Dad!)

                          "Cars are for driving - PERIOD! I DON'T TEXT, TWEET OR TWERK!!!!"

                          Comment


                            #14
                            I once drove a 5.0 box that got so hot I heard knocking from the pit of hell coming from the engine. It died before I could shut it down and the smell of something burning was impossible to miss. I was sure that engine was toast.
                            I left it alone until the next day, when it started up and ran perfectly and quietly!!!
                            These 5.0's are hard to kill.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              are you using tap water and undiluted coolant?

                              1986 lincoln towncar signature series. 5.0 HO with thumper performance ported e7 heads, 1.7 roller rockers, warm air intake, 65mm throttle body, 1/2" intake spacer, ported intakes, 3.73 rear with trac lock, 98-02 front brake conversion, 92-97 rear disc conversion, 1" rear swaybar, 1 3/16" front swaybar, 16" wheels and tires, loud ass stereo system, badass cb, best time to date 15.94 at 87 mph. lots of mods in the works 221.8 rwhp 278 rwt
                              2006 Lincoln Town Car Signature. Stock for now
                              1989 Ford F-250 4x4 much much more to come, sefi converted so far.
                              1986 Toyota pickup with LSC wheels and 225/60/16 tires.
                              2008 Hyundai Elantra future Revcon toad
                              1987 TriBurner and 1986 Alaska stokers keeping me warm. (and some pesky oil heat)

                              please be patient, rebuilding an empire!

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