My 96 Lincoln Mark VIII is overheating
I had to drain the coolant in order to replace the oil filter adapter gasket. After the
repair, I attached everything back, and there are NO leaks of any kind...oil or coolant.
I was happy with the job I did because it was a real tough endeavor. But now, the
car engine overheats and it seems like there is no water in part of the engine
because the heater is cold. Could there be air in the system or what did I do wrong?
I only filled up the coolant reservoir and it never got low. I was suspecting an air lock
or suddenly the thermostat went bad, which doesn't seem likely because it was
working fine a few hours earlier. Help someone...tell me what I did wrong.
You didn't top off the radiator? You must! All the way to top, and the plastic overflow tank should only be 1/4 full cold.
There is no place to put the coolant except in the tank on the fender. just a small hose running from the top of the radiator to the top of the plastic tank. The plastic tank has a pressurized cap on it. the bottom of the plastic tank has a about 1 1/4" hose going down to the hose which has the thermostat housing in it.
Oh, one of those. Sorry 'bout that. Not familiar with those.
Air in the system !
I had the same problem with my '95 Mark VIII. I kept filling up the plastic overflow bottle to the full mark when the engine was cold. I would drive it and the next day when the engine was cold I had to fill the bottle again. I finally emptied the radiator, did a radiator flush, filled the radiator with 50/50 antifreeze, replaced the thermostat and then filled the overflow bottle again. That solved the problem and I have not had an overheating problem again and the bottle stays full. Contrary to another comment on this forum, the overflow bottle need to be on the full line when the engine is cold and not 1/4 full when cold. The radiator we have in our cars draw from the overflow and if it is love or empty your problem will start all over again.
I answered my own problem. After visualizing the cooling tubes and hoses on the engine in my mind last night....I remembered that there was a small removable plug on top of the center of the tubes that went to the cooling system. I removed the plug with a 1/4" ratchet only and noticed that it was dry. I filled this opening with a mixture of 50/50 coolant and replaced the tube. Note>>>> It held approx 1.5 gallons of coolant. Started the engine and guess what...problem fixed. It was an air lock for sure. Problem fixed. Thanks for all the posts.
