You might consider something a little better calabrated than your thumb.
pressure guages can be had for under 20 (or was back when). If pressure
was up in all cylinders then you would have known that the head & gasket
were OK. If the head gasket did not look blown it probably wasn't.
Next time, try starting the engine with radiator cap off and the coolent to the
neck of the opening. You are looking for bubbles (cracked head, block,
bad gasket). You are looking for a strong flow of water when the thermostat
opens (water pump or clog, or thermostat not opening all the way).
Cooling systems were designed to work with the thermostat opening size
restriction. This keeps the coolent from going through the radiator too
fast. The way that I have had it explained is that the coolent needs to be
in the core long enough for an adequate heat exchange. If it flows too
quickly, it is back in the engine befor it has a chance to cool properly.
People usually either break the thermostat return spring & jam or solder the
thermostat wide opening of replace the thermostat with a plate that has a
hole with the same approximate area of an open thermostat.
Good Luck
TeriAnn
|