I know that this is almost too obvious, but is the engine clean?
One of the things that must be kept in mind, is that part of the
cooling on an engine is to disburse heat through the block. Oil
and grease are excellent insulators. With the small relatively
small surface area, the blocks must be clean.
I found this out many years ago, after my Spit would come up to
operating temperature on the 1/2 mile drive from my home to work.
I first tried a new thermostat, then checked the timing, then a
water pump, then a radiator. Not to mention flushing out the
coolant system. By this time, I was getting pretty hot myself.
I decided that I needed to take care of some other work, and I
decided that I was tired of getting greasy when working on the
engine. I got some degreaser, and cleaned off the lump. When I
restarted the motor, it seemed to take forever to warm up.
A BIG light went on, and ever since then, when the car starts to
run too warm, I start by cleaning off the motor.
Doug Mitchell
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