Mopar Muscle Association UK

I turn the rad over and make up a connector using a cut up bike inner tube to a hose pipe connected to the bottom outlet and flush under light presssure until clear.
I'll guess,like my old Fury the core plugs need to come out to remove the 1 1/2" of sediment built up round the cylinders,especially the rear of the block. Also I've seen the block passages between deck and heads corroded solid through years of people not using antifreeze.

If its a new rad then hopefully that shouldn't need flushing, but the block perhaps does. Is the water pump actually pumping, can you see water movement in the rad with the cap off? If the vanes have corroded off the pump it may be not circulating the water.

An air lock is another consideration.

Ive been speaking with another member Ash (Painted the car) and he has suggested a few of these things. I Dont know how quickly the rad is supposed to flow. It almost looks like its not moving.

There should be a clear movement of water at idle which speeds up significantly when you rev the engine if you have a conventional setup.

The speed at idle almost looks like a puddle that slowly moves in a light breeze. When i rev the engine it looks like the water gets sucked in.

I had a BMW 325, some years ago, that kept boiling over. None of the tests we did (including the dye test) showed up an exhaust gas leak into the coolant. In the end though it was exactly that.
If you have the time, my advice would be to do the head gaskets (at least you can inspect the heads, and you know its done then), and while you're there pop out all the core plugs and check the block chambers. Bet they're full of mud. This is a prime cause of overheating in old iron engines. Coat hanger and a hose to Bananarama! all out. Not a nice job this time of year!
Does the heater inside the car get nice and toasty? If it only gets luke warm, this is a good sign of impeded flow.
Have you checked the water pump is ok, and moving enough water? I've seen them in the past where the blades have corroded away causing a lack of flow.
I have a friend with a Duster 340 (very similar engine) who also experiences hot running temperatures. Not solved yet, despite new rad..

Not been out in it much since it was painted, but i remember the heater always being on before and it was very warm in the car. Always drove around with windows down. The buttons dont seem to do much. i decoded the fender tag a few weeks back and found out it was a factory aircon car, and i can see where someone has taken the stuff from under the hood and thrown it. There are a few cut hoses that lead into the firewall too.


Just rang up a local garage that deal with american cars. Gonna have him look it over, want to just get it sorted now and dont really have the time or tools to really get stuck in.

Shame, is there no one local to you to take a look at it?
Fresh pair of eye from someone used to these cars would save you a few quid.

Riverside Garage in Clevedon is a good garage. He runs a 1968 Firebird, and has some 60's patina truck, slammed on air bags as a shop truck. He knows his classic yank onions, and has done a few jobs for me. Good prices too.

Number: 01275871114

Hi Chris,

The Duster looks superb in black and a beautifully fitted vinyl roof reslly sets it off.
Sorry to hear of the overheating problems, I hope you get it sorted without too much expenditure.

Originally my 70 Duster 340 was also an air-con car and the air con pump was removed during the resto meaning a non-functioning heater system.
I have discarded the vacuum pipes and built a manual heater system, yet to be fully tested!!

I fitted a manual slide control to a heater valve in the engine bay so that the water could be turned off the summer, fitted a rotary fan switch that has the various coils mounted on the back of the switch and used push-pull cables to activate the heater door within the heater/aircon box and to regulate the heat to screen or interior.

The photos give an idea on the set up:

Arthur

get your stat in a saucepan and warm it ,ive had new ones that have not worked,

terryr wrote:get your stat in a saucepan and warm it ,ive had new ones that have not worked,

good advice.

Some great work there, Arthur!!