Member
Posts: 15
Location: Huntersville, NC USA | 56 Chrysler Windsor, 331 Poly, 2bbl, non-air conditioned
Gould Re-builders in NY did the water pump in March, I replaced the thermostat and everything seems to be working properly. I've only driven it on the road about 50 miles since that time but have let it idle in the driveway for many hours while working on it with no overheating problems. It heats up like it should and I have pressure under the radiator cap. Using a laser thermometer the temp is 177-182 on the T-stat housing. There is no in-line valve of any kind.
With the engine running at normal operating temp water does not travel up either hose to the core. I removed the hoses from the core and can hold them upright with the engine running and nothing comes out of either hose. I can blow on one end and it will come out the other so there's no restrictions. Since water doesn't come out of either, I don't know which should be pushing water and which would be the return line. Both hose attachment points are at equal height on the upper back of the WP housing. One test I did was with the radiator a little low on water where I could see the top of the inner core. In this condition and with the hoses detached from the WP connections no water would come out. I filled the radiator and water "poured" out of the connection points but still wasn't under any pressure other than what seemed to be gravity.
The valve at the firewall is working because I can manually start and stop the water flow through the core using the lever under the dash and a water hose with just enough pressure to check its functionality.
Upper and lower radiator hoses are hot and water is circulating in the radiator.
There is what appears to be a copper thermal wire coming out of the left side of the interior heater housing, it runs its length to the valve and connects there. Since the valve is manually opened and closed, I don't know what this wire actually does. I imagine it's some type of thermostatic control but there's nothing in the manual that I have that talks about it specifically.
Okay, there it is in a nutshell.
I don't know what it looks like inside the WP or how the water pump actually makes the water go up the core; could it be an internal failure of some kind?
Thanks for any suggestions. Ron |
Expert
Posts: 4051
 
Location: Connecticut | Ron - If you can pull the hoses off the connections on the firewall while the engine is running, then the heater is being bypassed and the hoses coming from the engine are routed right back into the engine. You should either open a 56 shop manual and correct the routing, or post a picture of the passenger side of the engine and we will have a look at it and point you in the right direction. Ron |
Hot water not getting to heater core
