Series 3 running hot

[sven]

If I'm not mistaken, having the ignition too advanced could boost your temps as well.

Yup, this is true. Unfortunately I learned this the hard way.

[Paul Rossmann]

no fix yet...

I am stumped. One would think that as simple as the cooling system is on an old Series that it wouldn't be that hard to trouble shoot. I have now "riched-up" the carb, and reset the timing. It is now as advanced as it will [smoothly] run with the Petronix. She is still running hot. The only things that I haven't done is have the radiator rodded. It seems fine, and as mentioned before the lower hose is noticably cooler than the upper once the car gets warm. That, and I have not replaced the temp sensor because the gauge seems to progress normally. Meaning that It starts out cold and gets warmer after about a half mile or so... it just doesnt stop rising till it is right under the red. And then, if I get in stop and go traffic it creeps up barely into the red.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

[Tim Smith]

... and reset the timing. It is now as advanced as it will [smoothly] run with the Petronix. She is still running hot...

Actually you want to set the timing as retarded as possible. Running it advanced will boost the temps.

[gobie desert]

timing will get it to run hot too far advanced, but i would really get the rad boiled out by a pro. even it if seems somewhat clean you could have some major issues going on in there. better yet get an aluminum unless you are looking to keep the stock look and feel. but boiling it out should be enough. 50-90 bucks depending. that way you know it is not the problem then move on to the next simple thing.
what temp was the thermostat?

well good luck.

[SalemRover]

From your original post it seemed that once moving you were fine, but now it seems that isn't so or was just not stated clearly enough. Under those assumptions of cool when moving and hot when not it would seem that airflow across the radiator would be the biggest culprit, or your suspect idle conditions. So now it appears that under most (if not all conditions) you run hot. I think we can safely say that we can rule the fan and temp gauge out of the question. You also said the pump was recently done as well. Assuming you dont have some sort of ridiculous blockage in the block it appears that you should turn your eyes back to your radiator, and thermostat(the one in the head, not the gauge). Afraid I can't help much with your radiator diagnosis.

Best of luck with it!

-Jason

[Paul Rossmann]

Sorry my reports seem so inconsistant. The weather here has been between 32 and 80 degrees, so the "cooling down" when the car gets up to speed is equally inconsistant. I am pretty much resolved to pulling the radiator and have the pros do whatever it is that they do to clear them out. My opinion at this point is that the radiator is partially blocked. Or blocked just enough that the car will get hot if there is only a minimum air flow over and coolant flow through, but cools down once water and air flow increase (i.e. with higher engine fan/water pump revs and higher road speeds).