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1986 3.8 v6- engine temperature rising

477 views 1 reply 1 participant last post by  Cruis63 
#1 ·
Hi.
Fully rebuilt the 3.8 v6 in our 86 convertible three years ago and only use it occasionally- last couple of time noticed that the coolant temp has risen from where it always used to sit.
The only changes from the status quo recently have been...
Recently- I noticed that the distributor was loose and moving around reasonably freely, so bolted it down where the idle sounded best. I have also replaced the serpentine fan-belt because the old one squealed a lot especially in damp weather. There is a bit of an intermittent rattle somewhere at the very front of the motor which seems to come and go- I might not have the belt quite as tight as it should be.
I have been reading up about the fan clutch. This car has a metal bladed fan with an alloy clutch in front of it. The fan has always turned equal to engine speed- even at cold idle- and I cant move it cold or hot when the engine is off.
My thoughts are to replace the thermostat- and fan clutch and see what gives?
 
#2 ·
well seems no one had an answer... but fpr anyone with an early V6.....I fixed it myself- it was the viscous fan clutch that was robbing power and raising the engine temp- causing all the problem- fitted a new one and not only sorted out the overheating but also picked up an amazing amount of additional power- who would have guessed that the v6 was actually not nearly as anemic as people have described- she is now cruising on the open road with plenty of torque at low revs!!! And an overwhelming amount of under-hood noise has evaporated. Dont underestimate the fan
clutch folks
 
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