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142 Guy · Apr 7th, 2024, 16:52

A radiator fan shroud on a puller fan configuration can help a little bit. A puller fan tends to concentrate air flow through the section of the rad directly in front of the fan. A shroud helps to force air flow over a larger area of the radiator which can improve things slightly.

It is normal for the temperature to rise when the car is stopped and drop as the car starts to move forward. Normally, the dead band in the original temperature gauge hides this fluctuation. If the temperature gauge is moving into the red zone on hot days when stopped, my first suggestion would be to check the rad. On my 142 (which has a horizontal tube radiator) I had some hot day / running hot problems. I installed a large electric rad fan in push mode and this did not resolve the problem. A little further investigation with my hand showed that the lower one third of the radiator tubes were completely blocked about mid way across the radiator. I could place my hand on the tubes near the left tank (inlet) and they were hot and as I ran my hand along the tubes I could feel a very definite temperature transition at the mid point and the tubes ends near the outlet tank were just a bit above ambient temperature. This came as a surprise as a couple of years earlier I had removed the rad and had it cleaned at a rad shop. I think they just cleaned the outside and sprayed it with a new coat of paint. This time I took the rad to a different shop and they tanked the rad in caustic and then did a flow test and tube temperature check to insure that all tubes were flowing. That fixed the problem.

Home flushing a cooling system does not really cut it. Unless you have already done this, I recommend that you remove the rad and have it caustic cleaned and then flow checked. If you can, ask around to try and find out who is good and who isn't. Of course, that doesn't always work out because the first shop I used came recommended and I picked the second shop on the basis that they were not the first shop. The correct 'indicator' is probably that the first shop is no longer in business and the second shop is till in business - hindsight is 100%.

If the running hot problem persists with a clean rad, I would not bother with a shroud and just jump to a thermostatically controlled electric fan. The electric fan has the great advantage that it is not engine speed dependent so you continue to get maximum air flow even when the engine is idling.

Apr 7th, 2024, 16:52	#3
142 Guy Master Member Last Online: Today 02:42 Join Date: Jul 2020 Location: Saskatchewan, Canada	A radiator fan shroud on a puller fan configuration can help a little bit. A puller fan tends to concentrate air flow through the section of the rad directly in front of the fan. A shroud helps to force air flow over a larger area of the radiator which can improve things slightly. It is normal for the temperature to rise when the car is stopped and drop as the car starts to move forward. Normally, the dead band in the original temperature gauge hides this fluctuation. If the temperature gauge is moving into the red zone on hot days when stopped, my first suggestion would be to check the rad. On my 142 (which has a horizontal tube radiator) I had some hot day / running hot problems. I installed a large electric rad fan in push mode and this did not resolve the problem. A little further investigation with my hand showed that the lower one third of the radiator tubes were completely blocked about mid way across the radiator. I could place my hand on the tubes near the left tank (inlet) and they were hot and as I ran my hand along the tubes I could feel a very definite temperature transition at the mid point and the tubes ends near the outlet tank were just a bit above ambient temperature. This came as a surprise as a couple of years earlier I had removed the rad and had it cleaned at a rad shop. I think they just cleaned the outside and sprayed it with a new coat of paint. This time I took the rad to a different shop and they tanked the rad in caustic and then did a flow test and tube temperature check to insure that all tubes were flowing. That fixed the problem. Home flushing a cooling system does not really cut it. Unless you have already done this, I recommend that you remove the rad and have it caustic cleaned and then flow checked. If you can, ask around to try and find out who is good and who isn't. Of course, that doesn't always work out because the first shop I used came recommended and I picked the second shop on the basis that they were not the first shop. The correct 'indicator' is probably that the first shop is no longer in business and the second shop is till in business - hindsight is 100%. If the running hot problem persists with a clean rad, I would not bother with a shroud and just jump to a thermostatically controlled electric fan. The electric fan has the great advantage that it is not engine speed dependent so you continue to get maximum air flow even when the engine is idling. Last edited by 142 Guy; Apr 7th, 2024 at 16:55.