New Overheating Issue and Growing Laundry list of Frustration

[Boxbot]

Life can and will get in the way. Ain't that the truth. No worries. One thing at a time.

You said you replaced the instrument cluster light bulbs with LEDs. The battery warning light CANNOT be an LED. It MUST be a normal incandescent bulb. The charging system will NOT work with an LED in that location. Yes, it is kinda dumb for that to be the case, but that's how it is. I believe it is to force a driver to know when the alternator belt is gone. This is actually more important for engine cooling because if that belt goes, your water pump stops and no coolant is flowing and you'll overheat and damage the engine. So that bulb must work for the charging system to work and it cannot be an LED. If it is an LED, you need to change it back to a standard bulb.

You mentioned your cooling fans stayed on even after you turned the car off. I would suggest inspecting the fuse and relay area behind the passenger seat and specifically the spot in the lower left hand corner that is for that fan fail. Cooling fans staying on like that might be a few different things, but one of them might be some melting going on in that relay receptacle. Check it out and report back. Take a photo or two of that area as well if you can.

Hard to say what effect your cooling fans are having on the engine temp with what you've experienced. The car will do a good job in keeping itself cool just from the wind blowing by at highway speeds. And more so on cooler days, not the hot days of July or August. Maybe those fans aren't working as well as you think or it could be a blockage in the coolant lines or it could just be a gauge issue and nothing more. I would start with inspecting the relay area first. And that LED bulb has to go.

EDIT: sorry, forgot you added photos earlier in this thread. Still inspect them as Dave mentioned earlier. You should be able to wiggle that blue cube out as well as the two individual fuses in it. What can happen is the wires connecting underneath those relays (or this blue cube thingy) can push out and then they aren't connected to anything. They're just hanging there out of sight. Make sure that hasn't happened. You need to be a bit of a contortionist to get a good look or feel in that spot, but it's necessary.

Sorry, I misspoke. Battery light is def. still incandescent (not the brake light). Cooling system still has leaks and prob. air in it at this point. That could lead to idle overheating problems, right? Fans are black in color, but I don't have any paperwork showing they or the rad have been replaced. Car has about 8,000 miles on it. No signs of rad leaking - but I suppose it could have some crud in it. Coolant is a nice color. Am I foolish for not replacing radiator when I put in all new hoses, thermostat, otterstat, etc.? Also, I don't think it's a gauge issue as I had steam coming out of the reservoir cap when the gauge pegged previously at idle.

Photos attached. No sign of melting as far as I see. I run with the plastic fuse box top off per PO's instruction. Blue relay wiggles and appears to be connected, but I couldn't quite remove it and didn't want to force it. Yellow fuses on top are intact and come out.

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[Boxbot]

You have my solid state fan relay and fan fail unit. My fan relay is why your fans will stay running an additional 20 seconds if you shut the engine off when fans are running. If your seeing the fan fail light flashing a sequence of three flashes then the fan fail unit is overheating.

For the fan fail to overheat you must have OEM fans that draw to much current. Keep your fuse box cover off and see if that keeps the fan fail unit cooler until you can replace your high current fans.

You mean run with the entire wood panel off for now? How can I tell if my fans/rad have been replaced? Fans themselves are black in color.

[Bitsyncmaster]

You mean run with the entire wood panel off for now? How can I tell if my fans/rad have been replaced? Fans themselves are black in color.

Yes, leave the wood panel off until you get new fans. My fan fail unit does not measure coolant temps so it seems funny you have only seen the flashing when your running hot. Maybe your otterstat is turning on to high.

[Jonathan]

Do your brake lights work ok? Not the warning light in the instrument cluster, but the actual brake lights in the rear? Reason I ask is normally you would see a fuse in that #18 spot in the lower right hand corner of the fuse box. That's the "stop lights" fuse. Did that get relocated somewhere?

[David T]

If the temp gauge keeps going up and the fans are running, make sure both fans are running, make sure the fans are both firmly attached to the motor shafts, and make sure the system is bled of all air. The temp gauge should not continue to move higher once the fans start and should, after a couple of minutes, start moving down.

[iflights]

Do your brake lights work ok? Not the warning light in the instrument cluster, but the actual brake lights in the rear? Reason I ask is normally you would see a fuse in that #18 spot in the lower right hand corner of the fuse box. That's the "stop lights" fuse. Did that get relocated somewhere?

In early cars there is no #18 fuse in that position. There is an inline fuse under the dash for brake lights.

[Jonathan]

In early cars there is no #18 fuse in that position. There is an inline fuse under the dash for brake lights.

Beauty. Thanks for clarifying.

[Boxbot]

Yes, leave the wood panel off until you get new fans. My fan fail unit does not measure coolant temps so it seems funny you have only seen the flashing when your running hot. Maybe your otterstat is turning on to high.

How can I tell if my fan/shroud has been replaced/upgraded?

[Bitsyncmaster]

How can I tell if my fan/shroud has been replaced/upgraded?

Post a photo of the fan motor. Try also to show the blade shape.

[Boxbot]

Post a photo of the fan motor. Try also to show the blade shape.

I had front wheel off tonight. Photo attached of fans. Also, after test drive of about 20 miles and getting the car up to operating temperature, the blue relay was not warm.

Second, I noticed in the dusk that the LED lights in the door remained on - very dim but on - even when the wire to the door switch was disconnected. I pulled the courtesy light fuse and that shut them off completely. I'm certain that was at least part of my battery drain.

In a related matter, I FIXED THE SPEEDO! The cable coming out of the lambda counter wasn't turning. I bypassed the counter with a one piece cable from DeloreanGo. Got onto the highway and it seems pretty accurate and steady. Is there anything else I need to do now that I'm bypassing the lambda counter? I know this is a routine job for most on here, but I'm proud of myself for my first successful project - even if my back was wrenched getting under the steering column.

Custom plate came in as well. The state limited me to four characters on the antique plate, but now I won't have to get an annual inspection or emissions test.

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