hi,in my quest to purchase a barth i have found one that i was interested in but owner said that running at 55 plus creates overheating,slow traffic would do the same.to resolve these problems dash air was removed,electric cooling fan was added,and transmission cooler was added,all these things did not improve the the problem.I need to tow and will do some steep grades...should i look for a deisel only??or is there quick fix??bernie

The BS meter hits about 9.2 on that one. There is an issue with the cooling system, which could be a plugged radiator (internally or externally), a bad thermostat, collapsing lower hose, bad water pump, or crud in the block. It could also be the sender or gage giving a false reading.

I don't know what year you're looking at, nor if it applies to gaso engines, but my '87 Ford 1T diesel van drove me nuts until I discovered there's a voltage regulator for the oil and temp, and it hhad failed. Those gages run at about 6V, hence the regulator.

There have been numerous posts about Ford gas pushers having inherent cooling problems, but if this isn't a pusher, there is, as Rusty says, some kind of problem in the cooling system itself.

To the possibilities Rusty mentioned, I would add a leaking head gasket. It doesn't take much combustion gas leaking into the cooling system to create an intractable overheating problem when the engine is under load, like pulling a hill, or hauling a trailer.

It's plain this owner didn't take the usual easy steps to diagnose this problem, & none of the steps he supposedly tried, would help a leaking head gasket, a plugged-up radiator, a bad fan clutch, a collapsing hose, or even a malfunctioning pressure radiator cap.

There ain't no quick fix, though a thorough examination and a combustion leak test by a competent radiator shop could identify the specific problem(s). In any case, the fix won't come cheap, unless it's just a bad radiator cap. That solution is quite unlikely in light of this history.

There appears to be an inherent overheating problem with Ford pushers, but a front engine unit should not be impossible to cool.

By all means consider a diesel, but also think about a front engine Chev. Just about all the problems they have, have been solved by someone here.

What is the data tag number of this coach?

To answer the question... I recopied this from an earlier post by me.

Flush out you radiator. Years of deposits, goo form in the radiator and it may need attention.

Air flow over the fins. The fins could have leaves or dirt inside between the fins. Use water from a garden hose to clean between the fins. Do not use a steam jenny or power washer!

Fins on the radiator could be bent. Use a fin straightening tool to allow airflow through the radiator.

The motor is being lugged down. Try down shifting to the next lower gear. If all you have is an automatic then this happens a lot more.

The thermostat is sticking or not opening all of the way.

The impellers on the water pump are slipping on the shaft.

The belts are missing or are loose.

Low coolant level.

Blown headgasket, cracked head, pitting in the lining. Anything that causes compression to get into the cooling system.

Your fan shroud is missing.

Your fan blades are broken, pieces are missing.

Your transmission is overheating.

Plugged Catalytic converter

Your lower radiator hose is sucking shut from a missing spring inside of the hose.

Check your fan clutch. A fan clutch kicks on when the engine coolant reaches a set point. Kicks out after it cools down. I would check this out. High on the list!

***In a gas motor a spring coil located in front of the fan expands and moves a hydraulic plunger causing the fan to lock in and run direct instead of slipping.

This is done for noise reduction and an increase in mileage. Listen for the fan clutch to kick on - If your starting to overheat and it doesn't ROAR to life have that checked out.

The odd file...

Your fan blades were reinstalled wrong (backwards) after a repair.

You still have that piece of cardboard between the radiator and a/c that you put there in January.

Some motors have 2 directional (right hand/ left hand rotation) water pumps and you got the wrong one.

The picture of Jesus, Richard Petty, Elvis, etc... is zip tied in front of your radiator.

Your motor is too small for the application or is overloaded.

Finally, I had the following issues on my 460.

Water Pump - Thermostat - EGR valve and EGR Valve actuator - O2 Sensor. All of these at one time or another caused my Ford to run hotter than I liked.

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	1990 Barth Regis Widebody 8908 0128 40RDS-C1 L-10 Cummins Allison MT647 Transmission Spartan Chassis		1991 Medical Lab Conversion 9102 3709 33S-12 Ford 460 MPFI C6 Transmission Oshkosh Chassis
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hi,first of all wish to thank all who responded to my post on the 460 problem..the unit is on this site its a 91 regal 28ft low mileage with the 460 and fuel injection.in talking to the owner
she stated they had it to ford mechanic and he checked it over thorouly finding nothing; he added a fan and a transmission cooler,which she said did not help..the temp at engine is 200 plus..it has a 195 thermostat which the mechanic advised them not to change..i am 70 dont wish to get involved in mechanical issues at this point in my life..bill i noticed you have the tag of this unit on the site.went to look at a newer unit and it was sold....bernie

I love the 460 Ford engine in my Barth. I wouldn't trade it for a 454 at all.

I am not a Ford guy, all of my personal vehicles are GM. But, seeing that Ford did not take the Gov Bailout I think I might give them another go in a possibly future car purchase. Right now I'm 50/50 on this as a past Ford purchase was disastrous with terrible customer support.

My T-Stat is a 180 or 185 and it seems to run good in this range.

There might not be anything wrong with it but too high of a T-Stat or maybe a gauge or sending unit that is out of range.

Good luck.

hi,wish to thank all for your advice.this unit is a 91 barth 28ft 460 powered with very low original miliage in fact the coach is clean with these people being 3rd owners.the temp is runnining 200 plus on engine, and trans runs hot. so to try to fix this owners installed a trans cooler and a manual controlled engine cooling fan either of these helped. mechanic said they did all the test and found nothing wrong.they said towing anything,crusing at 55 is a problem as is stop and go traffic...the tag info bill is posted on your site....bernie

A retarded spark timing will increase exhaust temperatures. Is it possible to believe that the increase in temperature of the engine compartment is causing the coolant system to be unable to perform as desired? (I know that is a stretch)

Electric gauge? Could grounding between the engine, frame, and dashboard be throwing off readings?

Perhaps you can get a mechanical gauge installed and have that validate the temperature observations. Or hopefully invalidate the observations!

happy motoring!
Matt

I just resolved the exact same issue with my coach. It's a 1989 Regal 25 with a 454 tho. I don't have a numbered engine temp gauge but there is a numbered trans temp gauge. The engine gauge would get up to 3/4 after running about 10 minutes and the trans was at about 260. I replaced the t-stat with no affect. The fan clutch was tight in the morning before I fired up the engine. I could hear the fan working for about the first minute of the engine running and then it would kick out and I never heard it kick back in at any temperature. I replaced the fan clutch and she runs cool now. The engine temp stays at about 1/4 and the trans gauge hangs around 200.

The vacuum advance weights were sticky so I cleaned and lubed it up. I was having some problems with the engine running on when I shut it down. That is fixed now.

Hey Bernie... We believe we have discovered the simple stupid solution.... we put in a new fan clutch and then changed the thermostat. Turns out it had some gay type of thermostat in it which allowed almost no flow(musta been for folks who live in the arctic). Took her out 2 weekends in a row. Over the mountains and thru the woods and Baby hangs at 190.(even pulling the mountains) HALLELUIA!!
Not that it really matters... I gotta correct ya on some stuff. Previous owners did the a/c hack and transmission cooler (unless that was original)and we never had it to a Ford mechanic, our transmission mechanic said tranny was ship shape and told us about the thermostat should stay at 195(he was wrong on that) Only things we've done are the electric fan (which works fantastically), flushed the cooling system (which was full of gunk), flushed and checked the transmission (AOK), and now changed the fan clutch and thermostat(185).

At one time, I too had to replace my fan clutch. What lowered my temperature even more was the replacement of an EGR valve and an EGR Sensor. Here is my post on the EGR Issue.

Remember, my coach is a 1991 with the 460 MPFI. Is your 460 Carb or Multi Port Fuel Injection?