Auto Mechanic Question

[ALAN GEDDES]

My daughter has an 82 Ford Granada, 3.3 straight six. Smog pump siezed and belt went away. 20 miles later engine over heated. Are these two things related ? Can the car be driven until smog pump is replaced? Radiator cap was weak and she had a slight leak at upper hose. I fixed those two things.

[Mark72]

This may sound like a no brainer but...is the smog pump belt the same one that runs the water pump/fan? This may sound crazy but I have seen the belt come off/shred and the vehicle continue down the road without overheating as long as speed is maintained and there are no other vehicles in front to block the wind. With a good shroud the air coming through the radiator kept the water pump turning via the fan blades.

Mark

[john]

If it isn't the shared belt thing(good thought) I believe you have experienced a moment of coincidence.

I used to remove the smog pump belt on my Chevy luv pickup to get the extra 5hp. No ill effects. I'd put the belt back on for inspection. I don't know if I felt a power difference, but I did like sticking it to The Man. Youth.

As for inspections NC doesn't do a smog test on cars older than 1996 any more. They a doing away with the machines that used the tail pipe sniffer. Around here "Eden" all they do is check the lights and blow the horn and take ten bucks.

[Lesbest]

The common to the water pump belt senario is the only one that makes sense. With the engine off and if the engine has a solid fan, grab the fan blade and pull on it, if the fan turns and the belts don't your belts are too loose. If the belts also move then they are tight enough.
If you have a clutch fan look at the center in the front of the aluminum disk and see if the silicon fluid has leaked out, rendering it usless. Also grab the fan at 3 and 9 o'clock and try to wiggle the fan foward and back, if it wiggles the bearing is no good and it needs replaced. Those items can cause overheating.
The air pump is working on the exhaust as an afterthought for smog control, if not needed for inspection purposes then leave the belt of, but you need to block the check valve that goes to the exhaust manifold so you don't have an exhaust leak under the hood. With the age of the car the check valve is probably faulty and would leak.
All air pumps pull less than 1 hp. if ther are working properly. The cooling fan causes up to a 20hp loss. To get more performance remove the fan and install an electric one, the alt. can handle the extra load fine and the engine likes the extra kick.
Hope this helps.
Les

[Podunkfla]

To add to what Lesbest said... If that is the original radiator on a 25 year old car I would have it checked out by a good radiator shop. It very likely is quite clogged up with deposits? A "two row" radiator doesn't have much extra cooling capacity when it is flowing freely; when clogged up they can cause real problems. I have also used the Prestone 2 part radiator flush to clean them with too. It dissolves the crud with oxalic acid then a neutralizer is run through to stop the acid... works very well.

[ALAN GEDDES]

1. Belts were seperate. 2. Pulled radiator and back flushed and cleaned a lot of crud out. Soldered leak and replaced cap with a new one. 3. Installed new water pump and thermostat a few week ago. 4. How do I identify the check valve ? This is a piece of crap I bought to repleace her PU after it was totaled. Fairly decent shape and would like her to get a few months use out of it.

[Lesbest]

I don't remember what is with the A.I.R. pump but if you can leave the belt off and still run the water pump and alt. and the power steering then leave it off. The air pump will have a hose coming out of it going to a diverter valve, or the diverter valve is bolted to the back of the pump and 2 hoses come off of it. One hose goes to the air cleaner housing, or to outside air for dumping air during decel. The other hose goes to the exhaust manifold, so the fresh air can be added to the exhaust gasses to help burn any excess, or left over fuel after the combustion process. The check valve is screwed to the pipe that comes from the exhaust system, and a rubber hose is attached to it that comes from the air pump. If you can unscrew the check valve without twisting off the tube you can plug it with a gas pipe plug, 1 inch i think, if it looks like the pipe is going to twist, then cut it off with a hack saw or a torch and pinch it shut and weld it closed. If you don't close it off exhaust will come out of it.
Altering any of this system will not help or hurt your gas mileage, it will only make your exhaust stinky like a 72 ford 6 cyl. You will be knocking the birds and bees out of the trees wherever you go.
Hop this helps, Les

[ALAN GEDDES]

Thanks folks. Replaced the radiator today and will probably get to the pump in a couple of weeks.