[DeTomaso] I blew up my car

[Thomas Borcich]

Sorry to hear of your problems Asa.

When my Pantera was running...after I filled the system and bled as much air out from
 the top of the radiator, I let the motor idle ten to fifteen minutes without the cap on 
tank and would check the level every few minutes letting the system purge the air from 
the system. My McLaren had an identical system with the forward radiator and aluminum 
tubes running forward to the radiator just like we have on the Pantera, except there were no 
fans for low or no speed running. I did the same thing to it. No overheating once all the parts
were sorted. 

Take out the thermostat and fill the system and start you motor and see if you get 
flow that is even a bit warmer to the radiator...if it gets warmer you have a bad 
thermostat and the system is flowing water.

The one thing I did which MD just suggested was the pan on the stove to check the thermostat...get one of the 
meat thermometers at the store $5-10...put it in the water before you turn on the heat
and watch the temp on the thermometer rise and when the it opens check the temp. 
 On the Mclaren I tried different temps on the thermostat and settled on 165...and again it 
had no fans to cool the radiator when stopped or going slow...just
had to get it rolling and put your foot in it to keep air going through the radiator.

Sounds to easy or maybe I just had no cooling system problems.  But I will say the 
first thing I worked on when I got the Pantera was replacing all the hoses and tubes 
underneath the car and put the new american neck on the coolant tank with a new cap...
flushed the radiator and motor with radiator/cooling system cleaner. Flushed clean water 
through it a few times. Never had a problem, but I never took any short
cuts that left anything as a weak link. The water pump was also new.

I like the idea of putting the bleeder on the back of the heads.

Hope you find your problem Asa

Regards,



Tom