Overheating question?
 

Hi gang, I recently rear ended someone and bashed in the whole front of my 300d. Got a radiator, fan clutch, ac condensor, and grill, and then went to work and put the car back together. I straightend it out rather nicely, however, now it runs hot. It always stayed just above 80c even on hot days in Los Angeles. Sometimes it would go to 90c or 95c with the a/c on in a traffic jam. Now it stays around 90c and will go right up to 100c at the slightest incline. Everything seems to be in good working order: the waterpump is good, new fan clutch, new auxillary fan, 50/50 mix of qualily coolant, and redline water wetter. The only thing slightly out of order was that there was too much coolant in the reservoir, so I siphoned some out to the proper level. Could it be THAT simple? Am I missing something else? This car has always ran cool and I want it to continue. It is, by the way, a 3 row radiator. The same as the one I crunched.

You don't mention thermostat, which I assumed you changed, as they don't function well after overheating, another of my assumptions about the crash.
What temp was the original? The one you changed?
What about the radiator cap?
They come in different flavors, and can affect temp...
Can someone more knowlegeable offer more here?

Over heating
 

Did you "burp" or purge the air from your cooling system after the overhaul? Run her up to temp, with the engine running, park her nose up on an incline, loosen overflow tank cap, bounce front bumper up and down. This should burp the trapped air out the cooling system. This worked for me.

BWatson,

Was the replacement radiator new?

P E H

I had a new Behr thermostat do that to me before, it was between 0-10*F outside and at the same time my climate control was acting up. So I was driving around with the car running right at 100*F, but no heat. At least I had my seat heater installed. :) Anyway I installed a new Whaler thermostat after this and haven't had any problems since.

BWatson

As was already mentioned, probably air in the system.
when the system has been completely drained this is what I do...Raise front of car, disconnect "head to firewall" heater hose at firewall, wire up the end, Pour coolant into the upper radiator hose (disconnected at the radiator so its going into the eng) till it comes out the heater hose. reconnect everything, Start the car, turn on the heater full blast, when heat comes out your "home free" :D

I have one of those flush tees in the firewall heater hose above the oil filter, and hook up the garden hose to it, so after the flush, that block is filled with water.
Dosen't seem to need a burp after that....

There are two different types of thermostat housings...
One has an internal tube for self burping..
This may account for different reports as to the need for burping....