hello,

got some serious questions about overheating in my 86.

i'm getting concerned about blowing a head gasket.

the oil gauge has been showing rising temps in the oil. my 92 doesn't show higher oil temps on the gauge under the same conditions.

first, the engine did get pretty hot for hours during the rita evacuation here in houston. i don't know if that had any effect on what's going on now.

i've got a used nissens 3 row rad last year--fine shape, regular fan & an electric puller fan, 1.5 yo volvo water pump, no coolant loss, all known vac hoses checked/ replaced, intake manifold replaced, tune up, t stat pretty new, pretty new hoses both rad & heater hoses, 1-2 yo oil temp sender, etc. i looked at the a/c condenser fins, some fins are bent, but really nothing much to block the air flow. the crank pulley is getting old but there's no indication that it's slipping.

but the oil temp still rise and the weather is pretty decent now (72 deg, 56% humidity). i have an LED in the car hooked up to the rad fan switch, and the red light is turning on showing elevated water temps during mild days.

the water temp gauge in the cluster is not moving up though--still a little above halfway as usual.

i'm thinking it's carbon buildup in the head, and i'm thinking of buying a heavy duty aisin fan clutch.

and it's not even Texas hot, yet.

Questions:
1) will carbon buildup in the head do this?
2) fan clutch maybe going out?? if so, then what about the 20 amp Perma cool fan?? seems to be blowing pretty strong.
3) get a head job at a shop?
4) change the viscocity of the oil??--i'm changing over to sae20-50 at next oil change.

need some help on this one, and thanks as always.
byron golden
86 245
92 245