Yeah I don’t see the tabs on mine. But I honestly don’t see how it runs normal at hwy speeds if the head gaskets are on backwards.

 

Not all gaskets have tabs like the 9333. But if they were on backwards the engine tends to overheat regardless of ac.

 

Now that I think of it I may have the wrong timing cover possibly? I think I’m going to put on a new cover and water pump before I do anything else. I just hope it doesn’t reveal a cracked block around the timing chain.

For sure I’ve never changed the water pump or gaskets or cover. I’ve only assumed they were working properly.

 

You cant have the wrong timing cover. There are only 3 of them. The first is the truck one that almost noone uses. The other is the sn95. The last cover there are many variations of features on the cover, but the water ports are all identical. So you can use a cover off a 1969 302 with a clockwise pump on a fox body with a counterclockwise pump. Now you can screw up and use a pump that is clockwise and spin it counterclockwise and have a cooling issue.

 

It may just be a bad pump or the wrong pump then. I'll replace that with the correct year and all the gaskets just to make sure. I may have installed the original water pump on this engine thinking it was good.

 

My guess is youre running a thicker than stock radiator and a stock style condenser. My car has the same issue but as soon as I remove the condenser the running hot issues go away. This is why I am switching to a 97 condenser. They are significantly less restrictive.

 

Correct, and I have a new stock 1994-1995 condenser in the box sitting in my garage that I've been avoiding installing. Maybe I should look into installing an alternative year condenser like you.

 

What do you consider hot?
When was the last time you cleaned the fins in the radiator/condenser, especially between them?

When I did an engine swap last summer, I pulled the radiator and was surprised how much crap was between the condenser and radiator.
I rinsed both of them backward and forward and got a decent amount of crap out.
Now my car seems to stay cooler longer with A/C on and sitting in traffic.
Before I would have to run my cooling fans on high and I would eventually need to turn A/C off for a few minutes to cool it back down if it was really bad traffic.
Now I rarely have to turn fans on high.

 

When the engine starts to creep past 225+ I start to get worried. It will do it if I'm in traffic or stopped too long with no airflow and the fan on high. The Radiator is brand new but the condenser is 100% original 25+ years old.

 

I also use the GMB. I think I get mine from RockAuto.

 

Here's what the correct one looks like:
OEM Motorcraft YJ-396 A/C Condenser YJ396 F7ZZ19712BA 1997 1998 MUSTANG 4.6L | eBay

 

 

Is that the condensor thats $500?

 

???