88iroc92rs94formula

iTrader: (1)

My car has a 160 thermostat and its been running a little hot, Could this be something Major? or is it something simple? Yesterday my car over heated i shut it down about 230 and sitting it went to 260? it was a lil low on coolant i put some in and bleed it, took it out a lil bit ago and it got to 210 (which its cool outside, about 65 or so) and stayed there. Just wondering best way to trouble shoot the problems. thanks.

trippinholyman

did you change the temp your fans come on at too? 160 stat cars are supposed to run at what, 190ish? stock fan settings are 225/230 i think. if its running 210 nothing is getting hurt, but like you said low on coolant and possible air pockets where there would be a hot spot could contribute to it. try wiring a manual fan switch, or lower the fan activation temps to 190ish

dirtynorth

try to bleed the coolant lines to see if it still does it. My car got an air bubble trapped in the system and it caused my car to hit 300 on the highway with no where for me to pull off. Which f-ed up my car but thats another story. There are coolant bleeder screws on the coolant hoses that go to the thermostat and the water pump. With the car running open them up to see if air is coming out. Its just like bleeding your brakes. Since the motor is lower than the radiator this is a common problem. Heres a pic

http://shbox.com/1/bleeders.jpg

PNYKLR-TA

iTrader: (1)

X2 you need to either get a tune and have the fans kick on much sooner, or get a manual fan switch.

I run the 180 stat and i've got a tune on the car too, usually runs right around 190, havent seen over that since the tune and t-stat change.

ss.slp.ls1

iTrader: (36)

Regardless of what t-stat you have, if you have stock fan settings 226*F/235*F you will eventually get to a 210-230 degrees operating temperature. If your car got to 230, you need to keep it on to make sure that it goes back down. It's normal to see it hit ~230 and go back down, hit ~230 and go back down...

creepingdeath94

iTrader: (1)

And for the love of god, be certain about the "manual fan switch" before you just slap a toggle and run the fan all the time. I have always hated having to deal with the electrical nightmares previous f-body owners love leaving in the electrical system when they have an overheating issue and hardwire the fan to run all the time.

I understand that is not what is being suggested here, I'm just putting that out there.

96z28

i have the same problem but i already have fan over ride switch and even with the fans on high all the time it can still be hard to control

buffman

iTrader: (9)

Are you using a genuine LT1 T-stat? Bleed the system. a 160* unit is open around 175-180*.

96z you need to bleed that coolant or something if you have to run the fans all the time to keep it cool.

96z28

i have bleed and bleed and have no air what so ever, would deleting AIR and EGR with out a tune cause any problems.

ss.slp.ls1

iTrader: (36)

No there wont have any problems doing that besides throwing codes.

In your first post you said you shut your car off at 230 (not above normal and you said you were a little low on coolant) and then it when up to 260 (also normal because water is no longer flowing, hence no more cooling).
After that you said you topped it off and hit 210 and stayed there...again normal (regardless of what the outside temp is)...I haven't read anything that seems like a problem. If you are hitting a 210* operating temperature and staying there, you're golden, regardless of what temp thermostat you have. If you want to run cooler, you need to reprogram your fans.

I don't know why everyone thinks 210-220 is overheating.

96z28

its overheating when high fans are on all the time and the temp is still creaping up

DriftR

iTrader: (4)

If the fans are working and your still running hot I would pull/change the T-stat (cheap and easy) and check it's condition (gunk), if it isn't that I would look at replacing the RADIATOR. Even with regular maintenance they corode and get blocked off over the years. The LT1 radiator does a pretty good job of cooling the car (cheap upgrade for LS1 cars) so you don't have to spend $500 on a be-cool or such, just stick with a stock replacement IMO.

sdotlog

Try the t-stat. If not is it still the mechanical pump how many miles on it? I had mines start weakening as the car would sit in traffic and got to 220+ never used to do tht before. With a newer 160tstat and tuned for it. Slapped an hdmez ewp and car doesn't go over 160.

DriftR

iTrader: (4)

Can anyone confirm that a mechanical water pump starts "weakening"? I thought they were cam driven and only need replacing when the seals leak at the weep hole. Not that an Electric Water pump isn't a nice upgrade!
+1 on tune for 160deg T-stat.

96z28

the car only has 78,000 on it an asume that it is the original water pump. i have recently flushed the cooling system and as for the thermostat it only has roughly 7-10k miles on it, but the reason i put the 160* thermostat in was that i was thinking is might help control the heat but it didn't realy help at all

Green3spd

iTrader: (7)

I have a 160 tstat(I have a digital gauge on board which reads my coolant temp) and it usually sit around 184-189*... past couple of weeks its been around mid to high 90* outside so My car has been sitting around 195-200* and sometimes creap around 205-210*... I know its normal for LT1's to run about that but not for MY car to run about that...

You have to take in consideration that its hotter this time of year too..

305 h.o.

I have a 160 and my car runs around 175-180 on the hwy. It gets up to 225 or so while sitting still or in traffic and then the fans kick on. Sounds like your car is normal to me because thats what mine does.