Okay I have a 98 LS1 camaro. When I turn the car on it does good fans kick on and everything, but the temp. keeps on climbing until I turn it off. When I turn it off I can hear the coolant drain back into the radiator. The heater still blows hot air. Any input

 

Have you drained the coolant for any thing recently... head swap cam swap ect. Take the cap off and check the coolant level. Also you may have a broke T stat.

 

I took of the cap after I shut the car down and started refilling the radiator. I let it cool down and the coolant isn't at the top of the radiator. I can hear a clicking noise when it all starts to drain down. i assume that is the tstat. But no I haven't drained the coolant for anything recently.

 

Get the radiator topped off start the car and let it get hot. Wrap a towel around the radiator cap and use another towel to slowly open the cap... dont open the whole way just crack it. this will let out any air you have in the radiator. If coolant starts coming out close the cap and wait a few seconds. do this until you can get the cap off with out coolant spraying every where and make sure the coolant level stays at the top. If you feel there is no more air in the system and its still getting hot... My next step would be the T stat.

 

Should the hoses to the motor be full or empty. I noticed that mine were empty when I sqeezed them.

 

They should be full. when you squeeze the lines fluid level should move up and down.

 

Listen bro, here's what you need to do first.

Start the engine with the radiator cap "OFF". Start the engine and stand there until the t-stat opens up and you see the coolant start to flow and/or the coolant level go down. Then top it off with new coolant/water. The t-stat will now close and the flow will stop. You need to stand there until you see it start flowing again. If the level goes down again, top it off again.

****But if your engine is just getting hotter and hotter right off the bat after start up, most likely your t-stat is stuck closed. You could have an air bubble near the water pump too, but if you do the process I described above, that will get all the air out.****

Make sure while you're standing there waiting for the coolant to flow, that you keep going back and forth checking the temp gauge to make sure you're not sitting there overheating. Because if the t-stat is stuck, you won't ever get that flow.

And like "conan" said, every single part of the cooling system needs to be fully primed with coolant, always. If you're getting air in the system, you have bigger problems.

 

Where could the coolant have gone. I have a never seen any puddles, leaks or smoke. What is the deal?

 

Okay so I fillled like you guys said and it still overheats I guess I need to start looking at the tstat now?

 

Well, did the coolant ever start to flow or not?

Did the coolant just sit there and not move at all while the temp went up?

 

Also, when the engine overheats, does the coolant start to boil over or out? Or does it just get hot?

 

It seems to just overheat. I took the top off right after I got back it was almost to the red. I shut it off and took off the cap and nothing spewed out. What does that mean, if it did or didn't.

 

So what are the syptoms of a bad tstat. I filled up the coolant when the level dropped again and again. Then it stayed about 210. The fans kicked on and the level dropped again I filled it back up. Then I took the car around the block and by the time I made it back home it was almost to the red again. So are these the signs of a bad tstat.

 

The water/coolant will simply NEVER start to flow.

No, if the level is dropping, THEN stopping, THEN flowing and dropping again, in cyles like that, then the t-stat is opening and closing.

Did you keep topping it off until the level DID NOT drop anymore AFTER the coolant started to flow the last time you topped it off?

Also, when the temp gauge does read almost into the red, how hot is everything under the hood? Like, can you put your hand on top of the intake and leave it there no problem? Can you wrap your hand and fingers around the throttle body and leave it there without burning your hand?

I ask because you might not be overheating, you could have a bad temp sensor. If your temp is getting close to the red, your engine bay will be too hot to touch anything at all on or around the engine, like the intake. My temp got into the red once because I lost my belt, I literally couldn't keep my hand on my air lid for more than 1 second without burning my skin.

 

i dont wanna be that guy, but if its disappearing and there are no visable leaks it sounds like a head gasket.

 

Yeah, that could be it, but he hasn't really said how much its dropping over how much time. He may not have topped it off all the way. I can't imagine it dropping so fast he can't keep it topped off, that much coolant can't go into a cylinder without either hydralocking it, feeling the miss, and most important....on the upstroke the piston would be pushing massive amounts of air into the cooling system which would make the coolant boil over in 5 minutes.

 

eh. i know its an extreme possibility. but it describes the times ive had blown head gaskets.

 

The car really didn't seem that hot when I lifted up the hood. I just noticed the guage. When the coolant went down I filled it all the way back up then it would drop about an inch or so I and I would top it off again. I noticed that some coolant would squirt back through the little hose at the top near the fill cap. I guess that is from the overflow?

 

If my temp sensor is bad would it still read the temperature of you the car? The temp still slowly goes over to the red, but the motor doesn't seem to be hot.

 

Ok bro I honestly just started with ls1's but been with fords for a long time (I know...for the most part they all break) but I had an 88 mustang with the exact same problems! It was a small leak from the head gasket. I didn’t notice it because it didn’t smoke or anything noticeable, also some people said your water pumps bad and its not kicking on so at higher rpms if you spin that pulley fast enough you can get the water pump to kick on (...well that was a huge mistake!) I took the car for a 45 min drive and my gauge would show hot...hot...HOT in the red and in the highway it wouldn’t be tooo bad but still hotter then what its supposed to be. I start to see a bunch of white smoke all the sudden behind my car and that’s when I knew....it was a bad day! But ya my symptoms were the same how I had no leaks but just took coolant like crazy! Found out it was all in the block...lol man lets just say even the block was trash...heads warped...I almost cried (girlfriend tried to calm me down but....no) anyway $11k later 680hp mustang!