well, i was driving the car today, 90 degrees out. the temp gauge went to around 210 or so, but not over, even though i was in stop and go traffic. no coolant smell coming from the exhaust, and no white smoke.

radiator is full, when i got home and put the t-tops back on the car was idling, went to about 212, fans came on then it went back to like 205 or so, then stayed there,

this car is getting on my nerves

 

Well, the other side of the coin is the factory gauge. They tend not to be very accurate. You should have somebody put a scanner on it to see what the PCM is reading. You could either have no issues and an inaccurate gauge or your thermostat isn't opening early enough.

 

well, the t-stat was replacedlast october with the water pump. that does not mean that it has not taken a crap already though.

i have a 98 and i have been told that 98s have the most accurate gauge out of the ls1's

i'll have someone check and see if it is on target with the readings though.

thanks for all your time and thoughts

 

If the person who pressure tested the system knows what they are doing, then it's going somewhere.

If it were me, I would have replaced the cap already. They are like $6 from the dealer and I had my old one go bad. I'd do that, and then top up the radiator cold. If I had to top it up a few times, like a pint to a quart, you are using it or leaking it.