So i have a 96 trans Am LT1 overheating.
And I need help please.
I just put a brand-new radiator.
A brand-new thermostat.
A brand-new radiator cap.
It gets really hard after driving it.
But if I just turn it on it doesn't overheat but if I start driving around it get pretty hard can anyone please help me out to suggestions and ideas please rethink your help...

 

You flushed everything, too, I imagine? How is your oil pressure? I know with oil pump problems overheating is an early symptom.

 

Do you still have the under car air dam installed?

Did you burp the system of air?

 

Air Locked

 

ensure you installed the two small hoses correctly, i accidently swapped them and had the same issue, theres a diagram on shbox for the rad lines.

 

I had the same problem and spent a lot of money and time on parts I didn't need and one day I realized the clowns that painted my car didn't put the air dam back on.

 

I had what I thought was an overheating issue with my 92 Sonoma. If I drove faster than 45mph (when the trans shifts into overdrive) the temp gauge would climb until it just barely hit the red. If I put the engine under load on the highway, it would continue into the red. As soon as I slowed down to city speed the temp would fall back towards 200F. If I idled it, it would fall back right to 200. During one drive while the gauge said it was piping hot near red zone, I pulled off to a gas station and popped the hood before the gauge had time to drop too far and felt the radiator and the hoses. Everything felt normal, the radiator was cool on the side going to the engine and hot on the side receiving from the engine. Ended up being a loose ground on the back of the drivers side head.

 

are the electric fans coming on?

 

did you bleed the air from the system?

LT1 motors require air bleeding when cooling system is opened unlike any other car

 

I had the mystery overheating issue. I noticed the car gradually started running hotter. Being super over protective of my car I even took it to two different dealers who looked at it and even then couldn't find anything wrong. I thought I was crazy... thought I was going mad the car was running hotter and only I seemed to be noticing the problem... and then I noticed the car felt like she had less power I didn't know what to think but I kept searching for ghost problems. Changing the waterpump, flushing coolant, new radiator, new cap, new hoses etc. etc. etc. and then one day while leaving the drive thru of a restaurant the car gave me her only clue.

I had one of those riser hoods with the open air vent in the back and all this hot air came out in a burst and fogged up my windshield. Strange I thought... then the car started feeling less powerful over the next few months. Nothing I did seemed to make a difference. It did okay sitting still but when you tried to drive it it started getting hotter and hotter... till one day that wasn't the case. It was summer again by this time and a very hot day. Soon as I'd start the car and get ready to pull off after warming up that needle climbed into the danger zone. I had no choice but to tow it home.

Some weeks later I started slowly tearing the motor apart and there I found the true problem... the ol' #8 gasket leak. I pulled my drain pain and there was the subtle Dannon's Yogurt just laying there. . A headgasket leak none the less but worse it was a stealth headgasket leak that went undetected for almost a year. How could this have been detected earlier? Trace Dye.... do a tracer dye test and see if there's coolant in your oil. If your LT1 is having strange coolant issues after you've fixed the obvious.

 

a block test maybe would have shown it, just depends on how bad it was.